When I practice general exercises, for example scales or the spider I find that almost always I am muting with my fretting hand the strings adjacent to the one that I am playing, especially with my fretting finger. So unintentionally I am touching other strings that do not really need to be played in any case. Is this a problem? Should I try to really touch only the strings ment to be played? Thanks!
That might be a good thing if you are doing it in a controlled way to be honest. I mean if you are doing it and it keeps the extra strings quiet and it is not hampering you with something those fingers should be doing in the meantime or right after, like some jump or something. My thought is go for it. I am sure some one will swing by and give some better advice if I am mistaken or maybe even eleaborate.
Welcome to the website. Thanks for asking an interesting question
Muting /anything/ you dont want sounding is a good thing in general
Hi Rizvan, like others have said, that’s usually a good thing, but do make sure you are doing it with the right technique and intention i.e. only when you want to do it. Which grade are you working on e.g. have you studied this lesson?
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/muting-strings-deliberately-b2-804
It’s totally normal to mute adjacent strings with your fretting hand, and it’s actually a technique many guitarists use intentionally to keep unwanted noise under control. Unless it’s interfering with your playing or creating issues in songs where clean notes are essential, it’s not something to worry about. That said, if you want to practice precision, you can focus on fretting only the strings you’re playing during exercises.
I d say , if you do it on purpose its good , if not then its not cause it can interfere in your playing later
This question comes up from time to time. The answer can depend on the specifics of the situation, but as a general rule when playing scales and similar exercises (where you’re playing one note at a time), it’s ok to mute the strings that you aren’t playing.
When we learn chords, we learn to curl our fingers up and to avoid touching any string other than the one being fretted. This is because we are playing several notes at the same time and we want all to ring out. When playing single note lines (like a scale), we only want one note to ring out, so muting the other strings is fine (and actually beneficial, as others have pointed out). For this reason, we can lay our fingers a bit flatter when playing single note lines.
More advanced players will learn to purposefully mute the strings that aren’t being played.
1,000% on this!
my instructor has been getting me to use a handful of different muting techniques and I’m even still pretty beginner. it’s his opinion that there are two things that really separate good players from lesser players. one being good intentional muting and the other being good control of vibrato (the kind you get from your fretting hand).