I would like to ask you to check my video of hand placement for palm muting 3 strings so I can achieve same sound like Joe Robinson and Tommy Emmanuel.
I am working on materials from special guest from this year Joe Robinson who is teaching thumb independence and palm muting.
I got few questions:
Is my palm muting part on right place? If feels weird.
Are my other fingers (not thumb) in good place - rest on string or in air? It feels weird I should play any note like this.
Playing palm muted strings sounds pretty… silent. I can imagine if I play some melody I wont hear that base sound at all. Is it bad technique?
Is it normal it feels weird? Like pushing hand a little down, so I touch with palm but cant feel much space for thumb and other fingers.
I already checked few videos from many guys explaining. Now I would like to get checked if I got it right so I can start building on it few weeks without other strings so I got it in my hand.
I already know some fingerstyle (still beginner), but without palm muting.
I just need to know if I can place my hand and play string like this on daily basis and it will get better.
Bonus question: Do you hear that squeezing sound like someone walking in wet crocs? I hope I wont do and hear it anymore. Also my palm flesh looks pretty fat… thats a new insult for human being “your palm so fat, huuuu”.
I appreciate any feedback, pointing to bad things much more.
Thanks for your time and enjoy these nice holiday days.
The overall technique seems sound to me, you just need to make those macro movements with the picking hand when changing strings. Ideally you should cover strings 6 5 4 but slight repositioning when moving to 4 or back to 6 pays dividends. Similar to picking strings 6 to 1 unmuted and moving the palm down to mute the strings above the one you are playing. Same idea but more condensed. It just takes practice.
@TheMadman_tobyjenner Thanks for fast check. So I can slooooowly start to develop this. I can remember how I was saying I will start with all this next year but I am so excited and it drives me to start learning it.
@Alexeyd Thanks for recommendation master. I am already looking for that Dunlop medium which Joe recommend. Of course I am talking about this 23rd day before Christmass so every shop is closed. I 3D printed little test for me so I will see.
Already some good advice given. A few more thoughts…
This is pretty much how my hand looks also. I don’t play with a thumb pick, but using one would give more freedom to the thumb, which is somewhat constrained by the position of the hand doing the muting. It’s on my list of things to get good at.
I had to play a few notes to realize that I keep my fingers in the air, generally. However, I think there are cases where having them in contact with the strings is better. For example, for playing rolling chords.
It’s not bad technique, no. If you are playing a melody on the bass strings, you will generally remove the mute for that part of the piece. Even for one- or two-note embellishments in the bass, I often lift the palm mute. That’s a more advanced technique that you can try when you have the basics down.
I can’t remember if it felt weird at first, but generally new techniques will feel unfamiliar. After you practice it for a few hours, it will probably start to feel pretty normal.
Your question had me questioning my own technique because I think there is a problem with where you are resting your Palm. It looks to me like you are resting the base of your thumb on the bass strings. I can only find one person on youtube who teaches it like this and that is david hamburger at fretboard confidential. Tommy emmanual Sean Daniel Gareth Evans and others shows the way i do it which is to rest the outside edge (pinky side) on the saddle and top three strings. I cant find an example of joe or Justin teaching it on acoustic but if you watch their hands you see that both he and justin also use the outside edge (Karate style)
Your second problem is I think the sound of your palm rubbing against the bridge pins. This drives me nuts, too. I have tried a couple of things. firstly roughing them up a wee bit with sandpaper covering them with masking tape which works but is ugly. I have also replaced the cheap plastic pins with bone which helps in my case but the some people swear by plastic to avoid the squeeking.
At the moment because your hand is so far back towards the bridge your palm seems to cover the pins totally which would make the squeeking worse. if you look at the other players I mentioned you will notice that their fingers are over the sound hole and maybe just touching the top one or two pins. I think this would also help with the squeek.
Lots of fun with finger picking. I have watched one of your videos you are well on the way.
@Will_E_Vander man!
You cant imagine how much you helped me with that thumb palm/pinky palm. That was the weird feeling I had. I tried different possition. More by middle and pinky and it immadiatelly fixed my feeling and playability. I can even use my other fingers and use it in songs I already know. Thanks for notice in my early steps in this technique.
I also fixed names on YouTube video so no one learn it bad like I started.
I got here short sample its one my of firsts attempts, so its not best, but I can feel it!
Hi Michal
That looks much much better, the advice to use a thumb pick is also very good, I think both are good to practice, even though I still find thumb picks difficult my self.
If you are interested in Folk Blues, or country finger picking my favorite online teacher is mike molaro at https://www.mikesmusicmethod.com
He has tutorials which are graded from beginner to advanced I have learned most from him (someday I will get around to posting something) His stuff is also essentially still free you just need to sign up to the site to access the tabs and donate what ever you can afford or nothing at all. I think i will buy his fingerpicking e-book today to ease my conscience a bit.
At the moment I am working on Elizabeth Cottons Freight train (He teaches the way she plays it) I have also learned stuff by john prine, townes van zandt, mississippi john hurt, john fahy, dylan. fionn regen among others.
Justin is the man for everything else!
Also my palm flesh looks pretty fat… thats a new insult for human being “your palm so fat, huuuu”. 
