Here's the problem.
You think you're playing this.
[Anesthesia" by Cliff Burton]
But you're actually playing this.
[Cliff rolling in his grave]
If you don't get your bass
muting technique together,
the notes you mean to play
will get smothered by the rumbling racket
of your other ringing strings.
The difference might sound subtle
through a little practice amp
or if you're listening to this
through your phone speaker.
[tinny bass line]
"Sounds fine!" [no it doesn't]
But it won't be subtle
when it's thundering
through a loud amp or a venue's PA system.
[Katayanagi twins attack]
[explosions]
So here are 5 bass muting fixes
from super-beginner to more advanced
that'll help you ax the unwanted
rumbling and string ringing
and tighten up your playing.
And you'll learn to apply
these during the video
as we play along with a little Bon Jovi.
Let's rock!
[BassBuzz Theme]
Muting means keeping strings from ringing
that you don't want ringing
so that your bass lines
sound clean and clear
and not like a muddy, inaudible mess.
This is a huge deal for us bass players
because we're usually just
playing one note at a time
which means there's one
string we want ringing
and three that we don't.
And even if you're not
doing anything wrong
by knocking into the strings
that you're not playing,
they can vibrate anyway due
to sympathetic vibration.
Sympathetic vibration is when
the vibration from one string
causes another nearby
string to also vibrate
even if you didn't touch it.
Check this out.
Fret the second fret on the
D string, which is an E.
Don't touch your low E string,
whatever you do, during this whole demo.
Okay, now pluck that note
and now mute your A, D and G strings
with both hands.
Still don't touch your low E
and check out what happens.
Your low E is ringing and you can hear it
and see it moving, right?
That's sympathetic vibration in action
and that's why you need
to be a muting ninja.
Hiya!
Shh.
Good bass muting technique
takes both hands.
Your plucking hand mostly
covers the lower strings
and your fretting hand is most helpful
for covering the higher strings.
These five fixes are gonna cover both
but we'll start with the plucking hand.
The first and easiest muting
fix is the thumb mute.
The thumb mute.
This is the easiest way
to mute your low strings.
You can move your thumb
between the pickup, the E
string, and the A string
depending on what strings you're playing.
But if your thumb goes to the A string,
make sure you angle it so
it also covers the E string.
But you never need to move the thumb
all the way down to the D string
because of fix number
two, the pull across.
The pull across.
[echo]
Students often think they
need to have their thumb
on the next string over
from where they're plucking,
like this.
But you can actually be two strings away
because of the pull across.
I've talked about this many times before.
Pull across, pull across,
pull across, the pull across.
And if you want more videos
of me telling you to pull across,
then hit subscribe and click the bell
so you get notified about
new pulling across videos.
Pulling across also called a rest stroke,
means that when you pluck,
your finger should pull across
the horizontal plane of the bass,
coming to rest on the next
string over, which mutes it.
If you pluck up and away
from the bass like this
you'll be missing out on
this awesome muting tool,
plus your tone won't be as fat and bassy.
Those two muting tools
will get you pretty far
and that's about as much muting
as I would teach to an absolute beginner,
but if you still have gaps
in your low string muting,
you might need fix number
three, the sneaky finger.
[Gollum easter egg]
Since we don't use our ring or pinky
for standard bass plucking,
you can sneak them in as muting tools,
so your thumb mute doesn't
have to do all the work.
Like if you don't like moving your thumb
all the way to the A string
when you're playing on the high strings,
you can leave your thumb
further back on the E string
and cover that A string
up with a ring or a pinky.
Let's put these three tips
in action with the main riff
from You Give Love a Bad Name by Bon Jovi.
[Bon Jovi bass riff]
Real quick, let me just walk you through
the fretting fingering on this.
We're gonna play pinky on the
third fret of the A string,
to ring on the third fret of the E string,
to index on the first
fret of the A string,
back to pinky on the third fret,
back to index on the first fret of the D.
Pluck that twice.
Then back to pinky on the third fret,
index on the first fret,
and the same thing in the second bar.
Pinky, ring, index, pinky,
index, index, pinky.
The most important
muting tool for this line
will be the pull across,
'cause all of your A string
plucks will mute the E string
and your D string plucks
will mute the A string.
So the only low string left
to cover is the E string,
here when we're playing on the D string.
So you can uses the thumb mute like this.
Or you could leave your
thumb back on the pickup
and use the sneaky finger,
like I'll get my ring finger in here
to cover up that E string.
And if any of this already
feels overwhelming,
I cover plucking hand
muting in mega detail
in my Beginner To Badass
course over at BassBuzz.com
But let me demonstrate
how this bass line sounds
using only these three muting tools.
Here we go.
[Bon Jovi bass line]
I'll do that one more
time. [Bon Jovi bass line]
So it sounds like, okay, right?
The low strings are covered.
[bass line without muting]
But the D and G strings are ringing.
That's why we need to
incorporate the fretting hand
to get those high strings muted as well.
Getting the plucking hand muting together
is something most beginners
can handle with some practice.
But nailing the fretting hand muting
will take a lot more time,
well into your intermediate
stage of development,
so don't expect to nail these
next two fixes on day one.
Get the plucking hand type first
and then start working on
the fretting hand muting.
That said, let's go to fix
number four, the string sitter.
The string sitter.
Strings are like babies.
You can't just leave them home alone.
[McCauley agrees]
They need a sitter.
But beginners often just let their fingers
fly off the string when
they're done with a note
which leads to ringing string problems.
So if you leave them on the
string when you're done,
they become a valuable muting tool.
So I'm playing this C on the
third fret of the A string.
When it's time for that note to end,
I release the pressure of fretting,
but I wanna stay in
contact with the string
and that keeps it silent.
If I just fly off,
[bass note]
then I get a ringing open A string.
It takes a lot of work
to train this reflex
to sit on the string,
but if you go super
slow and practice a lot,
eventually it becomes second nature.
And if you're already doing this,
you can take your string
sitting to the next level
by making sure you have multiple fingers
touching the string,
so that you don't get any
ringing overtones like this.
That brings us to our
final fix, number five,
the subject of some
controversy, the flat hand.
Attention!
Flat hand formation sir!
This is the best tool for
muting the high strings
that you aren't playing.
Beginners often start playing bass
with their fingers really curved,
kind of like you would on piano
and that is a legit way to play bass.
Pro bassists do it sometimes
and it gives you very slightly cleaner
notes and articulations.
But for most bass playing,
it's actually better
to have a flatter hand.
With your hand flattened out,
you'll be fretting more on
the pads of your fingers,
which leaves the rest of
the length of your fingers
resting on the other
strings to keep them muted,
especially those higher strings.
And your index finger is
the best place to start
with the flat hand tool
because it can rest on the strings
behind the other fingers
when they're fretting notes.
Now, let's apply all that
to this Bon Jovi line.
Remember, if you're a beginner,
fretting hand muting might be pretty hard,
so focus on fixes one through three
for the plucking hand first
and then eventually you'll
be able to think about
the fretting hand muting more.
So, if you're ready, let's tackle this.
You can use the string
sitter after your first note.
You'll just leave the
pinky touching the A string
when you go to the ring finger on the E.
So I'm still resting here with the pinky.
You can also use it when we get to those
[bass line]
D string first fret notes.
So in between the two plucks on that note,
there should be a little space.
Buh buh
[repeated notes]
Which is what that staccato
mark means in sheet music,
that little dot.
So you can string sit
in between those notes
to get the short note, pluck,
lift, to get some space,
and then pluck again.
And then you can string sit again
when you go back to the A string.
So you just leave the index
sitting on the first fret
when you go to the pinky on
the third fret of the A string.
As for the flat hand, you can use it
all the way through this bass line.
The index finger can
cover the D and G strings
[bass line]
while you're on
those E and A string notes,
which is most of this bass line.
And when you pop up to the D string,
if your index finger is flat enough,
you'll cover the G string
with the meat of your finger
further back there.
Okay, before we actually play
this bass line, together,
here's the big muting test
so you know if you're doing this right.
In slow motion, play this bass line,
but you wanna pluck all
four strings on every note
like this.
[bass notes]
So you should only hear the
one note that you're aiming for
and the other three strings
should just make a muffled thump sound.
If you hear any open strings, like this.
[rumbling bass notes]
Then there are gaps in your muting.
And yes these big weird plucks
are gonna totally mess
up your muting technique.
It's gonna mess up your pulling across
and it's gonna be hard
to anchor your thumb
to do the sneaky finger.
But this is the best
way to check your muting
and increase your awareness
of what all your strings are doing.
Okay, great work.
This is a lot to digest
and it's gonna take even more practice
to get these techniques second nature.
So let's finish on a fun note
and just play some Bon Jovi.
Notice that when we repeat the riff,
we're gonna hold over
onto the next beat one
and tie that note, okay?
Here we go.
Four clicks and we're in.
One, two, three, four.
[clicks]
♪ Strings are ringin' ♪
♪ And you're to blame ♪
♪ You give bass a bad name ♪
♪ You play your bass ♪
♪ With no muting game ♪
♪ You give bass a bad name ♪
♪ You give bass a bad name ♪
