Attitude is one of the main things that defines blues playing. The simplest way to add it is string muting, so you can hit the strings hard, through several of them at once, and only the note you want comes out.
It's a bit of a difficult technique. It takes real practice and you'll need to do it slowly at first. But if you get the hang of it, even simple licks can go from quite amateur to quite pro-sounding. If you love Stevie Ray Vaughan, this one's for you.
Why muting gives you attitude ▶ 0:45
Say I play one note. I can just pick it. Or, if every other string is muted, I can whack it, raking through the strings in both directions. When you free up your picking hand like this and use it throughout your phrases, you start getting that bluesy SRV sound.
You'll also hear me catch the odd open string in that kind of playing. That just shows you don't have to be perfect. I'd rather hear someone give the instrument a bit of attitude and hit the odd extra note than play timidly and not deliver anything with impact.
Left hand: flatten the first finger ▶ 1:26
There are two hands involved, and the left hand does most of the work.
Say you're playing the 7th fret on the low E string. To be able to strike through all the strings, or a good few of them, flatten your first finger against the strings. Now the only thing that rings out is the low E. It's easy to accidentally sound the string below as well, so make sure you're still pressing through the fingertip.
If you go to the 10th fret with your little finger or third finger, use that finger together with the fingers behind it, the second and third, to keep muting the other strings. As you move through the pentatonic scale, you want the inside of your first, second and third fingers lying over the strings so they stay muted.
Left hand: thumb and fingertip for the lower strings ▶ 2:20
You can add more safety measures for the strings below the one you're playing. Say you're on the 7th fret of the A string:
- The thumb can come over the top of the neck and cover the low E.
- The tip of the first finger can touch the low E as well.
- The inside of the first finger mutes all the higher strings.
That's three things at once, and it might be overkill. You can get away with less, but you'll hear a bit more extra noise. So the more muting you can bring in, the better. Obviously this isn't how you'd play a technical legato lick or a heavy metal riff. It's quite specific to this style.
Right hand: the palm ▶ 3:17
There's less you can do with the right hand, but it still helps. Use the base of your palm, think of a smiley face shape there, to mute any strings physically above the note you're playing (above on the guitar, not higher in pitch).
So say you play the 7th fret on the G string. You can rake through the low E, A and D strings before it: one, two, three, then the note. The palm mutes those three, the tip of the first finger also touches the D string, and the inside of that finger mutes the B and high e.
Practise it through a scale, both directions ▶ 3:59
Now take a basic pentatonic scale and play all the way through it while striking all the strings, without any extra notes coming out. Keep the palm down and strike through. Try to drop the arm rather than turning the wrist too much, though you'll naturally turn it a little for the last notes.
Make sure you can do it with upstrokes too. On the 7th fret of the D string, for example, rake up through the higher strings, muted by the inside of the first finger, onto that one note. That's a key part of the sound, and Stevie Ray Vaughan does it a lot.
You'll make a bit of extra noise. I'm not perfect at this either. Ideally you'd mute every string, but you probably won't every time. Go for the 80/20 rule: get it sounding good, not perfect, otherwise you'll be there forever.
Let the odd open string ring ▶ 6:16
Here's something to try once you've got it going. In the middle of a lick, instead of fretting a note, just let your strum hit the open strings. They don't sound bad. They sound like a relaxed noise that keeps the volume of the lick up and gives it a very real feel. You tend to catch them on the upstroke. Pride and Joy by Stevie Ray Vaughan has loads of this.
One warning: those open high strings happen to be in key in B minor, but they won't always be. So be a bit wary of when you hit them.
Add techniques and a swing feel ▶ 7:02
Don't get stuck playing only simple melodies. Bring in hammer-ons, slides and bends while you keep the muting going.
The swing rhythm matters too. To count it more systematically, count in groups of three: one, two, three. One is the downstroke, two you do nothing, three is the upstroke. So "one, miss, three, one, miss, three". A metronome at a slow tempo helps you keep that steady while you sort out the muting.
Take a few licks you already know, play them slowly with both hands muting, and get used to raking through the strings. Then add the swing and the odd open string and see how much more attitude they've got.
