Etouffe’ (ay-too-FAY) If you like Cajon food, you likely love etouffe. In our case it means: “Damped, muted; a direction to deaden the sound of instruments such as the harp and the kettledrums”, or electric bass! Muting is an art. Jaco did it on ascending passages with the pinky finger on his right hand. I much prefer to mute with the thumb (RH); that is it floats over the string(s) I choose to silence rather than anchoring the thumb in a static position. The only occasion my thumb is NOT resting is while articulating the ’B’ string; otherwise, the thumb rests on the ’E’ string OR on the ’A’ string while touching the ’E’. It works Great! Then for descending passages, simply use the flesh of the fingers on the left hand.