I'm trying to learn power chords for the song Smells Like Teen Spirit, but I can't seem to get that mute strumming I really want inbetween the chords. Any tips?

is this a joke lol??

I guess just bar your finger across the strings lightly and strum ?

Just lightly lift the fingers on the chords you're playing so that you're not pressing them down, and strum normally. Thats it, and when you want to 'unmute' just press the string again.

If you're having difficulty, its just probably because you need practice playing power chords -- otherwise theres nothing really special you need to learn to mute.

you need a capo on the 3rd fret

The way to do this is place your hand just past the bridge and rest it on the strings. You'll notice that if you strum and palm mute, if you move your hand a bit further down the body the sound you make gets a little higher, and if you have your hand tight to the bridge you get a deep sound.

It's trial, error, and practise my friend. Find what works for you



Ignore


No it's not a joke. Power Chords are a difficult milestone to overcome when you are a beginner

I agree, it's hard to straighten your first finger in a full bar chord. But for the strum sound you keep the same chord position (for ease) and lightly rest you left hand over that position, when you strum with your right had it will be a kind of mute. Palm muting is similar, but no the real sound that Kurt Cobain used.

This post was edited by shiv22 on Apr 13 2009 05:43am

i learned how to do this after like 2 days of playing guitar. it's pretty basic.

Alright, I'm going to give it a lot of practice. When I seem to play it it doesn't sound right but I guess practice will make perfect. Thanks for the helpful replies (most of you lol).

smells like teen spirit isn't a palm mute, it's a left hand mute. Just let off 90% of the pressure you are applying with your fret hand so you're touching the strings but not pushing them down to the fretboard. You'll hear a very noticeable difference in your sound. I do remember this being confusing when I first started playing guitar, but you should be able to pick it up very quickly.

Ty