Article Trunk



The Basics Of Sweep Picking

08.03.2009 · Posted in Music Articles

The awesome sweep picking system is the most up to date things available right now, thanks to the renewal in the heavy metal music scene of old-school guitar shredding The classical old skool shredding scene had been a no-go area for a lot of players across the nu-metal and grunge period, now it is back with a hollering revenge, and is used by a lot of players. What’s the attraction of this technique? Sweep picking is a great thing to utilise when rolling out a solo on the guitar, giving a different kind of playing style that is equal parts thrilling and confusing to the listener.rnrnSweep picking is easy to start with, but very hard to do properly. The basic concept of sweep picking is playing an arpeggio with the left hand whilst only playing one down-****** and one upstroke with the right. Therefore, if playing a simple arpeggio on 4 strings, those two strokes will create eight notes. It is easy to become accustomed to ********* arpeggios, but it’s the sweeping right hand action that could be hard to get the swing of. As a guitar strummer, you will automatically want to choose each single individual note by itself, but the sweeping action needs to be one fluent up and down actions instead of eight individual string notes. It is this pattern that gives sweep picking its amazing notes and the appearance of great guitar skills. rnrnAt the end of a swept run of string hits, you could even extend the music by way of drumming the following notes up the neck, which adds an amazing sound to any fast guitar solo. Try experimenting with different arpeggios to provide yourself and concept of the notes and form of the idea, then you can have a go at other sounds yourself and create more phenomenal solos that are very contemporary in nature.rnrnThere is a lot of great things you can try to become used to the concept of sweep picking ( otherwise known simply as ‘sweeping’). Concentrate on the top 3 thinnest strings and start around the twelth fret ( The notes here are clearer and easier to choose between, therefore why no-one actually sweeps especially low on the neck). Try out the following sequence to start : A-C-E-A-E-C-A. You see, the end point is identical to the beginning point, giving the sweep a cyclic nature that sounds amazing when used right.rnrnrnWhen learning the best way to use sweep picking in your guitar music, it is insistent you practice a fluent right hand action, as this is the most important factor. You can be awesome at laying down the notes on the fretboard, but without a good, fast right hand motion, the sweep picking will usually sound sloppy and some notes may even be muffled. So practice with the movement of your hands, and you will shortly learn the knack of sweep picking. If you want to hear some examples of sweep picking in action, try the music of Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker, Micheal Angelo Batio, John Petrucci (Dream Theater), Chris Broderick, Jeff Loomis (from Nevermore), and Chris Impellitteri (as the band Impellitteri). You’ll shortly learn just how much can be performed by sweep picking yourself.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.