I know stuff on muting has been posted a thousand times but there seems to be a thousand techniques to this. I need a bit of help on what I am trying to achieve here.
I been playing bass for around a year and I didn’t realize the importance of good a muting technique until I started recording myself! I am self taught so have taken a few easy routes that involve not muting much with my plucking hand, apart from resting on the lower string with walking fingers.
Anyway, the following common technique is what I am currently working on with my right plucking hand (I use a 4 string bass): -
Thumb resting on pickup when playing E string
Thumb resting on E string when playing A string
Thumb resting on A string when playing D string
Thumb resting on D string when playing G string
When going from G string back to low E I use my ring finger to rest on the string I just played, I’m finding that a bit clumsy at the moment but it’s the only way I can seem to mute from higher tone to lower tone strings.
Overall this seems to be the most natural way for me but I need to know if I’m going the right way with the thumb and ring finger muting before I start investing a shed load of time in this, is there a more efficient way? For some reason I’m not into floating thumb, I just don’t like the feel of it but resting can take more time to manoeuvre I’m starting to realise, I’m hoping practice will address that issue.
I’m looking to get a really clear sound with my playing and am willing to invest a lot of time on it. I’d really appreciate any feedback on this.
Ritch