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Munin

 

Posts: 595
Joined: Sep. 30 2008
From: Hong Kong

Guitar mute? 
Okay, this thread has two purposes...

First, as a general question. Basically, I will be going to England in 2 weeks for 17 days, staying in an apartment where loud guitar playing is not allowed. However I really can't afford to take such a long break from practicing with my already shaky and neglected technique. So I was wondering what to do.

From my violinist girlfriend I know that they've got little "mute" things that can be put onto the violin and, well, mute the sound volume...is there such a thing for guitars - in some shape or form?

Which leads me to my second question...in the case I can't find a good way to mute my guitar during my stay - and I know we've had this thread a couple of times now, but I'll just include it now as well - what about the actual thing called "Guitar Mute" that is for example sold at Flamenco World? Those little pieces of woods with strings attached that claim to help you with keeping your technique in check even if you don't have access to a guitar. Is it useful for that purpose?

If anyone has some other suggestions on what I could possibly do, that would be great as well...thanks!
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 17 2009 9:54:14
 
Escribano

Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Munin) 
1. Stuff a sock under the bridge
2. The Guitar Mute is very good for rasguedo practise but mine broke apart in the heat of Andalucia.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 17 2009 10:01:58
 
at_leo_87

Posts: 3055
Joined: Aug. 30 2008
From: Boston, MA, U.S.A

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Munin) 
how's this thing?
http://en.woodbrass.com/POCK+MUTE+FOR+CLASSICAL+GUITAR

you can easily make your own. but you need some higher density foam/rubber. too light and it wont mute enough.

this video was posted in another thread. check out how vicente sticks some rubber looking thing in front of the soundhole between the strings and fretboard.
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/05/06/cultura/1241603982.html

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 17 2009 10:33:33
 
mark indigo

 

Posts: 3625
Joined: Dec. 5 2007
 

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Munin) 
i sometimes use bits of washing up sponge.... you know, the ones about 5 x 7.5 cm and about 2 cm deep, with a bit of harsh scourer on the top. i usually use old ones when the scourer has been worn off by washing up with them, and cut strips to fit under the strings near the bridge. they don't completely silence the guitar, but they do limit the volume quite a bit. useful for playing along with cd's and still being able to hear the cd! you could use a sock instead!
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 17 2009 14:51:37
 
Güiro

Posts: 158
Joined: Aug. 22 2008
From: Colorado

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Munin) 
Just use a piece of foam. This works real well. It mutes the guitar enough so the neighbors won't complain and you can still here what you are playing. I use this all the time once it gets late.
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 17 2009 17:47:35
 
Güiro

Posts: 158
Joined: Aug. 22 2008
From: Colorado

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Güiro) 
here is a photo. When is was living in Sevilla most guitarists I knew also used foam as a mute since the walls don't have a lot of insulation and the neighbors would complain if you didn't mute the guitar.



Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px

Attachment (1)
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 17 2009 17:51:52
 
HemeolaMan

Posts: 1514
Joined: Jul. 13 2007
From: Chicago

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Munin) 
i would seriously recommend not having a mute.

muted strings cause you to overplay them because you dont get acoustic feedback for the guitar to tell you what your technique is doing.

i used to use one. got some technique issues i had to fix afterwards and a lot of tendonitis.

see also, Glenn Kurtz' Practicing same thing happened to him

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 17 2009 21:25:24
 
mark indigo

 

Posts: 3625
Joined: Dec. 5 2007
 

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to HemeolaMan) 
if you do the exact same thing with your hands when the foam is under the strings as you do when the foam isn't under the strings, you won't get tendonitis. if you do get tendonitis, you aren't doing the same things, you are, as HemeolaMan says, "overplaying". Don't overplay!

it's not muted strings that "cause" you to overplay, it's you wanting to sound as loud with the mute in as without it in, and then playing harder to compensate for the foam under the strings. The idea is to be quiet, so don't try to sound as loud with foam under the strings as you do without foam under the strings!
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 18 2009 5:23:24
 
Piwin

Posts: 3559
Joined: Feb. 9 2016
 

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to mark indigo) 
Quick question: any advantage to foam or sponge over just rolling up some toilet paper? Does it mute any better? Or are you all using foam just because TP has become a valuable commodity?

Also, if we took all the sponges out of the sea, would the water level rise?

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 25 2020 10:03:40
 
gerundino63

Posts: 1743
Joined: Jul. 11 2003
From: The Netherlands

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Piwin) 
Foam is easier to put on. Sound wise no different.

The sea level will get less, but not so much after you squeeze the sponge dry. Also, if you do not use the toilet paper on your guitar, it will end one way or the other in the sea, and that will compensate the sponge you took out the sea.

Happy playing!
You made a post from 2009 live again!

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 25 2020 11:56:52
 
JasonM

Posts: 2054
Joined: Dec. 8 2005
From: Baltimore

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Piwin) 
Has to be an endangered sea sponge from the Great Barrier Reef
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 25 2020 16:02:41
 
rombsix

Posts: 7807
Joined: Jan. 11 2006
From: Beirut, Lebanon

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to JasonM) 
quote:

Has to be an endangered sea sponge from the Great Barrier Reef


That makes your picado 10 x faster.

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Ramzi

http://www.youtube.com/rombsix
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 25 2020 16:30:46
 
gerundino63

Posts: 1743
Joined: Jul. 11 2003
From: The Netherlands

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to rombsix) 
Ah! heard of that.....So there must be some thruth in it.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 25 2020 17:05:38
 
Piwin

Posts: 3559
Joined: Feb. 9 2016
 

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to gerundino63) 
Haha. OK, thanks. I'll stick with toilet paper for now.

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"Anything you do can be fixed. What you cannot fix is the perfection of a blank page. What you cannot fix is that pristine, unsullied whiteness of a screen or a page with nothing on it—because there’s nothing there to fix."
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 26 2020 6:20:03
 
Auda

 

Posts: 246
Joined: Sep. 28 2019
 

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Piwin) 
quote:

I'll stick with toilet paper for now.


Try a sock since it can be rolled up a bit to dampen the strings even more should you like. I use one as well though I do find the difference in string tension can take some getting used to when I take it off. I like high tension.

Cheers
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 28 2020 12:55:46
 
Ricardo

Posts: 14799
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Munin) 
I keep a polishing cloth in the case for each guitar I own. For wipe downs after heavy use or to drape over the side when playing outside in summer with short sleeves. I store guitars with this covering the sound hole to keep that new smell of the wood trapped in the Cypress (best smell) or rosewood box.

Turns out, the polishing cloth works the same way as a mute if you push it under the strings. Not as good as foam but it works.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 30 2020 18:37:02
 
rombsix

Posts: 7807
Joined: Jan. 11 2006
From: Beirut, Lebanon

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Ricardo) 
quote:

(best smell)


I love that smell.

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Ramzi

http://www.youtube.com/rombsix
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 1 2020 17:01:36
 
Richard Jernigan

Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to rombsix) 
The 63-year old Ramirez blanca still has a distinctive aroma, though not exactly like a new cypress guitar.

It has lived in a case all the time it wasn't being played. For the last 35 years or so the cases have been Mark Leaf and Karura. Both are sealed with gaskets, the Mark Leaf is more airtight--but it weighs a ton.

RNJ
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 1 2020 21:53:05
 
Ricardo

Posts: 14799
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Richard Jernigan) 
quote:

the Mark Leaf is more airtight--but it weighs a ton.


My dad spray painted his silver to reflect sunlight. Airports where always concerned as it looked like top secret weaponry.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 2 2020 0:15:20
 
Piwin

Posts: 3559
Joined: Feb. 9 2016
 

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Auda) 
quote:

Try a sock


You know what's funny. All the time I struggle with single socks... And here the one time when I want a single sock to recycle it into a guitar mute, of course there are none to be found...

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"Anything you do can be fixed. What you cannot fix is the perfection of a blank page. What you cannot fix is that pristine, unsullied whiteness of a screen or a page with nothing on it—because there’s nothing there to fix."
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 2 2020 6:39:41
 
jalalkun

Posts: 276
Joined: May 3 2017
From: Iraq, living in Cologne, Germany

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Piwin) 
bro...jong un looking like a snack in your profil picture

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 2 2020 12:24:25
 
Auda

 

Posts: 246
Joined: Sep. 28 2019
 

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Piwin) 
quote:

You know what's funny. All the time I struggle with single socks... And here the one time when I want a single sock to recycle it into a guitar mute, of course there are none to be found...


Those things happen to me all the time too.

Bon chance.
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 2 2020 19:38:58
 
rombsix

Posts: 7807
Joined: Jan. 11 2006
From: Beirut, Lebanon

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Auda) 


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Ramzi

http://www.youtube.com/rombsix
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 3 2020 18:50:45
 
Auda

 

Posts: 246
Joined: Sep. 28 2019
 

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to rombsix) 
It is my belief no sock should be left behind.
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 3 2020 20:48:18
 
devilhand

 

Posts: 1598
Joined: Oct. 15 2019
 

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Piwin) 
Maestro himself. Is it foam or sponge?



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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 3 2020 21:01:27
 
Richard Jernigan

Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Ricardo) 
quote:

ORIGINAL: Ricardo

quote:

the Mark Leaf is more airtight--but it weighs a ton.


My dad spray painted his silver to reflect sunlight. Airports where always concerned as it looked like top secret weaponry.


Mine has a few-hundred-thousand airline miles on it. It has a big red stain on it. I have no idea where it came from, but when somebody asks I say, "It's from the last guy who tried to steal it." It stays in the closet these days, except when the guitar in it gets played. Karuras and Visesnuts are a lot lighter.

The Mark Leaf + Ramirez only went walkabout once. Flight was from Taiwan to Guam, via Saipan. Guitar got unloaded at Saipan. Took less than a day to get it to Guam.

Checking in with American Airlines in Austin headed for Marshall Islands, the ticket agent said, "Good case. I'm buying my boyfriend one for his mandolin for his birthday."

"Why do you say, 'Good case'?"

"I worked in baggage for ten years. Never saw an instrument damaged in one."

RNJ
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 4 2020 0:27:54
 
devilhand

 

Posts: 1598
Joined: Oct. 15 2019
 

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to devilhand) 
quote:

ORIGINAL: devilhand

Maestro himself. Is it foam or sponge?



In the comment section of this youtube video Luciano Ghosn pointed out Paco's left hand ring finger at 0:54. Any idea why Paco's keeping his ring finger on the fingerboard?

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Mar. 18 2021 17:06:48
 
RobF

Posts: 1611
Joined: Aug. 24 2017
 

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to devilhand) 
quote:

at 0:54. Any idea why Paco's keeping his ring finger on the fingerboard?


*edit* dang, I read it wrong and thought you were talking about planting on the top with his right hand. Joke isn’t nearly as funny as I hoped. Matter of fact, I’m going to remove it because it’s just stoopid
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Mar. 18 2021 17:23:55
 
Ricardo

Posts: 14799
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to devilhand) 
quote:

Any idea why Paco's keeping his ring finger on the fingerboard?


As I stated many times, in E Phrygian key (vs mode) the scale we run is thought of as over an F chord or in place of it. That Is the Lydian sound, designed in context as a dominant-like tension we eventually resolve to E tonic. We do this thing legato in solea all the time where the F rings out under as we descend down the scale. Holding that note to create the sound presents a challenge of doing the run with pinky index and middle only. Paco is simply doing it as picado exercise instead of legato.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Mar. 18 2021 17:47:41
 
Scott

 

Posts: 20
Joined: Jul. 29 2010
 

RE: Guitar mute? (in reply to Munin) 
Here is a another example of Paco holding the ring finger, and using that note, during picado on the higher strings. @ 0:12



Tab if interested PdL Picado Falseta
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Mar. 18 2021 18:25:52
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