Single note picking - correct sound?

I have been working from a guitar tuition book and am currently learning all of the notes on the fretboard. The book I have came with a CD of all of the recorded 'songs' that are in the book.

The songs are very basic e.g. Michael row your boat ashore

My problem is that the book says nothing about how to stop the note of an open string once played. So when I play (4x4 time) one bar with 4 crotchets in it I should hear 4 distinct notes which only ring/sound for 1 beat each. If of those notes is an open string it just keeps ringing (great sustain!) so that crotchet is really being played as a semibreve.

Can someone tell me what technique I should use to shorten the note on an open string? The CD that I mention sounds very different to what I'm hearing when I play (the notes are correct, but the length is incorrect).

cheers,

TheOoz

there are a couple of things you could do, both are applying muting.

You could mute the ringing open note with your picking hand. That is known as palm muting. By applying pressure on the ring note with your picking hand, you'll kill the ringing.

The other way I can think of would be muting using your fretting hand. Let's say you play the 4th string open and the next note is on the 5th string. You could, when playing the second note, put a little angle on your fretting finger so that you are touching the 4th string. Than would also kill the ringing.

Hopefully I'm explaining this clearly enough and it can help you out.

Thanks - I'll try those techniques and see which one is the best. I was surprised that the book didn't make any suggestions on what I could.