B2-1403 Thumb muting

[close2u]

Lesson link:

https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/thumb-muting-bg-1403

Questions ...

[ZimaBlue]

Hey there

Okay so somehow the Discussion Feature (over on the website) just doesn't seem to work for me right now, which is why I decided to bring some life into this thread instead

I was wondering whether thumb muting may substitute any muting I'd normally do with my remaining fingers - e.g. with C or Fmaj7 normally the third finger would mute the E string (for C) and the A string (for Fmaj7 with the thumb muting E).

Is it bad technique to instead rely on the thumb for the muting altogether? I feel pretty comfortable muting E and A anyways (e.g. on D/Dm). I was just wondering whether it's bad technique, since when applying thumb muting that way the third finger is positioned lower on the respective string (as I don't need to use it for muting). Justin recommended to still mute with the third finger on C (instead of the thumb), which is why I'm rather unsure right now. I really don't want to get into potential bad habits further down the line

The way I do it I also found changing between F (as a Bar) and C a little easier, as I can just use my third finger as an anchor (otherwise I'd have to adjust it when changing between F and C, since on C it would normally be positioned higher in order to mute).


Anyways I'd be delighted for some insight!

[stitch101]

If it's bad technique someone forgot to tell Jimi Hendrix, SRV, Eric Clapton and
thousands of other fabulous players. 
If you can pull it of and it works for you then I don't  see a problem.
You end up using your thumb to play slash chord later on so may as well start
off by muting with your thumb.

[adi_mrok]

I don't think there is something called bad muting, as long as it works it's good enough I use thumb muting on my left hand quite often, on my right hand I tend to palm mute.

Sent from my SM-G973F using JustinGuitar Community mobile app

[ZimaBlue]

That's good to know! I was just rather unsure, as with C Justin advised to still use the third finger, but if it's fine either way I guess I can rest assured - thank you both!