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Is there any hand technique you can use to get more definition in palm muting? I think I mute pretty heavily and pretty much bang on the bridge but this is giving me quite a bassy sound which I think could be improved upon...even when the amp is set to icepick mode.
Any ideas?
I think it's something that it's best to practice with an unplugged guitar and it depends a lot on what type of bridge you use.
I've mostly had guitars with floating bridges so I've naturally developed a light palm mute so as not to pull the strings sharp. I tend to do it for funk riff purposes rather than teh brootalz.
Move your hand a tiny bit further away from the bridge and pick a little lighter. I find I can get more bassy thudness with my palm on the bridge, and can clean it up if I mute more string than bridge. If that makes sense?
I read something by David Mead which said something like you can tell when a song was recorded by how heavy the palm muting is ( ie its gotten heavier as a technique over the years).So, if you're trying to play 1940's swing tunes you're getting it wrong!
The problem I have with palm muting is that I tend to play a lot heavier handed live and can end up just deadening the strings when I don't intend to.To the point where I would smack the low E into the bridge pick up and get an audible pop.
Under more controlled conditions just a bit of experimentation to see what works.If it's to get the deadened 'chuck' on funk/reggae/ska type playing generally strumming lighter than when playing the notes ( if you see what I mean) is usually recommended and that would help.