This lesson introduces palm muting as a necessary tool that every guitarist needs for articulation and expression of style.

In learning to palm mute, make sure that you're listening to plenty of artists that use this technique. It's all over the place in every rock style. You'll find it used by artists such as Metallica, Lamb of God, and Children of Bodom all the way to less heavy artists like Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry and Natalie Merchant.

To master this technique, rest the thick portion of the outside of your palm over the bridge of your guitar. This acts as a damper on the strings to make your sound "chunky" or "staccato". Practice and experiment on your guitar to find the best spot for muting. It's easy to get this sound with a heavy distortion like I'm using, but you should also try less distortion, overdrive and clean sounds to master palm muting and clearly get the feel of it.