Martis93

Sup, UG. So do you use scrunchies for muting the open strings when tapping? If so, how do you get them over the headstock? The ones that I am able to get through don't have enough tension to properly mute the strings.

whoomit

Buy a slave.

It's cheaper and better.

olix95

cut it and tie it

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derek8520

Put it over the headstock, if it's too loose just twist it and put it over again. Repeat if needed.

Geldin

I either use a tube sock or a long scrunchie and tie it loosely around the fretboard. That seems to work pretty nicely.

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J_W

This is good if you're playing live or recording but people using this to learn tapping or sweeping are just cheating themselves. I'm not saying this is the case with anyone in this thread, it's just a general statement. Learning to mute properly is very important.

Andy Pollow

I dont know - thats what I used to say but when you get REAL fast at alternate picking its really hard to move your palm on and off the strings. To only mute the strings above the one your playing. So you have to either palm mute fast picking like about 90% do or if you dont like the sound of palm muting its alot easier to tie a sock around the neck and never touch the strings at all. I dont really like the sound of palm muting so I like the sock for everything not just legato. So then you have to learn a new way to play rythym guitar... That sucks though.

Anon17

^ You can use your left hand to mute as well - People like Paul Gilbert can pick incredibly fast and do it perfectly clean without any kind of external mute, it's just a case of practice and dedication.

Andy Pollow

Oh yeah I like Gilbert but I dont like his tone. Because he has his palm on the strings while he is picking fast. I think guitar sounds prettier if you dont touch the strings. And if you mute with your left fingers like Michael Angelo you have to be carefull with your fingering. I like to play freely and naturally - not carefully. So a sock works best.

llBlackenedll

He gets the sound he gets because that's the sound he wants to get, it's not an unfortunate by-product of the way he mutes unwanted noise. There are a lot of aspects that define his tone, such as the way he angles his pick, or the way he often likes to palm mute the lower strings when doing fast runs (which I personally think sounds cool - like some kind of explosion..).

It's worth learning to properly mute unwanted noise without using a sock or hairband as a crutch. You mute the strings above the one you're currently picking with the underside of your index, and the strings below with whatever you can - normally the side of your hand or your thumb. If you do it properly, you won't mute the string you're actually playing (unless you want to) and it'll become second nature without you having to think about it. As has been said - if you practise with something around the fretboard to mute the strings, you're just kidding yourself. You may even be accidentally picking other strings when string crossing but you wouldn't know due to the external mute.

So basically, if you're recording, go ahead and use a sock or whatever, but always practise with as few crutches as possible.

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ESP Horizon FR II (EMG) / Ibanez Prestige RG1570 (DiMarzio Crunch Lab & LiquiFire pickups)

This ain't no wobbly-headed doll caper.

vayne92

You don't need a hair scrunchy brah. Andy James comes to mind when i think of ridiculous alternate picking / tapping. And that bastard can do it without any false muting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYgn...index=1#t=0m59s

Pretty sure Andy James is a robot though. His technique is flawless.

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Geldin

I use one when I record. When I practice, I can play damn near anything. But the second I hit the big red button, I suddenly have the technical facility of Fred Durst.

__________________
My solo progressive metal project,
The Sleeping Fury ,
has a just released its debut album.

The new album is streaming here

I've got a blog! It's a metal blog. About metal.

Anon17

Gilbert doesn't always palm mute when picking fast, often his tone sounds like you describe because of the way he angles his pick and such - Which is his personal preference.



This makes no sense, at all. If you have good technique then you mute automatically without thinking about it, that's the whole point of practicing.

There are many, many players who can play "freely and naturally", alternate pick incredibly fast and mute perfectly well without palm muting.

If you want to use a sock then that's fair enough, but please don't encourage other people to use one when it is simply a crutch for not having the technique to play without one. If you're using it for recording and such then fair enough, but I really don't see why you'd deliberately limit yourself like that (no offence intended by the way, not sure if I sound too aggressive here).

Martis93

Well that's interesting, I'm learning tapping from Lick Library's Tapping Routines (Andy James) and he's using a scrunchie there.



Also, thanks to everyone for the input, but I didn't really ask whether it is cheating or not. I'd prefer to use a scrunchie as I don't yet have the strength in my right hand fingers for tapping. After I have built the up the strength, I will try playing without a scrunchie.

llBlackenedll

What does not having the strength in your right hand fingers for tapping have to do with being unable to mute? They're not directly related and you'll just ingrain bad habits and have to re-learn some time (which, trust me, is way more difficult than learning to do it right in the first place).

__________________
ESP Horizon FR II (EMG) / Ibanez Prestige RG1570 (DiMarzio Crunch Lab & LiquiFire pickups)

This ain't no wobbly-headed doll caper.

vayne92

He uses a dampener for a lot of his licklibrary video's that's true. But they're professional paid for tuition dvd's. Of course they want it sounding as perfect as possible. In almost every recording environment a dampener is used. I'm sure even Vai / Gilbert and shit even use it for their studio recordings. In that video i showed he's not using a dampener though and you could never tell the difference. He's just a ****ing robot i swear and i'm gonna destroy him then drink his blood and eat his heart and soul and all that ****ed up shit so i can be like him.

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Geldin

Most recording artists use some kind of sound suppression when recording, especially single note lines with tons of gain. Live, most excess noise is lost in the mix, but in the studio, what sounds like a clear signal can still contain roughness around the edges that some kind of dampener will clean up.

__________________
My solo progressive metal project,
The Sleeping Fury ,
has a just released its debut album.

The new album is streaming here

I've got a blog! It's a metal blog. About metal.