8 Tips to AVOID Muting Strings

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Today I’ll answer a question that came in twice (!) this past week from members of the Song Notes community. The topic is muting strings while playing chords – and how to stop doing this in situations where you don’t intend to. I’ll give a bunch of finger placement tips to keep in mind playing chords, and it’s my hope that at least some of them help any of you who struggle with unintentionally muffled or muted strings.

Let me say – there’s likely no immediate fix to this issue. But! Don’t let that get you down. Keep these suggestions in mind during your practice, and with consistent effort I do believe you’ll make the progress you want to see. As I note in the video, a lot of this comes down to the finer points of muscle memory and precise positioning of your fretting hand fingers. Keep picking up the guitar – even if a few minutes every day – and the progress will assuredly come. With that said, let’s get to it! Here’s what I cover in this video:

0:00 Lesson Overview
1:17 Arching Your Fingers
2:01 Fretting with Finger Tips
2:59 Calluses Will Help
3:33 Finger Position Within the Fret
5:01 Avoid Pushing Too Hard
6:01 Developing a Sense of “Feel”
8:45 Playing One String at a Time
9:44 Practicing Chord Fragments
11:09 Summary & Final Advice