If you have ever tried to play slide guitar, then you already know that developing a solid, right hand muting technique is the key to sounding good when playing slide guitar.
Right hand muting allows you to play single note phrases using the slide without other notes ringing into it. This will allow you to play many types of vocal melodies on the slide guitar as well as all those classic Duane Allman licks. It is essential that you develop this technique if you want to improve your playing.
So how do you develop this slide guitar technique? Here are 3 things that will drastically improve your right hand muting technique if practiced daily.
- Relaxing your hand. – You will never sound fluid if your hand isn’t relaxed. To truly sound great, you need to be as relaxed as possible. In the beginning this is hard, but over time you will learn how to relax and focus on the music.
- The Claw Technique. – Using your thumb and your other fingers, you will need to develop what I like to call the “claw technique”. When done properly this will allow you to “claw” all the unplayed strings so you don’t get extra noise from the unplayed strings.
- Rest your thumb in the space between the strings. – This will mute more than one string, and your palm should rest on the strings above it.
Developing a good technique takes focused practice and dedication. Daily practice of the same technique is critical. Once you have developed the correct technique for this, learning slide guitar licks will come much easier for you. It’s just a matter of practice, and then over time yow will develop the ability to play clean notes when using a slide.
In my DVD, Slide Guitar Method 1 Open E Tuning, I go over specific instructions on how to learn and implement this concept.
For more info on playing slide guitar please visit my website.
