Palm muting

Hey Mike

Love your videos!

I have a question about palm muting. I just bought a strat and am finding that the volume knob is getting in the way when I do palm muting on the bridge. My little finger keeps getting caught above or below it. I gotta net doing something wrong. Any tips? Sorry for such a lame question.

Hey Dav3y!!! This is NOT a lame question!!

Yes, on a strat, that volume knob is right there in the way of things!!

Try keeping your picking hand as RELAXED as possible, so that even if you do bump into that volume knob, you are fluid and you kind of just "bounce" off of it.

Also, take a look at the shape of your picking hand when you palm mute. Do you keep it straight and parallel with the bridge? If yes, then experiment with curling your fingers a little more towards the neck.

I notice when i palm mute on a strat, the fingers on my picking hand naturally curl towards the neck, and anchor in the space between the high E string and the volume knob. If you can get your hand relaxed and in this position, you could even lightly rest the side of your pinky right onto the volume knob. This might be something to experiment with if your picking hand is staying straight and parallel with the bridge.

Hopefully this gives you a few things to experiment with when palm muting. Let me know if it has been of any help!

Thanks for the question, and keep rocking!!
Mike

Thanks for the answer, it was a help.

Your point on resting the pinky was useful as I already found myself doing that so it's good to know it wouldn't be a bad habit to get into. But the problem I found with it was that when moving to play the top strings it would get trapped in there. Also, switching between strumming and muting was tricky.

Oh well, I guess its nothing that practice can't fix!

OK cool, glad it was a bit of a help:)

With more practice and experience, you'll eventually stumble into the workarounds that work for you and your style.

Just remember to keep that picking hand as relaxed as you can, so that even if your pinky is anchored on the volume knob or somewhere on the pickguard, it's not so locked that you can't adjust it when you need to (for example, moving from strumming to muting, or moving into picking the higher strings).

Thanks for the great question! Keep rockin'!!
Mike