u/AwakenedTraveler

Hi all,

I've gotten big into fitness the past few years.

Besides just using whey protein concentrate for post-workout shakes, me and my partner also want to try and make our own protein-rich snacks as a healthier and more satiating alternative.

At first I thought I'd simply buy neutral, tasteless whey to use, but I realize that for baking / cooking this might not be ideal, and is maybe also a bit pricey compared to other options.

I hear that caseine is better for baking as it doesn't dry out as much, though I see both 20/80 caseine/whey blends and pure caseine recommended, and other things like soy-protein.

From what I gathered, whey is better for fitness / muscle gain purposes, but for our purpose of making general protein snacks price / gram of proteine is a more important factor.

What would you recommend as the best price / quality protein source for making your own protein snacks (eg. bars, balls, pancakes, etc.?)

I'm a beginner, been playing since 2 years now.

One thing that's really been frustrating me is not being able to properly mute unplayed strings.

Especially with distortion on, things get very muddy with certain riffs without proper muting.

I know about the picking and fretting hand techniques and tried practicing playing scales up and down this way (or even just spider exercise), and it gets mentally draining very fast having to pay attention to so many things at once and getting everything to sound 100% clean.

It just feels really insurmountable at the moment.

I especially struggle with the fretting hand, as I have zero feeling for when I am or am not touching the string above the one I am playing.

I've also seen people suggest to ride the bridge with your fretting hand as you ascend / descend strings, but I can't seem to get that to work, as I always have some degree of palm muting going on no matter how far to the edge I rest my hand. If I move it all the way onto the side of the bridge, it is not a comfortable position at all to play, do I don't know what I'm doing wrong there. I have an Epi Les Paul for reference.

I've asked some people about muting and they say I shouldn't worry about that yet, and that eventually they just do it without even thinking about it.

Any advice on how to learn and practice this?

I'm feeling really lost, have watched a lot of videos on the specifics of the technique but I just can't seem to do it.

I've been playing guitar for about 2 years now.

I listen to pretty much every subgenre of metal, so I thought it would be fun exploring different sounds and techniques in my practice.

Any suggestions for cool songs in whatever subgenre that are fairly beginner-friendly are welcome!