Finger Lifting Sound

Hi again!

Still very much enjoying GT since my last forum post (around a month ago).

I have another question, as i've just started learning scales, and its when playing scales that i find this issue most noticeable.

Once i strum a string and then lift my finger off i find that the sound of the open string is still slightly audible (kind of like a hammer-off?).

As i am still in the beginning stages (Guitar Fundamentals 2) is this something that i should try to master now (by muting the strings somehow)? or would you recommend to carry on learning 'the basics' and tackle this later on?

I hope this makes cense.

Thanks in advance.
I have so far found this forum to be the most friendly and informative guitar forum around! :D

I have this problem too sometimes. Even worse when I'm playing through my electric with the volume way up. If I lift my finger off of the string, it makes a sound. When going on fast runs it's tough to keep it all muted.

You're not alone. I still encounter that problem.

Well, as I've been at this only a couple of months, I can give a newbie perspective. I have this problem too, however I'm noticing now that it's getting significantly better as my fingers get more calloused and used to it. My supposition is that the pads are getting harder and smoother, and the string isn't "sticking" on the finger as much now. I'm also noticing the the temporary grooves in the pads right when I stop aren't as deep, so that would seem to support this theory....

Hey, there! Glad you are still enjoying GT. :)

Originally Posted by: lh1710Once i strum a string and then lift my finger off i find that the sound of the open string is still slightly audible (kind of like a hammer-off?).

To fix this problem: do NOT remove your finger from the string. You want to maintain contact with the string as much and as long as possible in order to keep unwanted sound & noise from happening.

When you change notes, release just enough pressure from the string to stop the note from sounding, but keep you finger(s) lightly touching the string in order to keep any unwanted sound & noise from happening.

You can also help by slightly muting unwanted string noise with your right hand palm. The trick here is to learn to subtly control unwanted noise with muting from both your left and right hand.

You can continue to move forward through the courses, but remember to make muting a conscious part of your practice schedule. In other words, keep going forward, but keep working on muting!

Best of success.

I can't find the video, but I remember seeing one where Joe Satriani mentioned this. He sometimes uses his right hand fingers (not the ones holding the pick obviously) to touch strings he isn't using. The way he described it was like doing a little dance with your fingers around the strings as you are moving up and down them.

If I'm not mistaken, Neal in one of his Tip of the week weekly channel lessons gave a tip where you could take a rubber band, or one of your wife's scrunchies and put it at the very end of your guitar neck. Helps to mute out some of those unwanted noises.

If you ask Chris real nice, he may let you use one of his scrunchies. :D

Touching the strings? Wouldn't this deaden any open string you want to play?

Another thing that I'm doing is watching the instructors fingers VERY carefully as I do the lessons. Sometimes even pausing to freeze. And, I'm noticing some good things that way. For instance, relative to this thread, I recently noticed that when Christopher plays a C Major chord, As he puts his ring finger on the A string, he moves it over just enough to touch the E string and mute it at the same time with that finger.

Wow thanks for all the tips. I've put them into practise and its working out well for me! :D

Thanks Again

I changed my strings and that really helped. They were a year old, and had some serious practice time on them. I'd noticed that the G string had picked up a ring to it when I played the A note on it. I went ahead and changed all of the strings and the ringing and after tone are both gone now. It's also much easier to tune the guitar.

A year??? Wow, you should be changing them AT LEAST once a month

Speaking of which, I probably should change mine.

i dont remove my finger from the string but it doesnt matter becuase just by making a most gentle move and leaving close to the string, still makes that horrible sharp noise. I must be dont this so Wrong :(