This one is a little hard to explain, but I'm learing some new rhythms and now there are rests in the rhythms. My instructor has been giving me progressively more difficult rhythm strucutures to practice. Each one is one measure (4 beat long). They started off with just straight rhythms such as 8 1/8th notes in a row, or half note - eighth - eighth - quarter. Then he introduced ties. For the 8 eighth notes, the 4th and 5th were tied together so it gave 1 & 2 & (3) & 4 & with the (3) not being played because it was tied to the preceding &.

If you're still with me, he has now introduced rests. So for the same run of eighth notes, I now have 1 & (1/8 rest) & (3) & 4 &, or something similar. Another rhythm was half note - 1/8th rest - eighth tied to the following eighth - eighth. Whew! That one is hard to explain in words. 1 (& 2 &) (3 rest) & (4) &.

Once again, if you're still with me, the real question I have is related to the muting I do on the rests. He has me place my hand on the strings on the note that is rested, and I should end up with the pick in place for the next strong. For example, if I'm resting on what would be a down stroke, the pick should wind up below the high e string ready for the next up stroke. I have a hard time bending my wrist around such that the pick is in the right position below the string, but if I mute by letting my hand slide across the string slightly, I effectively get a down stroke.

Is it reasonable to let my hand slide across the strings during a rest/mute? Or, should I have a stationary hand?

I hope this makes sense, but I'm happy to clarify if you need it.

-Kirk