The palm mute is a playing technique for the electric guitar that is especially popular in rock and heavy metal styles. To execute , lightly rest the palm of your hand just above your wrist on the strings. The best place to do this is right where the strings meet the bridge.
The sound of a palm mute can range widely depending on several different factors. The amount of pressure you put on the strings is an important one. The harder you press down on the strings the thicker and more percussive the mute will sound. Another important thing is the position of your hand. The further away from the bridge you place your hand the duller it will be. It will not sustain as long and the sound will die quickly. The last factor that manipulates the sound of a palm mute is the amount of gain or distortion on your electric guitar. More distortion will result in a highly compressed chug like sound where as less distortion will make your mutes more dynamic in nature. Heavy distortion also seems to have greater sustain.
One popular song that employs this technique is "Basket Case" by Green Day, where power chords are accented then muted to create a sense of energy and urgency
It can also be heard in The Animals' "House of the Rising Sun", and is employed on both acoustic and electric guitars by Al Di Meola. One example of the technique's use on acoustic guitar may be found in Di Meola's "Mediterranean Sundance". Probably the most famous example is The Police's Grammy-award winning Every Breath You Take
More aggressive styles of palm muting grew out of thrash metal in the mid-late 1980s with bands such as Megadeth, Slayer, Metallica, Pantera and Anthrax. The technique was fused with fast alternate picking, under high gain, to create a driving, percussive effect.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Palm Mute".
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