When DWPS and resting the palm near the bridge of the guitar, I find it extremely easy to palm mute the strings automatically.
However, what if I want to hear them ringing clearly and not palm muted? Is the workaround to simply raise the palm when playing notes I don’t want to palm mute?
I think we’d need to see a video of your form. There are so many variables here. My personal workaround is just lifting my palm, but my mechanic could be totally different than yours.
If you want them ringing clearly you essentially have two, and only two, options for conventional technique. Note I am not taking into account Marty Friedman-style playing or any other anomalies.
Option 1. You break your wrist like Troy does in the Four Essential Picking Mechanics video he did. That’s creating an artificial angle in the wrist to allow the notes to ring out. You can do this sparingly, but in my opinion it’s a bad idea considering a bend in the wrist created on purpose could open you up to carpal tunnel or some other nasty injury. It’s a good parlor trick but if you’re doing hardcore practice or gigging you will **** your arm up.
Sub-options here would be to keep the wrist neutral and lift from the shoulder, which is exhaustive, though this would give the effect of avoiding the awkward wrist angle and allow your shoulder, a stronger component, to do the “heavy” lifting. In either case you’re modifying the pick depth relative to the string and asking another part of the body to compensate for that.
Option 2. You move your picking hand towards the bridge, thus forcing your palm off-center and into the air. This can be tricky, here’s why: On my personal guitar, a Solar Guitar, the humbuckers are raised so high at the bridge that even with proper picking depth, my pick scrapes the pickup. It’s annoying and limits consistency and tone. Depending on your setup, you may get more use.
But the second option is the safest way. I’ve thought a lot about this because many songs I play need that open ringing, so you can trust this is the best possible answer.
Troy’s video:
Dead-on example of what I mean by Option #2. Sorry if harsh vocals aren’t your thing, but the first 30 seconds has a high-quality visual of what I mean:
Yes, wrist flex:
you really can shred !