Chucking/palm muting question

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cindyleigh

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Hi, I am having a hard time making a consistent sound when I chuck/palm mute (these are the same things, right?).

I am scraping my fingernails along the strings and stopping the sound with the meat part of my thumb. It sounds fine when I play C major or A minor, but when I play a chord where I depress the E string (so F major, or G major) it makes a different and not pleasant sound.

Should it sound the same regardless of what strings are played with the left hand?

Is the goal to make a consistent sound each time?

Thanks,
 
Hi Cindy ,

Yes. The sound should be consistent. It would seem you are not completely touching all the strings when you perform the chunk, hence the "not pleasant sound". Make sure you are touching all the strings with the heel of you palm, or whatever part of your hand work best for you. Try it with no strings fretted; that way you'll know it's not your left hand causing the problem.

I find it best to play above the body, right over the finger board. At least that what works for me. It does take some practice time and patience to get it right. Stu Fuchs has a good teaching video as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOBXx_u3ukE
 
uke1950 said:
Not that I do it often, bu:agree:t when I do it, I use the heel of my hand on the strings, & get consistent results. :)
Click to expand...

:agree: I use the heel of my hand as well. More surface to ensure complete contact with the strings.
 
Thank you, Hikaru and Bikemech - those were helpful videos.

I think the Stu Fuchs video helped me identify the problem, which is that I was striking too much with ring finger, with my hand at a slant ...and so I was missing the G string. Today I'll practice his method of striking with my middle finger/ring finger, and work on striking more parallel to the fret board so that I lead with the striking the G.

Practice makes perfect, as they say!

Thanks,
 
Chunking and palm muting are different techniques. Chunking is a strumming technique to dampen the strings immediately after a down strum to create a percussive sound. Palm muting is a picking technique (usually flat picking) where the strings are damped before picking to create a percussive damped sound wth less sustain. Palm muting the bass strings during Travis picking is very common.
 
cindyleigh said:
Thank you, Hikaru and Bikemech - those were helpful videos.

I think the Stu Fuchs video helped me identify the problem, which is that I was striking too much with ring finger, with my hand at a slant ...and so I was missing the G string. Today I'll practice his method of striking with my middle finger/ring finger, and work on striking more parallel to the fret board so that I lead with the striking the G.

Practice makes perfect, as they say!

Thanks,
Click to expand...

I have never ever seen chunking done the way Stu Fuchs does it in that video. Still it seems to work alright for him. I'm more of the Aldrine Guerrero school of using the outside of the thumb to muffle. I think it produces a cleaner sound that what Stu is getting and is much less complicated.
 
When I chunk, I hold my strumming (index) finger differently. When strumming, I hold it relatively straight, slightly curved. When I chunk, my strumming finger is held more like a hook and the strings are then muted with the meat of my hand between the base of my thumb and my wrist. I don't consciously think about it but when I chunk, I think I hold my hand on a parallel plane with the strings rather than at a slight angle.
 
I confess that despite many attempts over many months using different methods following various tutorials, I still can't get a consistent chunk; well not without my wedding ring slapping the sound-board anyway (I play left-handed). I'm not prepared to take my wedding ring off to play so I have honestly given up, remaining content never to strum a chunk! I admire the strums of those that can and do though.
 
jimavery said:
I confess that despite many attempts over many months using different methods following various tutorials, I still can't get a consistent chunk; well not without my wedding ring slapping the sound-board anyway (I play left-handed). I'm not prepared to take my wedding ring off to play so I have honestly given up, remaining content never to strum a chunk! I admire the strums of those that can and do though.
Click to expand...

Jim,

Don't give up. It's such a fun and useful technique. Watch Stu's video and try to strum farther up over the finger board. Keep challenging yourself. It keeps playing interesting.

David
 
I just can't get my head around all this talk of ring fingers and middle fingers. When I'm chunking I definitely strum with my index finger and mute with the side of my thumb. Here is a video. Am I weird or something? I'm sure I was taught to do it this way, and it works great for me...
 
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