Need help with tapping-technique

[Nevermorian]

Hello fellow guitarists!

I've been practicing tapping recently and I noticed a problem I cannot solve; muting the strings! Tapping on the high e-strings is no problem, but everything below is. Are my fingers to thick or what? Way to much string noise and I don't know how to mute properly while tapping. Legato playing isn't that much of a problem (besides the lack of stamina, but at least this is something that comes with time!) because I can mute the strings with my right hand, but that seems not possible when I tap.

So, does anyone of you have any suggestion for me? Any help is appreciated!

 

[Yngvai X]

When I tap, I mute the lower strings with the palm of my right hand and if i need to mute the higher strings I use the fingers Im not using on my right hand (usually 3rd and 4th). When I tap with two fingers (2nd and 3rd) I just use my palm.

 

[Metal_Massacre]

I use the wrist of my right hand to mute while im tapping.

 

[Zax666]

I also consider my tapping a little problematic...
Stll, after all the useful advice, dudes, how the f*** do I change the position of my right hand without open strings ringing all over the place and without an ugly *whitz* from the strings?
I also have the open stings problem while I'm trying to do an ascending sweep. Descending ones I've figured out, though.

 

[Macy]

Sweeping is even worse to get clean.

 

[Yngvai X]

About getting techniques clean...theres really not too much more to be said than the tried and true:

Practice SLOW and pay attention to DETAIL. Thats really all there is too it. Really think about what your hands are doing. Are you moving your fingers more than you have to? Is there a way you could mute more propperly? These are all things that you can really mold at a slow tempo and as you use them while you build up speed you'll retain them when you play fast.

 

[Zax666]

Me too, but I still make *screech" when I shift position. I guess I'll have to learn not to do it (position shifting, I mean).
I guess there can't be a comfortable way of playing the guitar wrong.

 

[shredmaster]

I have the same advive as Yngvai, analyze your playing and locate the root of the problem, then change it for the better.

 

[OfSinsAndShred]

About getting techniques clean...theres really not too much more to be said than the tried and true:

Practice SLOW and pay attention to DETAIL. Thats really all there is too it. Really think about what your hands are doing. Are you moving your fingers more than you have to? Is there a way you could mute more propperly? These are all things that you can really mold at a slow tempo and as you use them while you build up speed you'll retain them when you play fast.

What he said. You have to start SLOW (don't even bother with a metronome at first, then when you have it down start with the metronome and work up the tempo). It's grueling, but it pays off.

 

[MorphineChild205]

I have the same problem on bass (although it's not as bad as guitar). I can't stop the open strings from ringing!

I've pretty much learned Lepond's tapping bit in "King of Terrors", and it's a great example of this problem. The first tapping part (the slower one) I can do clean, but the faster one after that is a bitch. The 4th and 5th strings are always ringing and sounding like pure shit.

Also, when sweeping on guitar, I have the same problem Zax666 has. Decending sweeps are easy, but the ascending ones are tricky (when it comes to the open strings ringing out).

 

[the_satanic_rabbit]

You can cheat too for recording purposes to get it extra clean


Tie a thin sock over the first fret and watch your muting woes fade!


Still practice the real way so you can pull it off live. If you cheat, you wanna make sure you can always pull it off live in case you "break it"

 

[MorphineChild205]

Still practice the real way so you can pull it off live. If you cheat, you wanna make sure you can always pull it off live in case you "break it"

You CAN still do it live! Just have one of your techs run up at that part with a guitar with a sock on it and have HIM play it!

Ingenious.

 

[Zax666]

I've already done this sock trick but I used a bandage on my first (relatively unplayable) electric guitar, 11th fret. Only coz' I couldn't get the action low enough!

BTW I've been practicing my sweeping these days and the open strings problem is slowly fading away!

 

[Zax666]

The heel on my superstrat is getting more and more of a playability problem, BTW. I'm also finding the neck too thin for playing comfortable.

I guess I'm getting past my love for that guitar. :/

 

[shredmaster]

You can cheat too for recording purposes to get it extra clean


Tie a thin sock over the first fret and watch your muting woes fade!


Still practice the real way so you can pull it off live. If you cheat, you wanna make sure you can always pull it off live in case you "break it"

I think Michael Angelo gets the same effect with his string dampener, what a wimp.

 

[Yngvai X]

I think Michael Angelo gets the same effect with his string dampener, what a wimp.

I think what Angelo mostly uses his string dampeners for is for when he plays his ambidextrous guitar and harmonizes lines legato with one hand on each fretboard.

 

[the_satanic_rabbit]

I know that Marty Friedman uses a tech to put a finger over the first fret sometimes, you can see this in his "The Essential" video.
For the record, I have never done recorded like this, but I did try it once just to see what it was like. IMO, it chokes of the sound a little too much...and for Michael Angelo, yes I can understand why he uses the dampner for the double neck...because it would be impossible to be hammering on both and have it sound clean. So he is not a cheater for doing that.
Amen, Halelujah, Jumbalaya

 

[The_Accolade]

i didn't bother to see other people's posts...

but i generally use the palm of my right hand to mute the strings above the string i'm tapping on, and the fingers of my left to mute the strings below the string i am tapping on.

it is very important to know how to use your left hand fingers to mute strings below the uppermost (furthest from the floor) strings.

you need to do that for clean sounding sweep arpeggios

also work on touching the frets as lightly as possible..bashing the frets causes other strings to sound when you dont' what them to

 

[The_Accolade]

actually, if your problem only occurs on strings other than the high e, it seems almost certain to me that the cause is a lack of muting on behalf of your left hand index finger

 

[nataservant]

practice practice practice etc.