The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
  1. #1

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    I'm a mostly thumb player and recently acquired a Gibson L-7. After putting on a Dearmond floater, I started getting a ton of noise/vibration on the low E string when playing single notes elsewhere and I'm not sure how to mute it.

    Any other thumb players out there that have issues with muting? How did Wes do it?

    Thanks!

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    It's a combination of left and right-hand muting. When single-noting, mute everything else with the left and right hands.

    When playing octaves, I generally mute non played notes with the left hand...even if I am playing four-string interval octaves (e.g., 1st string/5th fret and 4th string/7th fret).

    Anybody else?

  4. #3

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    I see, but if you look at the way Wes played, he didn't have the heel of his right hand anywhere in a position where he could mute lower strings with his right hand hand. Did he go over the top of the neck with his left thumb to mute those lower strings?
    Maybe I will take a video and show my "technique" and see where I am lacking.

  5. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by DMgolf66
    I see, but if you look at the way Wes played, he didn't have the heel of his right hand anywhere in a position where he could mute lower strings with his right hand hand. Did he go over the top of the neck with his left thumb to mute those lower strings?
    Maybe I will take a video and show my "technique" and see where I am lacking.
    Wes was otherworldly in his style, tone and technique. He somehow played complex jazz lines, phrases and chordal parts with zero audible string-to-string sympathetic sounds. When/if I make it to jazz heaven I will certainly call on him for lessons.

  6. #5

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    How did he do it? Maybe he had special strings.


  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greentone
    It's a combination of left and right-hand muting. When single-noting, mute everything else with the left and right hands.

    When playing octaves, I generally mute non played notes with the left hand...even if I am playing four-string interval octaves (e.g., 1st string/5th fret and 4th string/7th fret).

    Anybody else?
    Exactamundo! I mute strings primarily with the left hand while fretting my note(s) of the moment with the right hand muting anything un-reachable for the left hand. It is the primary reason the action on my guitars is a little higher than average. If the action were lower, the muted strings would tend to buzz.

  8. #7

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    On octaves it's relatively easy to mute all strings with the second and third fingers of the fretting hand, at least that's how I do it, works ok..

    Single lines it's a combination of both hands. Resting the thumb on the strings does some muting, and with the fretting hand, the finger on the note mutes the adjacent heavier string, and more often then not I use its thumb to mute the bass strings.