"Killing The Noise" When Alternate Picking
Ex. 1: A fairly standard F# locrian (Em) pattern which ascends through three octaves. Let's break it down.
There are a few observations to be made about the noise reduction when alternate picking:
a) For the most part, a slight palm mute is used to warrant the stuccato sound, making things a little easier from the get-go, and it's usually applied heavier when picking on lower strings.
b) The fret-hand index finger mutes lower strings, as usual.
c) (Personal preference) but when alternate picking on the high E and B strings, allow the thumb to mute the low E string in case of "rumbling". Your thumb tends to venture closer to the top of the fretboard when picking on these strings anyway, so why not make it useful?
Ex. 2: Let's try a very triplet-feel-y ascending/descending line in C major.
Focus on NOT hitting the strings beneath each sequence of three notes. Also, keep in mind that a standard light palm mute can be applied to the entire sequence. This will surely clean up the loose ends.
And that concludes this tutorial! I hope you enjoyed and we'll see you back here, same bat time, same bat channel, next time!