Got Palm Muting?

While most up and coming guitarists watch the left (or fretting) hand of their favorite guitar hero (unless that player is left-handed, like Jimi Hendrix), they might miss some extremely important things happening with the picking hand. Who came up with the first palm-mute sound on an electric guitar? Les Paul? Chet Atkins? This one must be in every player’s repertoire. But check out Al DiMeola’s fluid, precise alternate picking. It’s devilishly good and came about as sort of an evolution from the double picking jazz players used to cleanly articulate fast arpeggios. Al’s no slouch at feverish solos punctuated by tasteful palm muting, either. Another important technique is tremolo picking. This was originally used by mandolin players, but as guitar techniques evolved, it was quickly picked up. Everyone remembers Dick Dale’s scorching tremolo on a Stratocaster from the hit movie Pulp Fiction. But what tune was that? If you answered “Miserlou,” you win this round and pick up ten points on your way to becoming a surf guitar whiz. And few players ever took to finger picking as fast as Paul McCartney. There are more things to learn about guitar playing than most people will ever have the time for, but don’t ignore the picking part.