Palm Muting

Palm muting is an important technique used primarily in playing the electric guitar, although the technique can be used for the acoustic guitar as well. This lesson will cover the palm muting technique in two of its uses. One is for getting the heavy "chuga-chuga" sound used in heavy metal music. Second and more importantly, how palm muting is used to quite notes after they have been played to prevent unwanted ringing and spurious sounds. In either case, palm muting is most effective when playing with an amp. That is why this lesson will focus on its uses with the electric guitar. 

To palm mute, place the edge of your right palm against the bridge of your guitar while picking the notes on your guitar. Use the meaty part of your palm. Play the following riff with using down strokes. Make sure your amp is on and you are using heavy distortion.

E||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
B||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
G||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
D||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
A||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
E||--0---0---0---0--|--0---0---0---0--|--0---0---0---0--||

  |-------------------------P.M.------------------------|

Palm muting the E string is pretty popular in heavy metal and rock music. Also try this using the open A string.

Now try palm muting using an F# power chord. As you are playing the chord, use down strokes and gradually lift the edge of your palm off the bridge and slow the pace until the last chord in ringing out. End by playing an E power chord, which you can also let ring out. 

E||--------------|--------------|--------------|-----||
B||--------------|--------------|--------------|-----||
G||--------------|--------------|--------------|-----||
D||--4--4--4--4--|--4--4--4--4--|--4--4--4--4--|--2--||
A||--4--4--4--4--|--4--4--4--4--|--4--4--4--4--|--2--||
E||--2--2--2--2--|--2--2--2--2--|--2--2--2--2--|--0--||


  |----------------------P.M.------------------------|


You can also mixed muted chords with un-muted chords to give riffs a certain emphasis and character. 

E||--------------------------------------------------------||
B||--------------------------------------------------------||
G||--------------------------------------------------------||
D||--9--9---9---8--8---8---7--7---7---6--6---6---5--5---5--||
A||--9--9---9---8--8---8---7--7---7---6--6---6---5--5---5--||
E||--7--7---7---6--6---6---5--5---5---4--4---4---3--3---3--||

|-|-PM-|-----|-PM-|-----|-PM-|-----|-PM-|-----|-PM-|----|

Using Palm Muting for Cleaner Sound

I almost always play the electric guitar with the edge of my palm near the bridge, so when I need to mute a note, I simply just need to apply some gentle pressure to the bridge. Doing this will make these exercises easier.

Since open strings ring out more, lets practice this next exercise with open strings and your amp set for high distortion. After each note is played, mute the string at the bridge with the edge of your palm before playing the next note. Be sure to let each note ring long enough before muting it. Play it as slow as you want, but speed up after you get the technique down. 

E||----------------------|----------------------||
B||----------------------|----------------------||
G||----------------------|----------------------||
D||-------0---------0----|-------0---------0----||
A||----------------------|----------------------||
E||--0---------0---------|--0---------0---------||


An excellent way to practice this is by using scales. Play any scale. Before going to the next string; quickly mute the current string with your palm and release, then go to the next string. Also do this while playing the scale in reverse. Try it first with the A Pentatonic scale. 


E||------------------|------------------|-----------5---8--|
B||------------------|------------------|--5---8-----------|
G||------------------|-----------5---7--|------------------|
D||------------------|--5---7-----------|------------------|
A||-----------5---7--|------------------|------------------|
E||--5---8-----------|------------------|------------------|



--8---5------------|-------------------|------------------||
-----------8---5---|-------------------|------------------||
-------------------|--7---5------------|------------------||
-------------------|-----------7---5---|------------------||
-------------------|-------------------|--7---5-----------||
-------------------|-------------------|-----------8---5--||

It is practice to get palm muting like this if you want to play guitar solos. Otherwise, the solos are going to sound like a cacophony of noises that may not be to pleasant to listen to (then again, maybe it will). These examples should help you in getting the basic technique down.