Looks like everyone is on the same page gettin' ready to take lessons in your home town and building up your skills as a guitar player! I've been noticing a couple of things that people haven't really been asking about but is fundamentally important, and that's "hand-muting".
Sometimes you'll see this in guitar notation as an "X" on a 5 line staff or 6 line Tab sheet. Sometimes it'll be used as a percussive passage for example during the intro to Megadeth's "Train of Consequences" or an even better example would be on Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" where the hand mute is chugging right along with the drum section also during the intro. There is other times you'll see it in between the two notes of an "octave chord" or sometimes on the 5th string of an open G chord. It's a great tool you can use to improve your playing and should become a natural part of your style with just a couple techniques.
The middle finger mute. The middle finger should shut anyone up, but in this case we're going to use it to stop the open "E" from ringing while we play barre chords on the 5th string. Make an Eb barre chord in VI position (tabbed 6-8-8-8 starting on the 5th string) Now jam the strings! This should sound pretty metal if you played the open E as well, but what I need you to do is place your middle finger on the E string without pressing it down. Now it might possibly make a slight harmonic when you jam it again, but thats rock and roll. You can use this middle finger technique for any barre chord on the 5th fret. The other option here is just to hit the root note first.
The whole hand mute. Sometimes you'll see me rockin' a pedal tone on the low E over an E5 chord and you'll see my index finger depress into the chord when I accent it. If you see my last three fingers covering the strings while I do this it's considered a hand mute. No vibrations are the key here, I'm deadening everything. If you attempt this and get a rich harmonic you can prevent the harmonic by right hand muting right above the bridge. Simply place your right palm on any string that remains vibrant.
Now go rock some really gnarley riffs with your new talent! Have fun and let me know if you have any questions!
Rock,
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Suzy S.