Muting Advice Needed

I just joined but have been learning on my own at home at Guitar for about 8 months and keyboard for about 2 years. All of the following I already know ...


I can easily finger the full open chords.
I know C, D, E, F, G (both fingers), A, Dm, Em, Fm, Am, G7, A7, C7, D7, E7.
I know how to form major scales and minor scales
i know how chords are formed,
intervals
sight reading the Treble & bass staffs ( keyboard training).

Now i come here, and I am already switching between chords ready to start playing songs. I find now that i have to mute during each chord change....and this throws it all off for me. Is this something everyone does?
Before I was going from one chord to the next but now i have to mute and i just can't get a rhythm going where i can mute and switch at the same time and land ready to play the count on time. I am wondering also if this will throw off my timeing for my struming patterns with my right hand if i have to take a moment stop to mute - and break away from the pattern....

Now I am feeling like i just took a huge step backwards ... any advice on this is truly apprecieated.....
I just feel so disappointed right now.....

Hey Bob,
Here's a few tutorials on muting

http://www.guitartricks.com/advanced-search-results.php

Good luck..
Gordon

I am totally unclear .. I thought the early lesson said to mute after " every single chord change." Yet I do not see others doing this....even when i watch the videos for the songs available I do not see the instructors muting after every single chord change. Did i get it wrong.... or are they just teaching this techniquie but not that you " Need to mute after every single chord change throughout your futute guitar playing."


maybe someone can explain to me if I have to mute after every single chord change or not.

You don't ALWAYS have to mute on chord changes, but the reason Chris gets you practicing that way to begin with is as he explains - it provides a much cleaner change and you don't get any chord overlap. He also overemphasises the mute in the early lessons so you can actually hear him muting and to get you into the habit of doing it - in later tutorials and with different tutors there's no emphasis on it so you don't "hear" it but alot of the time it will be there, just in that fraction of a beat where your fretting hand changes position.

Hey Bob,

I would theorize that you are having more trouble muting open chord shapes because they are inherently harder to mute and move than barre chords. When you're muting barre chords you might just be moving the E and A shapes for example for your I (one), IV (four), and V (five) chords. In the key of G, these would be G, C, and D respectively.

Using the E shape for the G barre chord on the third fret is easier than muting the open G chord. Using the A shape for C (on the third fret) and D (on the fifth fret) is just inherently easier for muting and moving. Practice moving between C and D on the fifth string first with 2 measures each of eighth note strumming (one and two and three and four and - or down up down up down up down up). Count it while you play it. Experiment muting it and not muting it. If you record yourself you can hear a big difference in this. Once you start getting the muting down you get more control over the sound ringing out.

Practice G C G D (first, two measures each)
Then practice G C G D (one measure each)

The sound ringing out too long is a big problem, especially on bass guitar when you have powerful, low bass notes ringing out that you don't want, so muting can give you better control over that by stopping them from ringing out very long anyway.

Hm...I hope this helps. I realize this would be easier to convey if I were a teacher on Guitartricks.com and had videos. Perhaps I will post some videos on my own site soon.

Happy New Year!

~ Zac Sullivan, M.A. ~
http://www.fretzeroguitar.com

Music and a healthy life really go hand-in-hand:
http://www.lifestylebreak.com/family/music-and-life-a-partnership-for-health/