How to palm mute easily [Things guitarists should know about body]

Hello! I'm Fujioka Takuto, a "guitarist who can perform therapy"!

How are you all doing? As for me, I got a qualification as a childcare therapist level 2 the other day. A childcare therapist is, in a nutshell, a “childcare specialist”. It sounds so cool, doesn't it? By the way, I'm aiming for level 1(^ ω ^) I don't have children now, but I would like to acquire knowledge so that I can be of help in childcare and couple / parent-child relationships in Japan.

Well, let's move on to the main topic! Today's topic is about palm muting.

It's also a basic and necessary technique when playing the guitar.
Palm muting is not that difficult when doing only down picking in slow tempo, but as the tempo gets faster, the arms and wrists gradually get tired, gradually going out of tempo and the pick gets out of position.

Here, it is important to know how to move your body to palm mute.
Make sure the wrist is where you need to move when palm muting.

Radial flexion / ulnar flexion is the movement required for palm mute. Radial flexion / ulnar flexion refers to the movement of bending the wrist toward the thumb / the little finger. It's like wiping a table. (pls see the following link for the details of radial flexion / ulnar flexion. →Cutting lesson from Abe Futoshi and how to use the right hand [Guitar Hero Posture Analysis])

Bend your wrist radially from where the palm is placed on the bridge, which is the fulcrum.
Also, the elbow and forearm need to be relaxed. The forearm and elbow joints move in a way that supports the movement of the wrist, enabling smooth palm muting.

If you tense up when palm muting, the wrist and forearm joints will be fixed in position, and the flexion at the elbow joint will be the main movement. Once the elbow joint is fixed, the muscles such as the biceps brachii, triceps brachii, and brachioradialis get constantly tense up, making it difficult to control.

Therefore, if you feel that your elbow is tensing up, try to relax and use your elbow flexibly, instead of fixing the arm around the wrist.

When repeating small movements quickly, you should relax as much as possible.
For example, since you can use the weight of the arm and palm when down picking, it is better to relax even more. This way, I think that your picking will get more stable.

Also, please check out the previous column regarding how to hold a pick. This will improve you picking control even more.

What did you think!?
I think that people usually focus on the sound, but knowing what kind of movement is required for a particular technique is also important to consider.

If you have any questions or concerns about your guitar performance, please contact me from my official LINE account (https://lin.ee/6AGJ9JX)! I will answer as best as I can (^ ω ^)
See you ~!