This is just coming from an old school guitar player, you can take this advice or leave it. Try to not use fret wraps, learn to control the distortion at low levels first and then move towards the more aggressive end. When I say control its just like Justin said using your index finger during chords to silence strings that are not played. Even in scales there are a myriad of tricks to use when using high levels of distortion that would eliminate the need of those fret wraps. IMHO it just looks cheesy and appears to be a crutch for some guitar players. Another silencing method is to use your fretting hand and finger placement for example you fret the fourth string fourth fret, but have no intention of having the 5th string ring out while playing a scale or sweep picking etc. You place the finger for the note to sound and using the very edge of your finger is touching the 5th string which mutes it, you won’t hear this with a clean tone but when gain levels are past 5 is when this technique comes in very handy. I also use picking hand muting along with pick muting which takes a ton of practice to pull off, at high gain levels sounds really tight. Fret wraps lol you don’t see Scott Ian (Anthrax), Hettfield (Metallica), KK (Slayer), Matt H (Trivium), etc etc using fret wraps, it all leads down to training yourself to play this way at high gain levels. Eddie Van Halen didn’t use fret wraps and all his amps were always dimed. Just my two cents.
FretWraps are essentially a small but rather thick piece of fabric that is adjustable and fastened through a plastic loop and secured with velcro. The cloth material dampens the strings and removes a lot of the natural but annoying overtones that come with playing a stringed instrument like guitar and bass.
I’m a bit confused regarding your post. I’m not aware of any of Justin’s lessons that suggested using “fret wraps”. In fact, Justin specifically addresses left and right-hand muting techniques as part of his guitar course.
What inspired you to share your perspective on this?
Yeah, fret wraps might be one of the few things that I’m not very passionate or opinionated about. That said, a compelling case was made for me to still not care too much. LOL
Fret wraps are placed between the nut and the tuning pegs and/or between the bridge and the tailpiece, i.e. parts of the string that are not played. Some guitars produce an audible sound on those sections of the strings and that may bother some players.
Who ever thought about using them as a surrogate for poor muting techniques, really?
It’s like a reply to advice that was never actually given by anyone… at least not here.
Had no idea what fret wraps were before now. On looking into their purpose, they seem to have a perfectly legit reason to exist, and are not something that indicates the poor technique of an amateur. Perhaps the OP has misunderstood or been misinformed of their actual use?
I use Gruv Gear wraps myself, and Justin summarizes their intended use perfectly.
The OP is not wrong in many of his points though, working on good muting technique is of course important because fret wraps won’t save you in a live setting.
In the studio? Who knows what these guys used - probably every trick in the book to get the cleanest take on tape, perhaps even pieces of foam and hair bands
I just found out that Matt from Trivium started to use them in 2021. Kind of gives a couple reasons but there wasn’t anything earth shattering with his performances with and without them. All sounded the same, fast and accurate.
Was a result of a heated discussion, not on the boards here with a buddy of mine that has been a session player for almost 40 yrs. He plays blues and rock, the discussion spiraled when you start seeing everyone on YT using them. I didn’t see anything where Justin said anything on fret wraps I was just suggesting there are smarter ways to go about certain things when playing. But if you do watch Justin closely in his classes he is using his fretting hand to mute during certain things he plays, just an observation.
