# This is Why You Suck at Guitar: Your Muting/Dampening Sucks! Ditch the hair band!



## HumanFuseBen (Jul 2, 2016)

I deliver unto thee This is Why You Suck at Guitar 13: Your Muting/Dampening SUCKS! If you've ever wondered how to manage all the crazy noise your guitar produces and get your playing clean as a whistle (and ditch the damn hair band mute!), you're about to learn ALL the tricks! Scope it out and share!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJIRmnpTFRc


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## Pav (Jul 2, 2016)

Someone on SSO understands that fretwraps are merely a bandaid for sloppy playing? I never thought I'd see the day... 

You have my respect, good sir. People would do well to get rid of the crutches that they wrap around their guitars and learn to, you know, play with their hands.


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## Mike (Jul 2, 2016)

Good informative video  definitely plenty of good points made in favor of technique.

If I may play devils advocate here, proper muting technique is definitely the most important part of clean playing, but I feel there's instances where "crutches" like fretwraps or foams really do take care of excess string noise that a player can't necessarily stop just by muting the strings with hands/fingers alone.

A good example is a string through body tune-o-matic guitar with a fair amount of space between the nut and tuners. You can hold your hands all day on any part of the strings and fretboard, but string vibration and just general movement of the guitar (most noticeably on higher gain amps) is going to cause the strings behind the bridge and in front of the nut to vibrate and thus send noise through the amp.

You can argue that technique can stop that, but I think some guitars are just a lot more prone to unwanted string noise and things like setup and construction of the guitar play a part as well in keeping string noise under control.


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## mrspacecat (Jul 2, 2016)

Mike said:


> A good example is a string through body tune-o-matic guitar with a fair amount of space between the nut and tuners. You can hold your hands all day on any part of the strings and fretboard, but string vibration and just general movement of the guitar (most noticeably on higher gain amps) is going to cause the strings behind the bridge and in front of the nut to vibrate and thus send noise through the amp.



This is the reason why I just got a fretwrap. I don't have any problems with my Floyd rose equipped guitar, but my tune-o-matic guitar gives me noise like crazy (high e and b strings especially). It is also a cheaper guitar, so that could also be the issue. The video made me feel bad for buying it, but this makes me feel better. 
However, that doesn't mean that I won't be working on my muting technique. I really don't like using the fretwrap since it makes using the first fret difficult.


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## HumanFuseBen (Jul 2, 2016)

oh don't get me wrong, theres a BIG difference between using a tie/wrap to kill out strings ringing behind the nut/saddle and someone who's just using it to cover up noise they're making! I've got a guitar or two that rings behind the nut. Its not a huge deal usually, but especially when recording, you just HAVE to put a hair tie around the strings behind the nut. Same happens more often than not with tune-o-matic bridge.


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## Pav (Jul 2, 2016)

mrspacecat said:


> This is the reason why I just got a fretwrap. I don't have any problems with my Floyd rose equipped guitar, but my tune-o-matic guitar gives me noise like crazy (high e and b strings especially). It is also a cheaper guitar, so that could also be the issue. The video made me feel bad for buying it, but this makes me feel better.
> However, that doesn't mean that I won't be working on my muting technique. I really don't like using the fretwrap since it makes using the first fret difficult.



Oh yes, TOMs can be a pain in that regard. You could try the DIY fix for that problem and stuff foam underneath the strings in front of the nut and behind the bridge. Or wrap those sections of strings with electrical tape or something. That will kill the additional overtones without impeding your first fret access or muting your open strings.


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## noUser01 (Jul 3, 2016)

Pav said:


> Oh yes, TOMs can be a pain in that regard. You could try the DIY fix for that problem and stuff foam underneath the strings in front of the nut and behind the bridge. Or wrap those sections of strings with electrical tape or something. That will kill the additional overtones without impeding your first fret access or muting your open strings.



I really try to avoid tape for this, because I've had issues with it causing tuning problems when recording. If it's a Tune-O-Matic or similar bridge system where a FretWrap doesn't fit, I'll take some foam (like the kind you get when you buy new pickups and they use it to keep them from getting banged around in the box) and stick that under the strings.


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## Lorcan Ward (Jul 3, 2016)

Good video! A lot of really solid information and tips in there. I'm noticing guys using dampeners more and more, for two handed tapping it can be acceptable but definitely not for sweeping or string skipping.

I really dislike using a string mute because it messes with the feel of a guitar.

They are absolutely vital on every guitar for getting rid of that "shring" sound passed the nut though. I hate hearing it on albums.


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## narad (Jul 3, 2016)

Nice vid! I wonder if the 13 vids in this series so far are collectively enough for me not to suck at guitar.


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## Varcolac (Jul 4, 2016)

narad said:


> Nice vid! I wonder if the 13 vids in this series so far are collectively enough for me not to suck at guitar.



Maybe. If not, at least you'll know _why_ you suck.


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## mdeeRocks (Jul 7, 2016)

HumanFuseBen said:


> I deliver unto thee This is Why You Suck at Guitar 13: Your Muting/Dampening SUCKS! If you've ever wondered how to manage all the crazy noise your guitar produces and get your playing clean as a whistle (and ditch the damn hair band mute!), you're about to learn ALL the tricks! Scope it out and share!!!
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJIRmnpTFRc



Hey Ben,

Really enjoyed the video. You forgot about thumb muting. I demand thumb sequel.


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## JohnTanner (Jul 16, 2016)

good stuff Ben! i'm currently trying teach myself your muting techniques for sweep picking. it's hit and miss, but it's coming along


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## chris9 (Jul 20, 2016)

Andy james, Scott mishoe and of course Mr Guthrie Govan himself they all use extra mutes.
Guthrie uses one on the tapping licks lessons he did for guitar world magazine. He also uses one live on numerous occasions and let's be honest he is the best player on the planet so if he can so can we. Andy and Scott always play with them and these guy definitely Don,t suck. 
So if you need a little extra help to stop noise what's the harm, cars have power steering and traction control. We have washing machines ,cookers and Google all to make our lives easier now we have fret wraps it's called progress.


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## Skyrme (Jul 25, 2016)

That explains normal playing without fret wraps but it doesn't explain something like Tosin's playing; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmfzWpp0hMc (clean as fuk two-hand tapping) Any suggestions?


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## Winspear (Jul 25, 2016)

Skyrme said:


> That explains normal playing without fret wraps but it doesn't explain something like Tosin's playing; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmfzWpp0hMc (clean as fuk two-hand tapping) Any suggestions?



It's pretty hard to know how clean that is given it's on the clean channel and in the mix. There's probably a fair amount of open string noise. That said, the parts look at least partially mutable. Same thing, picking hand wrist for bass strings and whatever you can manage with the left.


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## Lorcan Ward (Jul 25, 2016)

chris9 said:


> Andy james, Scott mishoe and of course Mr Guthrie Govan himself they all use extra mutes..



If you had watched the video he covers all that in the first minute. The video and title is aimed at guitarists using it as a crutch for bad muting technique. 



Skyrme said:


> That explains normal playing without fret wraps but it doesn't explain something like Tosin's playing; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmfzWpp0hMc (clean as fuk two-hand tapping) Any suggestions?



Just good technique and the mix covering up a certain amount of noise.


You can get away with a lot once everything else is added in a mix. If you checked out some of the isolated tracks ripped from guitar hero you can hear how messy some players are. I think its the A7X ones where you can hear how bad their muting is but its not noticeable on the album.


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## Dodeejeroo (Jul 28, 2016)

I'm fairly new to this forum, and when I saw this thread title I'm like, 
"Who's this poseur trying to rip-off Uncle Ben?"
Come to find it IS Uncle Ben!
Love your channel man, been a subscriber for a while now.


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