In tablature, I usually see the notation "P.M............" to indicate that the passage below should be played palm muted. However I also see notes and chords written with x's. I googled some tab guides that say that palm muting and the x's are two separate techniques. Palm muting is self explanatory, but I am somewhat confused on how to play the x's. The guides say they are typically done by deadening the notes with the fretting hand, but then they also say you can vary the amout of muting in palm muting by moving your hand closer or further away from the bridge, and can achieve a complete deadening of the strings that way.
My question is basically how exactly should I play the x notes? Should I just do a standard palm mute but position my hand so the strings become completely deadened? Should I bar one of my fretting fingers across the fretboard (as in a barre chord) but not press down hard enough to fret the notes, or should I use my individual fingers to make the chord shape as normal, but just not press down hard enough to fret the notes?
As an example, the song I was playing was Nirvana's "Polly", and at the beginning of the song, there are xxx chords mixed in with the 022, 355, and 577 chords.
Another question is what about chords where there are one or more x's in the tab? Does that mean mute the note with 1 finger or don't play it at all? For example, if the tab says 5x7, do I just touch the string but not press down hard enough to fret it for the middle note?
EDIT: As a side note, some of you may have read my broken string thread earlier. I broke the string while trying to play a song with these xxx chords by barring all of the strings with my index finger. Either I was doing it wrong, used too much force, or maybe things like that just happen.
My question is basically how exactly should I play the x notes? Should I just do a standard palm mute but position my hand so the strings become completely deadened? Should I bar one of my fretting fingers across the fretboard (as in a barre chord) but not press down hard enough to fret the notes, or should I use my individual fingers to make the chord shape as normal, but just not press down hard enough to fret the notes?
As an example, the song I was playing was Nirvana's "Polly", and at the beginning of the song, there are xxx chords mixed in with the 022, 355, and 577 chords.
Another question is what about chords where there are one or more x's in the tab? Does that mean mute the note with 1 finger or don't play it at all? For example, if the tab says 5x7, do I just touch the string but not press down hard enough to fret it for the middle note?
EDIT: As a side note, some of you may have read my broken string thread earlier. I broke the string while trying to play a song with these xxx chords by barring all of the strings with my index finger. Either I was doing it wrong, used too much force, or maybe things like that just happen.
