Slap Mute(?) technique

[Dukelax14]

Hey this is my first time posting and I searched the forums but didn't really find an answer so if this is somewhere else then I'm sorry. My question is how does Dave create that slap noise that seems to keep the rhythm in a lot of his songs? I notice it the most in the acoustic version of Minarets. I read that you smack the strings with your palm and I've tried that but can't seem to get it to make a loud slap like he does without interrupting the song. Is this what Dave does? And does anyone have any tricks to making this sound good or possibly any instructional videos on how to achieve this sound? (videos help me 100x more than reading)

[MakoMako]

I've never slapped my strings with the palm of my hand, when playing any song. I think what you might be talking is just more of a muted strum as opposed to actually slapping the strings. It can be acheived by sort of letting up on the frets and just touching the strings. If I knew a better way to explain it, I would, but I've never been good at explainations.

Another artist who does this a lot, if its what I think it is, is Jack Johnson.

[Easy E]

it's something you have to practice alot to be able to pull off but once you get it you'll find yourself doing it every song you play. You aren't really using your palm so much as just the pad of your thumb. I aim for the middle four strings and really come down into the guitar.

I don't think Dave really does this on Minarets that much, it's more of a left hand mute on that song.


I don't really have any video equipment to show you what I mean, but i would work on it playing an open G. Play the chord on beats 1 and 3 and try slapping on 2 and 4. You should be able to hit the guitar holding on open chord and make no sound