The Palm Mute

What is palm mute guitar?

How to do a guitar palm mute?

You like Pop songs, then rock and big rhythms! This is one of the essential techniques, just like hammer on, to cause fury. “Palm mute” means that you mute the strings with the palm of your hand. Yes, but not just anywhere and anyhow. If you place your hand without knowing where you should place it, your strings will simply be muffled. You're going to tell me “Yes, that's the principle! We’re choking the strings, right!?” So, it's not wrong but you have to muffle them only to attenuate the resonance of the note(s) you play. If there is no sound, then it will be Ghost note. THE Palm mute also exists on bass, it's the same technical principle. On the other hand, it is not necessarily suitable for heavy rhythm.

The Palm mute technique

The palm mute technique is a form of dynamic control and is used to dampen the strings to limit the resonance of the guitar.
By placing the bottom edge of your palm on the strings near the bridge and moving it between the bridge and the soundhole, you can control the level of the damping effect.
The most identifiable use of the palm mute can be heard in hard rock and metal where the electric guitar has a “chunk” or “chug” sound that is more staccato in nature. However, the guitar palm mute can just as easily be used with the acoustic guitar to control and shape the sound of a given piece of music.
This is a very important technique to master for a guitarist to take their sound to the next level. When you are able to control the dynamics of the music you play, it opens up a whole world of musical possibilities. Here are some tips for learning and improving the palm mute guitar technique.

Use the outer edge of your hand to do a Palm Mute

Starts with a simple mute of a chord.
Using a pick, play a chord, then stop the strings with your hand.
Two possibilities are available to the guitarist using this simple action.
First, the guitarist can mute the strings between chords to avoid unwanted string noise while the fingers move.
A second advantage is that this action can be used to rhythmically mark a chord.
It is even possible to lower your hand sharply on the strings to make them snap and imitate the sound of a snare drum.

Keep your hand not too close to the handle

Now place your hand on the strings and try to strum simultaneously.
Pay attention to the position of the mute hand and note that the further forward (towards the neck) you are, the more muted the strings will be. If you're too far forward, none of the notes will sound. There may be times when that's the goal.

The mistake not to make with Palm mute

However, the palm mute guitar technique is more damping than actual muting of the strings, meaning we still want to hear the notes. To get this sound, keep your hand further back towards the bridge.
The choking hand may even rest on the saddle of the bridge.
This will give the guitar a thick sound, especially on the lower notes.

No tension, relax your hand

It is important to keep a relaxed hand to use this technique properly. If you press the strings too hard, the damping sound will be altered and the strings may go out of tune. If your hand is too tense, this can also cause problems when using the pick. It only takes a little touch to muffle the strings. There is a delicate balance between holding the pick in place, applying the right amount of pressure to mute the strings, and being able to move your hand freely to mute and release as needed.

Use your little finger

It often happens that a piece of music requires a rapid succession of muted and muted notes. The hand must be ready to play the choke at any time for reasons of rhythm or inflection. We can thus use the little finger.
Especially for those who have smaller hands and find it difficult to mute the six strings with the palm of their hand.

The benefits of using the little finger

The little finger has the advantage of being closer to the strings than the other fingers of the playing hand. It can therefore be used to guide the hand towards the strings quickly, but gently, rather than allowing the hand to move at such a speed that it hits the strings.
When using finger arpeggios, do not use your little finger to play. Instead, use it to lean on the guitar to give your hand the stability it needs. In this regard, the little finger is used to support the weight of the arm and hand. Keep the hand relatively still so the palm can be more easily accessible when the time comes to cut a note or chord.

Stay close and avoid distant movements

This is important when a guitarist mutes certain beats rather than keeping his hand on the strings.
The hand must be ready when muted notes are called for. Therefore, it is good not to swing the arm too much while strumming, nor to let the hand move away from the strings.

Have a thicker pick?

There's a lot going on in a guitarist's rhythm hand. This single hand strums the strings, grabs the pick, muffles and de-chokes. It can also be frustrating when the desired sound is not achieved.
When using the palm mute guitar technique, you can sometimes notice that you need a little more force with the pick to make the note resonate. When palm muffling, the note should be muted, but still clear enough to be distinguished.

Advice on the mediator

A thin pick is often not strong enough to provide the force needed to compress the chord sound. Try switching to a medium or heavy pick. Test and make your choice!
With both the acoustic guitar and the electric guitar, a heavier pick allows the sound to come out of the chord more easily. Thus without having to use significant hand force, which allows you to keep your hand more relaxed.

Palm muting on the beat

Palm mute can be used with guitar chords to mute an entire passage of music using a “chug” sound, or to silence certain beats to emphasize a rhythm.
In the case of using palm muting of the palm of the hand on a rhythm, we do not cut the sound at random. This technique does more than affect the sound of a chord, it's a crucial tool for creating a groove. The stopping of the sound itself must occur in a specific rhythm. The most common groove that is created can be heard in many acoustic songs where the guitar part is very punchy.

Alternate muted and unmuted notes.

Accented notes are also used to create a groove or rhythmic pattern. One way to think about an accent is to make certain tenses louder than others. These stronger notes or beats are therefore the accents. Another way to think about it is not to make the accents louder, but to make every other note quieter. This is probably the most recognizable thing in rock guitar, especially with heavily distorted electric guitars. The guitarist's default position in this example is the palm-muted position, with the rhythm hand all the way back on the bridge nut to sound mean! To create an emphasis, rotate the forearm to force the pick outward and the palm side of the hand off the strings to “open” the chord. So, bring the pick back to the strings and the palm side to the nut to mute the strings again. Now that the palm mute guitar no longer has any secrets for you, it's time to put it into practice!