You will probably end up doing that (Muting) sooner or later anyway, as your skill grows. It is how you keep control of the sound of the instrument. The heel of your palm, or the backside of the strumming hand's fingers, or the backs of your unused, fretting hand, fingers. The all can play a part. The guitar can also produce instantanious silence, another powerful shaper of guitar's voice. I think I once heard it said that Mozart called silence "The most powerful force in music."

All that comes from learning how to mute and unmute strings. Muting is also where the real depth of guitar's voicing can be found. You might even end up spending a lot of you life learing those skills so... Sounds like it might be a good idea to start playing with that Idea soon.