Palm Muting

[NC11-AM] Alright, this is my first lesson, so don't be too harsh.

Now, with a lot of beginning guitarists, I've actually noticed their defective palm muting techniques. They just smash their palm against the bridge and basically mute the strings. Not what you're aiming for most of the time, right?

I learned palm muting early through a lot of trial and error. Sometimes I'd mute the strings, or even snap them. This is because I, like most beginners, don't fully understand how fragile a guitar can really be and was teaching myself. Well, I continued to do just that and I've learned a lot. So, I'll share. :]

If you just press as hard as you can to palm mute, you'll cause damage to your instrument. You can bust your bridge, warp the body and neck, and snap a few strings. Some of those might sound like a bit much, but trust me, its happened to a lot of people I know. So be careful.

To correctly palm mute a string, GENTLY lay the side of your hand picking hand ((the area from your wrist to your pinky)) directly on the bridge of the guitar. Now move it toward the strings just a LITTLE. Now strum. Sound right? :]

Now, you can make the note sound a bit different depending on how hard you press. You needn't press too hard though, so be careful and don't snap a string like I did in '08. Notice that pressing a little harder gives it more of a...lets say 'chunkier' sound. PERFECT for Blues if you so desire.

For palm muting practice, I suggest songs like Hitchin' a Ride and Basket Case from Green Day. Or just experiment with different power chords, there usually best to start with, aside from single notes. Once You get more advanced you can try it with sweep picking. A gread piece for this is Welcom Home by Coheed and Cambria::

Green Day - Hitchin' a Ride
e------------------------------------------------------------------------
b------------------------------------------------------------------------
g------------------------------------------------------------------------
d------------------------------------------------------------------------
a-99-77-66-555/-99-77-66-555/--------------------------------------------
e-77-55-44-333/-77-55-44-333/--------------------------------------------
PM.. .. .. ...  .. .. .. ...
 
Green Day - Basket Case
e|-------------------|-------------------|-----------------|----------------
B|-------------------|-------------------|-----------------|----------------
G|---9---------------|-------------------|-----6-----6-----|----------------
D|---7-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-|-----9-------9-----|-6-6-6-6-6-6---6-|-----6-------6--
A|---7-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-|-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-4-4-|-4-4-4-4-4-4---6-|-6-6-6-6-6-6-6--
E|-----------------7-|-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-----|-------------4-4-|-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4
PM     . . . . . .     . .   . . .   . .   . .   . .   .     . .   . . .  .
 
Coheed & Cambria - Welcome Home
e----------------------|------------------|
B----------------------|------------------|
G--------------7-------|------------------|
D---------9-10----10-9-|-7--7-10-9-7------|
A-------7--------------|-------------10-9-|
E--0--0----------------|------------------|
PM .  . . .  .     
 
e----------------------|------------------------------|
B----------------------|------------------------------|
G--------------7-------|------------------------------|
D---------9-10----10-9-|-7--7-10-9-7------------------|
A-------7--------------|-------------10-9-9--14-12-9--|
E--0--0----------------|------------------10-12-10-10-|
PM .  . . .  .                             .  .  .  .

I really hope this all helped! Please Rate and Comment.