Fret-Hand Muting
Van Halen's Take Me Back
Take Me Back, by Van Halen, contains a great example of fret-hand muting. Listen to this example as you view the tab shown below. Then try to play the example using the technique you learned on the previous page.
78K wav file
Take me back G D A + + + + + + + + e:-3-------3-----------------------|---3---3-2-3-2-------0-----------| B:-3-------3-------x-x---x-x-x-----|---3---3-3-3-3-------2-----------| G:-0-------0-------x-x---x-x-x-----|---0---0-2-2-2-------2-----------| D:-0-------0-------x-x---x-x-x-----|---0---0-0-0-0-------2-----------| A:-2-------2-------x-x---x-x-x-----|-2-------------------0-----------| E:-3-------3---------------------2-|-3-------------------------------| muting: [^ v v ^ v]The
^ indicates a strum upward while muting, and the
v indicates a strum downward while muting.This should give you an idea of what fret-hand muting sounds like and how it is used in songs. You should be able to hear fret-hand muting in many popular songs. This has many more uses to a wider variety of players than palm muting, so come up with some great ideas yourselves.
The wave file and tab appearing above is from Van Halen's Take Me Back, by Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Sammy Hagar, and Michael Anthony; as it appears on the album Balance. ©1995 Yessup Music Company, ASCAP.
Back to Muting Technique
You are visitor number
© 1997 Daniel E. Smith. Last updated 12-9-97