More On Developing Proper Sweep Picking Technique

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More on Developing Proper Sweep Picking Technique

By Michael Angelo Batio July 10, 2019
Perfect your sweep picking technique with this lesson.
    
(Image credit: Cindy Moorhead)
Sweep picking is an incredibly useful and exciting technique that allows guitarists to perform arpeggios in a ashy, keyboard-like
manner.
It has become a huge part of my playing style, and I’m always looking for new and di erent ways to incorporate sweep picking into
musical ideas I come up with. Last month, I detailed the basic mechanics of the technique, and now I’d like to further demonstrate its
proper execution.
To review, a sweep is the movement of the pick across two or more adjacent strings in a single, continuous stroke, a downstroke being
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used to play an ascending
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also often referred to as economy picking, or rest-stroke picking, typically when applied to phrases that are more scalar than arpeggio-
based.
Some of the fastest guitarists ever, from gypsy jazz legend Django Reinhardt to jazz-fusion wizard Frank Gambale, have relied on
economy, rest-stroke and sweep picking techniques to perform their breathtaking high-velocity solos and make them sound seemingly
e ortless.
For now, we’re going to focus speci cally on arpeggios that move across the top ve strings. FIGURE 1 illustrates a sweep-picked A
major arpeggio (A C# E). I begin with my index nger on A, fth string, 12th fret, and pick this note with a downstroke. I then hammer-
on with my pinkie to C# at the 16th fret.
Then, with my middle nger barred across the D, G and B strings at the 14th fret, I continue the initial downstroke by dragging the pick
across these strings and then the high E string, using my index nger to fret the E note at the 12th fret. I then fret the high A at the 17th
fret with my pinkie and pick that note with an upstroke. I follow this with a pull-o back to the 12th fret then continue the upstroke by
dragging the pick across the B, G, D and A strings in one continuous, unbroken motion, followed by a downstroke on the A note on the
fth string’s 12th fret. FIGURE 2 illustrates the complete pattern cycled repeatedly in a continuous, even ow of sextuplets.
An essential component of proper sweep picking technique is muting unused strings with both hands. When sweeping, I always lightly
rest the edge of the pick-hand palm across the strings in front of the bridge (what is known as palm muting), which helps prevent the
strings not being picked from ringing. Additionally, when fretting on the lower strings, I use the eshy “paws” of my fretting ngers to
mute the adjacent higher strings, aiding in clear articulation of each note as it is picked, with no other strings ringing.
The next step is to work on applying sweeps to other arpeggio shapes in di erent positions, as demonstrated with a ninth-position A
major shape in FIGURES 3–5. When played in this position, a one-note-per-string ngering scheme is used, except on the high E string.
FIGURE 3 presents the basic shape, and FIGURE 4 demonstrates one way you can continuously cycle the pattern. I myself usually
double-pick the initial A note when repeating this pattern, as shown in FIGURE 5.
A great way to practice your sweeps is to alternate between parallel major and minor triads, such as A and Am. FIGURES 6 and 7
illustrate this approach applied to 12th and ninth positions, respectively.
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6/11/2020 More on Developing Proper Sweep Picking Technique | Guitar World

More on Developing Proper Sweep Picking Technique

Perfect your sweep picking technique with this lesson.

(Image credit: Cindy Moorhead)

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Get updates from all sorts of things that matter to you

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