Asked/Answered: Is It OK to Use My Thumb to Mute Low Strings?

Reddit user swayhaven submitted a question to the r/guitar forum asking whether guitarists use their thumb to mute the E string on open chords like A major or D major.

Well, the simple answer is yes, people do use their thumb to mute the E string quite often, a hand placement often referred to as the “baseball bat” grip.

Generally, players form chords on the fingerboard with their first three digits, as they are easiest to use. But you can incorporate the thumb as a mute when playing chords that don’t use all six strings.

That is, to play the A chord, you only need to strum the bottom five strings, so wrapping the thumb around the fretboard to lightly mute the low E string is a handy way to make sure you sound clean.

It should be noted that many guitar instructors recommend keeping the thumb on the back of the neck at all times and avoiding the baseball bat grip that sneaks the thumb over the top of the neck. But at the end of the day, it’s about what is comfortable to the player.

“A lot of experienced players do it,” noted Fender Digital Learning Product Manager John Dreyer. “But there’s no ‘wrong’ about it, even if it’s not the traditional technique. I use my thumb at times on a C chord and an A chord.”

In addition to muting strings for open chords, players also use the baseball grip when bending strings.