HOW TO palm mute

I was recently asked this question on how to palm mute. So, let me attempt to explain how to do so and what palm muting can be used for.

In terms of strumming the guitar while palm muting, it can be used to achieve a more driving feel to the song, hence you will hear it being used more often than not in a Rock concert etc.

In my opinion, there are more than enough sites out there attempting to explain how to achieve palm muting. Therefore, I'll be using a picture I found from one of these sites to illustrate how palm muting can be achieved.



The steps you can take to achieve palm muting are:

1. Place your hand across the 6 strings as seen in the picture above.
2. Focus on the strings that you want to strum (most people won't strum all 6 strings when palm muting). Therefore, it is common to see people using barre/power chords while palm muting. That way, you only have to focus on the bass strings on the guitar to palm mute.
3. You can enhance the muted sound by applying pressure on your left hand when hitting the notes, and releasing pressure when you're not hitting the notes.
4. As for what angle your pick should be when strumming while palm muting, my general rule is to use it at a 45 degree angle upwards when strumming down, and a 45 degree angle downwards when strumming up. The reason is explain in my "HOW TO hold a pick/plectrum when strumming" post.
   

I hope this post has answered your questions on how to palm mute. Enjoy.