My question is not really about the anchor exercise and it might be a bit silly
But Justin says that “Muting all the strings with your strumming hand will help stop string ringing out when not wanted.” Ahem, I tried that. I have all fingers flat on the fretboard. But even if I press them down as hard as I possibly can, some strings always ring out. Most of the time, it’s the 1st and/or 2nd string, sometimes it’s the 6th string. So how do you do that?
But to be honest, I strum every chord once or twice anyhow. Just to be sure that my fretting fingers are in the right position and the strings ring out (more or less) clean. I don’t understand the benefit of just moving my fretting fingers around without checking if they are positioned correctly. Or am I missing something important about this exercise?
Where and when does Justin say that? I ask, because string muting is not generally a beginner technique.
In any case, you have “all fingers flat on the fretboard” with your strumming hand? I’m having trouble visualizing this.
In any case, when muting strings on the fretboard (with your fretting hand), you do not want to press down hard, but very lightly. In this way your fingers are touching the strings, thereby muting them, without actually pressing them against the fretboard, which would cause them to sound.
You can also mute with your strumming hand, simply by laying your strumming hand (sort of the outside part of the palm) against the strings.
Which hand you use to mute will depend on the specific context.
My problem was with the “strumming mechanics” video. There he mutes the strings with the fretting fingers; so that you can just practice the strumming movement. And this didn’t work for me. Sorry again for the confusion
