Six Strings
In this section: Techniques
Techniques

Ghost notes and muting

Your fretting hand touches the string without pressing it down: the pick strikes and you hear a dry “tick,” with no pitch. Slipped in between the real notes, these ghost notes give a riff its drive and its groove.

Notation
x in the tab
Hand
Fretting hand
Difficulty
Intermediate
Style
Funk, rock, blues

Listen

e|-------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|
A|-0-x-3-x-5-x-3-x-0-x-3-x-5-3-0-|
E|-------------------------------|

What it’s for

A ghost note is a note you can barely hear. On guitar, it’s usually a dead note: your fretting hand touches the string without pressing it, the pick strikes, and all that comes out is a percussive, pitchless “tick.” These little hits fill the gaps between the real notes, like a drummer’s light taps on the snare between the big beats.

It’s the heart of funk guitar: Jimmy Nolen, in James Brown’s band, and Nile Rodgers, with Chic, built a style on it. But you’ll find it in rock, blues and reggae too, where the “chk” on the offbeat is a chord muted right after it’s struck. A ghost note doesn’t change the melody: it changes the groove.

How to do it

The example at the top of the page, on the A string.

  1. Lay two or three fretting-hand fingers flat on the string, without pressing: the string touches your fingers, but not the fret.
  2. Strike it with the pick, more lightly than for a real note: you hear a pitchless “tick.”
  3. For a real note, press one finger into the fret just for the length of the note, then release the pressure right away, without leaving the string.
  4. Keep your picking hand moving: steady down-up strokes, in eighths or sixteenths. Your fretting hand decides whether each stroke sounds or not.
  5. Mute the neighboring strings too: the edge of your picking hand rests on the low strings, and the free fingers of your fretting hand cover the high ones.
345678E×DGBe123ab

Ghost notes: a flat fretting hand

  1. Your fingers lie flat on the string without pressing: it no longer touches the frets and can’t ring.
  2. You still pick it: you hear a “chk”, with no pitch. That’s the x in tab.

Drawn like tab: high E at the top, low E at the bottom.

In tab, a dead note is written x instead of a fret number. A number in parentheses, (5), sometimes means something else: the real note, but played very softly.

Examples

The example at the top of the page is a slow A minor riff in eighth notes: a real note on every beat, a ghost note on every “and,” then the phrase comes back down to A.

At the intermediate level, the riff moves to sixteenth notes, in E minor, on the low E and A strings. Ghost notes fill every gap: your picking hand makes sixteen strokes per bar and never stops.

e|---------------------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------------------|
A|-----------------x-x-2-x-5-x-2-x-----------------x-2-x-5-7-x-7-|
E|-0-x-x-0-x-3-x-5-----------------0-x-x-0-x-3-x-5---------------|

At the advanced level, a funk groove in E: first the E9 chord in short stabs with muted strokes in between, then a line on the A and D strings with its ghost notes, and E9 to finish. You have to go from chord to line without breaking your picking-hand motion.

e|---------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-7-----7-----7-----7---------7-------------------------------7-|
G|-7-x-x-7-x-x-7-x-x-7-x-x-x-x-7-x-----------------------------7-|
D|-6-----6-----6-----6---------6-------------------x-6-x-7-x-9-6-|
A|-7-----7-----7-----7---------7---7-x-x-7-x-5-x-7-------------7-|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------|

Licks

A funk lick in A minor on the D and G strings: in sixteenths, every time your fretting hand lets go, a ghost note pops out.

Loop it in the Studio →
e|---------------------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------------------|
G|-----------5-x-7-x-x-----------------------5-x-7-9-x-7-x-5-----|
D|-7-x-x-7-x-----------7-x-5-x-7-x-7-x-x-7-x-----------------x-7-|
A|---------------------------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------|

A shuffle blues lick in the A minor pentatonic: each phrase starts with a ghost note right on the beat, which launches the next note.

Loop it in the Studio →
e|--------------------------------|
B|-x-8-x-5-----------------5------|
G|---------x-7-5---x-5/7-x---7----|
D|---------------7-------------7~-|
A|--------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------|

A rock lick in A minor with a distorted tone: power chords, A5, C5, D5, G5, separated by muted strokes.

Loop it in the Studio →
e|-----------------------------|
B|-----------------------------|
G|-----------------------------|
D|-2---2---5---7-2---2-------2-|
A|-0-x-0-x-3-x-5-0-x-0-x-5---0-|
E|-----------------------3-x---|

Practice routine

Set your metronome to 60 bpm.

  1. Nothing but ghost notes, in eighths, on the A string, fretting hand flat: one minute of steady “ticks,” all at the same volume.
  2. The example at the top of the page at 60 bpm, then up to 75, its full tempo. Real notes strong, ghost notes discreet.
  3. Sixteen ghost notes per bar, in sixteenths, at 60 bpm. Then the intermediate example at 60, going up 5 bpm at a time to 90.
  4. The advanced example at 70 bpm, then up to 100.

Exaggerate the difference in volume while you practice slowly: real notes loud, ghost notes almost silent.

Common mistakes

The ghost note sounds like a real note, or rings like a bell? You’re pressing a little, or a single finger is touching the string right over a fret wire (the 5th, 7th or 12th) and bringing out a harmonic. Lay two or three fingers flat, with no pressure at all.

The riff turns to mush? Your ghost notes are too loud. They should whisper: less pick, a lighter touch, and clearly accented real notes.

The groove limps? Your picking hand stops on the ghost notes or the rests. It keeps time: it never stops, even when nothing is supposed to sound.

Other strings ring underneath? Muting only covers the string you’re playing. Cover the high strings with the free fingers of your fretting hand and the low ones with the edge of your picking hand.

Variations

  • The muted chord stroke. Hold the chord, release the pressure without leaving the strings, and strum: “chk.” That’s the basis of funk rhythm guitar.
  • Picking-hand muting. With palm muting, your palm dampens the strings near the bridge: the note keeps its pitch, but sounds dull and short. The two kinds of muting combine really well.
  • The rake. Several dead notes in a row, dragging the pick across two or three strings, right before the real note: see the Rake page.
  • The true ghost note. A real note, played very softly, often as a hammer-on or pull-off, in the middle of a blues or jazz line.
  • In country. Chicken picking mixes muted notes and notes snapped with the fingers.

Acoustic or electric

On electric guitar, ghost notes sound best with a clean tone: distortion turns muted strokes into hiss and noise. The middle pickup, or both pickups together, give you that dry, snappy funk sound. With distortion, save them for riffs, and mute the other strings all the more carefully.

On acoustic guitar, dead notes crack louder, like a little snare drum: perfect for driving a strummed song. Heavier strings mean you have to really relax your fretting hand so no note slips out.

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