How to sweep?

[bradpeterson]

So guys, how do you sweep? What are the steps for the proper technique?

How did you learn?

I just cant seem to get it... :jo

[Kevan]

It's a tough technique to get down.
I'll preface this post by saying that I am by no means great at this, but I have fun with it. (In fact, I'm such a hack I came up with my own 'fake sweeps' after getting frustrated when I first started to learn how to do it. LOL)

Sweeping is a combination of mixing muted picking with non-muted picking. You need to be quick going from one type to the next: hit the note, mute that note, hit the next note, mute that note, et. al.
I'm sure there's a professional out there that can describe it much better that I just tried to do. :)

The easy part (for me) was the left hand and getting some of the standard shapes down. The HARD part was getting my picking hand fluid and even. Getting the timing right between strings take some practice. I would just mute the strings with my left hand, and practice (over and over) different tempos as well; some fast, some slow, some inbetween....trying to keep them all even between all 6- or 7-strings.

Master Malmsteen, Commander Cooley and General Gilbert are a few major sweepers to check out for great technique.
(That's Yngwie Malmsteen, Rusty Cooley, and Paul Gilbert...just in case). All those guys have instructional DVDs.

You can also check out ChopsFromHell.com. Some cool sweeping lessons up there once you get the basics down.

Don't get frustrated if you're not pulling 32nd notes off the first time you try it. The first time I did it, it sounded like the "May I help you?" riff...played on a superstore guitar...on a Monday. :D
Like hybrid picking, strumming, tapping, and all the other things we guitarists put in our 'tool box', it takes some patience and some practice.
You'll get it.

[bradpeterson]

Thanks!

[lhallam]

You may want to check out Jack Zucker's (TGP member) Sheets of Sounds instruction book. Tons of stuff.

[Tom Gross]

You may want to check out Jack Zucker's (TGP member) Sheets of Sounds instruction book. Tons of stuff.
+1
beat me to it, Lance

[Brian D]

While I can’t attest to his actual learning materials, as I’ve never used them personally, I can sure attest to the ability of Frank Gambale to sweep pick! He completely blew me away a month ago when I saw him live. In addition to the other materials suggested in this post, you might want to check out some of Frank's stuff here (http://www.frankgambale.com/pages/books-videos.html). A lot of it is somewhat old, but I’m sure that the techniques he teaches are still sound.

I'm just beginning to work on this technique as well, so I'll be interested to hear if any others here have advice to offer.

[ivers]

Slooowly.

[AaeCee]

Slooowly.+1! It's hard and frustrating. Knock Yngwie all you want, but he's a hell of a sweep picker!

[Kevan]

+1 to the Frank Gambale. Fantastic sweeper. Be sure to watch his right hand if you see him live. The left does some uber-cool stuff, but the right is working just as hard. And then there's that whole coordination thing....LOL

I didn't know Jack had sweeping stuff in his book. I need to check that out.

[bradpeterson]

Looks like I gotta check out this book. :cool:

[Old Tele man]

...in SLOW motion it goes sorta like this:

A) as you pluck the FIRST (E6) string your lefthand finger(s) move from the initial note to the second and/or third note on THAT string..hammering-on each new note.

B) as you move to pluck the SECOND (A5) string, your lefthand finger(s) repeat the motions of above.

C) you repeat the motion with EACH string.

...in short, at FULL speed, your picking RIGHT-hand basically strums quickly across the fingerboard and strings...and your fingering LEFT-hand fingers do super-fast hammer-ons...because they have to fret/hammer-on two or three notes per string...BEFORE your lefthand reaches the NEXT string!

[Tom Gross]

Gambale's method, which he teaches in his video, as also what Jack Z is talking about in his book - a hybrid method where you alt pick 2 notes on a string, then sweep the 3rd note & the first note of the next string.
Sorta:
\/ /\ \/\/ /\ \/\/ ...etc.

It's complicated, but it works.

[LHanson]

+1 on Rusty Cooley. I'm lucky enough to take lessons when I can afford them. Don't know about the quality of his instructional material, never seen it.

For him, the trick is hammering on the notes with the left hand. He is really good at hitting the strings with the pick, but he can also just dampen the strings behind his left hand and hammer on nearly as loudly as picking them. Lots of gain and neck pickup help even out the volume.

[Thwap]

Gambales Monster licks and speed picking is a good video, and John Petrucci's Rock Discipline is another good one for sweeping. Gambales goes more into how to set up your sweeps as Tom was saying, kind of an odd vs. even number of notes, and how to most economically pick.

Petrucci's really breaks down the technique a little more, and is a great video for alternate picking, and legato as well.

[Shredcow]

1 point to note... Pick angle.

I am in the school of thought where I believe there's no need to angle your pick when sweeping.

Some ppl like to angle their pick one way when going down, then angle it the opposite way when going up.

While its true that its not wrong to do so, it does not make sense to me to do so.

I started sweeping, making sure I angled my pick and what not... and I never got it right till, you got it, i kept my pick in 1 position and went at it up and down.

At the end of the day, your story might be the opposite of mine, SO! Just be open, if you find yourself stagnant, try pick angle. :)

[dkaplowitz]

It's a good question about pick angle. I've been working on the sweep picking thing a long time. It's slowly starting to come together. However, I always think there are subtle ways to improve. I was watching Gambale on the Chick Corea Montreaux DVD and he definitely appears to be angling the pick. At least to my eyes, the pick doesn't look perpendicular to the strings. Anyway, I figure if he can sweep the way he does (I've heard all the shred guys, and I've still yet to hear anyone who does it better and more consistently than Gambale, say what you will about his taste in note choice, and his music, etc.), it's worth paying attention to how he does it. YMMV.

[retro]

Maybe these are helpful? At any rate some free basic internet vids on sweep picking.

http://www.freeguitarvideos.com/Tech2/T2_01.html

http://www.freeguitarvideos.com/Tech2/T2_02.html

[GuitarGuy510]

Have you ever taken a look at John Petrucci's "Rock Discipline" dvd? He has some great lessons on sweep picking as well as other technique stuff. Gambale is a GREAT guitarist, but dude... Petrucci is one of my guitar idols and he can sweep like a mofo! :dude :RoCkIn

[Shredcow]

Hmmm... I just re-read my earlier post about pick angle and realised i got it kinda wrong. :P Messaging @ work is bad.

I mean, you know the way some people sweep, in that they angle the pick the same way you would when doing a rake/slow strum? Then when they are going up, high E to Low E sweep, they angle the pick the opposite way.

I don't do that. I just hold my pick in 1 angle, and thats it! It does sweeps both ways like so.

[rotren]

I have a little sweep video example, not sure if it's helpful or not, but take a look. The way I do it is to start slowly and try to play the notes one at a time, as much is possible. Then increase the speed.

http://www.dolphinstreet.com/video_clips/video-2.php

[jzucker]

Here's some jazzy sweep picking on the Charlie Parker tune Donna Lee

http://www.sheetsofsound.net/videos/jaz/donnalee.wmv

[Dave Z]

Hello. I am far from being as proficient in sweep picking as Jason Becker, Gambale, Rusty Cooley, Richie Kotzen, etc. are, but I like the technique and have studied it and have some tips to share that might be helpful.

First off, realize that sweep picking is mostly a LEFT HAND technique. All the right hand does is rake the pick across the strings in succession. The left hand has to hammer on each note of the arpeggio and then quickly release pressure to deaden the note and the string. The muting, hammering-on and lifting of the left hand is what makes sweep picking sound clean and articulate.

The best thing to practice is an exercise similar to what Petrucci shows on his instructional, which is 4 fingers across adjacent strings one fret apart. Make sure each finger is working independent and that they are hammering onto the string to sound the note. You should be able to use your left hand only when practicing the arpeggio shapes used in sweep picking, and this is a good exercise to gain strength and independence in your left hand ( remember that ALL of the great sweep pickers have incredible left hand strength and speed.)

The next technique that is tricky is rolling your lh fingers when notes are played on the same fret on adjacent strings. Practice rolling the finger across 2 then 3 strings to get used to the roll. When you roll down strings from the top to bottom, you start off on your fingertip and prgressively flatten your finger as you move downward to the adjacent string, and vice-versa when rolling from down to up.

I hope some of this helps. Here's a video of me playing some arpeggios. Notice how the left hand fingers seem to be hammering down on the notes a millisecond before they are picked.

http://www.zatuchney.com/video/sweeping.wmv

Dave Z

[esmiralha]

1) Grab broom by the non-hairy end.
2) Make sure the hairy end is in contact with its inner self.. no! with the floor.
3) Shake broom in a pendulum-like movement.

Sorry, couldn't resist...

[Lucidology]

Descending sweeps take the most practice ...

[Rock Johnson]

+1! It's hard and frustrating. Knock Yngwie all you want, but he's a hell of a sweep picker!

I thought Yngwie did strict alternate picking.

[dkaplowitz]

I thought Yngwie did strict alternate picking.No, he swept quite a bit too. Lots of minor and diminished arpeggios.

[Clifford-D]

Sheets of Sound

My only hope. :)

[JamesHealey]

Practice really slowly start on 2 strings, then 3,4,5,6 or 7 if you have a 7th string, but getting the sweeps really clean even and in time is the hardest part, I can't remember how I tackled sweep picking my self as it's so long ago I can't remember but this is how I teach people.

[jazzguitarplay]

Its not a new technique. But Frank Gambale has taken it to a new level. In my opinion , hes the best at sweeping in the heat of battle.

[shredtheater]

you would probably want to get your economy picking down too as well as 3,4,5, and 6 string arpeggio shapes. Playing arpeggios up and down gets boring and isnt actually very hard, its just a case of getting the technique down and speeding it up over time. If anything once you have your right hand approach down you will probably find that any speed plateau's you hit are a result of slower left hand speed.

Anyway, yes Gambale is the man to learn from for economy/sweep picking! Petrucci (my fav guitarist) is more of a straight arpeggio player. Fast and clean yes, but generally using pretty established patterns and usually through triads only.

I promise you if you want to be good at sweeping look at gambale, its much more ambitious and more interesting than playing a triad up and down as fast as pos in la Yngwie. Trust me connecting various 7th, 9th with singular lead lines and other extended arps is alot harder than learning 3 shapes for minor, major and dim triads!!

[GovernorSilver]

Sheets of Sound

My only hope. :)

I once had the Gambale books. Sheets of Sound is a much better value, and stuffs 100x the info into one book. And you get a lot more than exercises for sweep picking too.