how can I stop sound overlapping?

guitarer

hello!

after I hit a thick string, hitting a thinner string makes the sound becomes covered by the thicker sound

is this normal?

I really want to stop this, when I hit a new point in my guitar, I want the previous sound to stop and the new point to be heard

it is very annoying

how can I fix that please?

thanks!

PolarityMan

You need to mute the other string. Depending on what you are playing you might do this by just lifting your finger off the first string or you might need to use another finger on your fretting hand of even in combination with your picking hand.

Do you babe an example of what your trying and I'll tell you how I would mute it?

guitarer

I just hit the 5th string and then hit the 4th string and the sound is still the 5th as the 4th is completely covered by the 5th!

I want the sound to last very little, like a classical guitar, but I want the sound to be distorted

ThePrettyDamned

You need to mute. Use your fretting and picking hands. 

Can you send a video of what you want to hear? It may make it easier to determine what you mean. Palm muting gives shorter, percussive notes. 

Maynehead

It's fine on a classical guitar because the first note decays very quickly, so the second note takes over as the first fades away.

when you have heavy distortion, the first note can sustain for a long time without fading, so the second will have to fight with the first for dominance.

As mentioned, the solution is to mute the first note with your fretting finger or palm of the picking hand. As you are discovering, the world of amplified guitar requires some new techniques which you may not be used to... Don't give up though, and don't be too quick to blame your gear!

guitarer

OK but it's inconvenient to have to mute a string to play the next one! isn't there a gear way to just make it fade away quickly?

ThePrettyDamned

guitarer said:

OK but it's inconvenient to have to mute a string to play the next one! isn't there a gear way to just make it fade away quickly?

What would the budget be? 

And how many lessons would that buy? 

There are wraps for the strings that are used by, for example, technical metal bands during recording to minimise noise. But they are not a crutch. You need good muting technique. YouTube has some good tutorials.

ICBM

You need to palm-mute - it's slightly wrongly named, it's actually done with the side of your picking hand rather than the palm. You need to alternate picking and touching the strings with your hand, in a sort of bouncing motion in time with what you're playing... easier done than described once you get the hang of it.

You can also damp lightly with your fretting hand by releasing the pressure in between the notes. One of those things you eventually just instinctively learn when you play overdriven electric guitar - don't worry if it's not obvious at first .

Maynehead

Problem is, when you have tonnes of gain, even the tiniest of vibrations of a string will be picked up and amplified at full volume. The only way to make a string completely stop vibrating is to dampen it with something, i.e. your hand.

Do you still hear the same problem when playing completely clean without distortion?

paul_c2

Its the nature of the instrument (the electric guitar). Without overanalysing it or confusing you, basically you have to "control" all 6 strings at once (you can't rely on any of the strings to remain silent), and out of those 6, 1 of them may be sounding a note while the other 5 are dampened so they produce no sound. There's various techniques to do this, both left hand and right hand can & do do it.

paul_c2

I personally think that this is a good example of an area where a guitar teacher is very useful. You're at a learning stage, a teacher could look at/analyse your technique and make subtle corrections and/or tips which will 1) make it easier for you 2) make it sound better 3) not "close off" any avenues for onwards development. I believe lessons are worthwhile.

Failing that, if you are able to record a video of yourself playing the guitar (don't worry about showing off, better to zoom in on your hands etc) then others may be able to offer tips that way (but lessons would be better).

paul_c2

PS forgot to add, it would also prevent you starting off with bad habits.

Teetonetal

guitarer said:

OK but it's inconvenient to have to mute a string to play the next one! isn't there a gear way to just make it fade away quickly?

No. You need to learn to play properly with a combination of left hand and right hand muting. Check out some you tube vids. Bound to be something there. 

timmysoft

guitarer said:

OK but it's inconvenient to have to mute a string to play the next one! isn't there a gear way to just make it fade away quickly?

It's not inconvenient, if you can't he arsed to learn the different technique it's just laziness on your part! 

I I can't be arsed to learn how to sweep pick, I'd love to be able to do it but I struggle to invest the time to get the technique down. If I really wanted to, I'm sure I could but I'm very lazy when it comes to lead.

Cabicular

Want to buy an arpeggiator?

Sporky

Ah; again, you're given good advice that you don't like, so you start another thread in the hopes that someone will give you the answer you want.

Again, have some lessons and stop trying to solve everything by spending as little as possible on toys.

Dodge

guitarer said:

isn't there a gear way to just make it fade away quickly?

Yes. Give up the guitar and buy a synth and a sequencer.

professorben

@guitarer hi mate, look don't take this the wrong way, but you need to start listening to people when you ask for advice, there are a lot of very experienced and very helpful people here, I've been playing guitar for 25 years and I learn new things everyday just reading on here. 

What at I mean is, the world of guitar is huge and very confusing, when I started the Internet was pretty much non existent, I bought a few magazines and tried to teach myself, I didn't get far. 

I found a local teacher, John Forrow, brilliant guy, I learnt more from 6 minutes with him than I had on my own for 6 weeks!!!

its very dificult to know what you want or need when you start out on a new hobby, and in this current digital age we are surrounded by choice. 

Take the advice from a few guys here, get a little practice amp

Roland MicroCube
Blackstar Fly
Vox Valvetronic

or similar, then find a local teacher, book a couple of lessons, take your gear and they will show you how to get some cool sounds, show you basics on how to play, tell you the answers to all your questions. 

I dont know how old you are, or if you have money or not, but at least get 2-3 lessons, maybe go back a month later, get 2-3 more. 
You will get better that way and be less confused and frustrated overall. 

By all means keep asking questions here, it's what we all do, but please please take the answers onboard. 

Good luck.