[Closed] Guitarists - Palm Mute Technique

Here you go:

Re reading your post I realised that what I answered was a question you weren't asking. Sorry.

With any technique that you're trying to get faster, if you're going to learn it properly then first make sure the basics are absolutely spot on.... So in this case, correct palm placement (obviously it differs between strings)

Then.... Metronome.... Excellent!!! These days it's often overlooked but it should be an everyday thing imo. Building up from a slower speed is the way forward.... It never hurts to push yourself out of your comfort zone though.... What can be a total mess first time around can become your new comfortable in a matter of days. Your aim is to get it to feel effortless.... So ideally you could play it at 170 with ease.

Also, don't forget to try it in a more musical context too.... That will have benefits purely from a technique perspective.

I'd imagine that your biggest problem is going to be to not tense your forearm/grip the pick too hard.... That will have a massive impact on tone. If you were to do it at 100 bpm, I'm guessing you'd be able to do it with easy and with a nice relaxed and controlled pick.... You're aiming for the same at 170!

What can be a total mess first time around can become your new comfortable in a matter of days.

Thats quite motivating, cheers

Can you do steady downstrokes at the speed without muting? If not, that could be something to get right first

Palm position is a big thing too - often depends on the type of bridge (fixed/Floyd etc). A friend of mine has had to give up playing guitar as he has damaged his picking hand badly playing black metal (pretty full on muting/picking) on a floyd bridge with part of it sticking into his hand and it's wrecked the nerves.

My non muted downstrokes are a lot faster. Its the close, tight chugs (like those on master of puppets etc) that i need to work on. Im playing on a standard SG and the bridge is quite comfortable. Just need to increase the speed....

Be warned that Ola uses an odd picking angle. As a 46 year old thrasher who on a very good day can still play master of puppets or slayers postmortem without cheating and sneaking in some alternate , there’s two things on technique I’d suggest that don’t come up in the andertons vid. First don’t over grip the pick, it adds tension which you’ll feel in a long section of downpicking or even galloping and second look where you are putting pressure on your forearm against your guitar - feel which parts between forearm wrist and pick feel tense when picking and try and tweak your angle till it feels more comfy. As with most things warm in and build your tolerance and then speed. There’s a great clip of Hetfield (imho the king of down picking)recording where he gets forearm lock and says - I like the gaga-gaga but I’ve got to get back in gaga-gaga shape

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Do I aim to play at my maximum bpm (say 170) and hold on for as long as i can (say 4 bars)

play at half speed, so 85, get the technique right, then increase 10 bpm at a time. when you start struggling, knock it back 10 bpm.

Practice slow, once you get your technique down the speed will come.

Or just learn to play master of puppets!

For some reason I never learnt all this chugging stuff despite being a fan of metal, I learnt every style but, so can't comment specifically on the technique.

Completely agree with the slow thing though. You learn through repetition, and you can either repeat it correctly or incorrectly. The former almost always requires playing as slow as possible and gradually increasing speed.