Bizarre Muting Question

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

I've noticed that there always seem to be threads on muting.

 

And finally, I started wondering how the hell *I* mute, simply because except for putting the RH palm across the strings to muffle them, I don't do anything special. And there are all those threads, so it MUST be important.

 

And then I realized that I normally cut off notes by loosening my LH, which stops the string dead.

 

Am I doing something strange or do you all do that?

[Phil W]

I think most of us mute unconsciously. Otherwise, our playing would sound awful. If you slow down and analyse your playing you'll find that you use left and right hand fingers to rest on unplayed strings to stop them ringing out. You also cut off strings by releasing pressure of course. If you mute a note on a harmonic node you'd have to use more than one point of pressure of the harmonic would ring out. Playing ghost-notes, for example, you have to mute the string with more than one finger or they sound as harmonics - the more fingers down, the better harmonics sound.

 

I didn't think about muting too much in my first 15 years of playing and I developed techniques subconsciously. Occasionally, when recording, I'd hear something bad as a result of poor muting though so I've been working on it for a while, more consciously. Playing chords on the piccolo bass I found I had to take it to another level too.

 

This thread might be useful to you:

 

https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/728566/page/114#Post728566

[Davo-London]

My main muting is by continuing the plucking finger to the next string to make sure that is muted. Muting the string that was just played is done by the LH lifting off the fingerboard. I think that's what I do

 

Davo

[theTragicRich]

Similar to Davo, I mute the lowest string(s) with my thumb anchored on it. Then the next string is muted with the follow-through of my pluck; the plucked string varies depending on what I'm playing so it's a combination of LH, RH, both, or the follow-through if I jump strings; and I mute the high string(s) with the LH laying gently across them.

 

Well, in theory that's how I mute. From time to time I do hear occasional notes ringing through (especially from harmonic nodes).

[jeremy c]

Most good players are doing a lot of muting and are not particularly aware of how they do it. Their ears heard notes ringing and their hands unconsciously made the necessary adjustments.

 

When I began teaching lots of students who have notes and open strings ringing all over the place, I had to analyze my playing to see what I was doing so that I could instruct the students.

 

I use both hands to mute and it has never been something that I thought much about......until I began slapping (many, many years ago) and noticed harmonics ringing. I paid a little more attention and solved the problem.

 

Muting becomes an issue when you first hear it. Hopefully this happens sooner rather than later so that you can develop habits which solve the problem.

[Eric VB]

And then I realized that I normally cut off notes by loosening my LH, which stops the string dead.

 

Am I doing something strange or do you all do that?

That's one of the reasons I try to avoid open strings. You lose the ability to LH mute in that manner when playing an open string. (Of course there are other ways to deal with that.)

 

I've been working on note length lately with my band. This sort of LH muting has been instrumental towards that end. There's just something magical about being able to play short notes with as much body and character as a sustained note.

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

That's one of the reasons I try to avoid open strings. You lose the ability to LH mute in that manner when playing an open string. (Of course there are other ways to deal with that.)

 

Yeah, that's the ONE reason why I'd get a 5 String, just to be able to play the bottom E as a fretted note and have more control.

 

Mind you, being a pick player, it's pretty easy to stop the string with the side of my RH.

[Sanvean]

Wooten uses a hair scrunchy by the nut to kill unwanted ringing strings, it does work rather nicely as I have tried it.

[howmanychanges]

I've been experimenting with the 'Floating Thumb' technique (search for Todd Johnson on You Tube) which seems to work well when playing from low to high strings, but still have to use conventional LH/RH muting when playing high to low. That said, I've only seen the clip on You Tube so maybe he addresses it on the dvd.

 

[...]

Most good players are doing a lot of muting and are not particularly aware of how they do it. Their ears heard notes ringing and their hands unconsciously made the necessary adjustments.

 

I don't consider myself a good player. Just very average. However I find my muting technique is complete and utterly involuntary. I just do it. Which might seem like a lame answer but when I start thinking about what I'm actually doing I'm much more likely to make a mistake. I know my right hand does a lot of crazy stuff while I'm playing and I use the "floating thumb" technique for my anchor. So my thumb does a lot of muting of strings but I know my pinky and ring finger on my right hand do a lot as well - it's just stuff that I never think about and it just happens. I am a firm believer that this sort of thing just, well, sorts itself out as you start to develope as a player. You hear the notes that you don't want to hear and you sort out a way to make them not ring. I can't imagine how it would be to think about that as well as think about all the other stuff that we think about when playing. To be totally honest I would say that 99% of the time I'm *not* thinking about anything I'm doing while playing. I just listen and as long as everything is sounding good I don't have a concern in the world.

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

To be totally honest I would say that 99% of the time I'm *not* thinking about anything I'm doing while playing. I just listen and as long as everything is sounding good I don't have a concern in the world.

 

Oh, same here. But sometimes I really have to break down what I'm doing, just to help me remember it when I know that muscle memory won't be enough. And that's when I start to wonder whether there may not be better ways of playing a given lick.

[Fred TBP]

if one considers music as conversation among musicians, then muting is as important to bass playing as the silence one puts at the end of sentences. it allows what you say to stand out, and it allows someone else to respond to it. otherwise, people will realize you're just talking to yourself and walk away.

 

I think it's been said already: one should give equal consideration to the silence (rests) between words (notes) in any played piece.

[Big Red 67]

if one considers music as conversation among musicians, then muting is as important to bass playing as the silence one puts at the end of sentences. it allows what you say to stand out, and it allows someone else to respond to it. otherwise, people will realize you're just talking to yourself and walk away.

 

I think it's been said already: one should give equal consideration to the silence (rests) between words (notes) in any played piece.

 

Sometimes what you don't play is more important than what you do play. The more I think about that the more important it becomes to my playing.

 

On muting there are a lot of different kinds. All the "we just do it" methods have been covered but there are other methods. Like palm muting and using your thumb to get a more upright type tone. Any other types that you guys use?

[Nicklab]

I think I do both the concious and unconcious muting. My left hand handles the potentially ringing strings. My right hand will handle the more exaggerated muting that I use to emphasize my work with a pick.

[Gruuve]

I think it's been said already: one should give equal consideration to the silence (rests) between words (notes) in any played piece.

 

Extremely well said!

[Gruuve]

On muting there are a lot of different kinds. All the "we just do it" methods have been covered but there are other methods. Like palm muting and using your thumb to get a more upright type tone. Any other types that you guys use?

 

Are we talking about muting unplayed strings, or muting played strings? To mute unplayed strings, I use mostly floating thumb for lower strings and LH muting for higher strings.

 

Muting played strings is a totally different story however. I generally do all the muting with the fingers on my right hand in one form or another. For instance, one technique that works well to create a thumpy Rocco-ish kind of tone is to lightly rest my pinky near the bridge on the string that I am playing. Instant muting, and you can easily lift that finger to let a note ring. This sounds quite similar to the tone you get from thumb-plucking/palm-muting, but with more mid attack.

 

Probably the other most common thing I do is plucking with 3 or 4 fingers...the more fingers you use, the auto-magically shorter the notes are (you get a finger back on the string quicker). The notes are bright and short rather than thumpy and short like above though.

 

I tend to get a lot of mileage out of these two techniques.

 

Dave

 

[...]

Sometimes what you don't play is more important than what you do play.

 

In my opinion the Miles Davis school of approaching music. And it speaks volumes. Miles would sometimes let a whole chorus go by and he'd only play a few notes, but those notes that he did play meant a lot. Space is good. I'm always thinking about space when I'm writing basslines for new music. Just keeping that thought in your head of "is what I'm doing adding to the music or is it taking away" is completely huge. Sometimes it's better to just not play anything. Knowing when to play and when not to play can make all the difference in the world.