today we're going to delve into one of the hardest techniques to practice correctly - the art of sweep picking.
i start this article by mentioning that this is one of the harder techniques to practice - and at this point you're probably saying to yourself, "how can this be harder to practice than anything else i've learned so far?" the answer is relatively simple - when we learn new techniques we often slow them down, allowing our brains and our hands to deal with them at a comfortable pace, until we feel confident enough to speed them up. with sweep picking, however, often times our hands will change their approach to these techniques massively at slower tempos automatically, and will render all of your time spent practicing almost completely useless.
but more on that later.
let's begin with an explanation of the topic. what is sweep picking? essentially, sweep picking encompasses the same use of your picking hand that's involved with slower strumming - gliding your picking hand up and down the strings in a relatively even motion, depending on the emphasis you're looking for. where this technique differs from strumming, though, moreso is in the fretting hand. when you're strumming chords, you're generally holding down a combination of notes across multiple strings to make one unified sound in the end. when sweep picking, we're going to focus on playing one note at a time with one finger at a time - and then immediately removing that finger when we move to the next note.
personally, i think this technique is a rather odd way of playing the guitar. the instrument itself is designed to allow notes to ring out and melt on top of each other. this style of playing avoids that at all costs. i think it is this factor combined with the maniacal speed often used that makes this technique so desirable to many players.
on the topic of desire, let's make dreams a reality.
when i think of sweep arpeggios, i am instantly reminded of the big ones. the arpeggios that sound like the player is moving across something like 14 (or more) notes in a fast up and down motion that involves 4, 5, or even 6 strings. while these might be your ultimate goal, i highly recommend against starting with these shapes. i prefer to take a different approach, and work on the smallest sweeping technique that can possibly occur, which is across 2 strings.
let's have a look at a basic major shape triad in a 2 string sweepable pattern. playing this in the position noted helps greatly, but what's very important is the picking. you will notice i have not only indicated which way to pick, but have also included pulloffs in the picking line to remind you - because they are that important.
iv
d d u p d d u p d
E|----4-7p4---4-7p4---|
B|--5-------5-------5-|
G|--------------------|
let's break down exactly what our hands are doing throughout this process. for the first note, E, we're picking a downstroke. for the next note, G#, we're also going to use a downstroke, but you have to make sure that both of these notes get the same downstroke. in other words, you can't pick E, stop your picking hand, and then pick G#. you have to keep your right hand moving fluidly, otherwise it will feel just like two regular downstrokes in a row and not one sweeping motion. this is what makes practicing this technique slowly so tough. slow down too much and you'll end up stopping your picking hand from between notes, and the whole process is now just picking, instead of sweeping.
in the beginning stages, practicing at slow tempos, my advice would be to pick the E note, and let the downstroke collide with the adjacent string, and then continue with the next part of the sweep.
in the beginning stages, practicing at slow tempos, my advice would be to pick the E note, and let the downstroke collide with the adjacent string, and then continue with the next part of the sweep.
i said that twice because i really want you to try it.
now, once those two notes are done, your pick has run through two strings (with the same motion!) and now has run out of guitar. the next note, B, will systematically then get an upstroke - no time to cross back over the high E string to downstroke it!
however, sometimes we need to make time to cross strings. that's what our pulloff to G# is for. while you're pulling off with your fretting hand, your picking hand has time to move back up to the B string, to prepare a downstroke. it is at this point that the 2 string sweep is complete and you are ready to repeat the process.
whew! that's a lot of information for a 4 note repeating pattern. i know it's a long read, but unless you're conscious of every motion both of your hands are making, you are likely not going to be as accurate as you want.
now that we have the basic technical itinerary laid out for these 2 string triad arps, we can take a look at all the basic triads, in all their inversions. while the spacing of the notes changes, the basic principles of technicality still apply. behold, the lunacy!
Major
Root 1st Inversion 2nd Inversion
|---7-10-----------10-15------------15-19-------|
|-8-------------12---------------15-------------|
|-----------------------------------------------|
Minor
Root 1st Inversion 2nd Inversion
|---6-10----------10-15-------------15-18-------|
|-8------------11----------------15-------------|
|-----------------------------------------------|
Diminished
Root 1st Inversion 2nd Inversion
|---6-9----------9-15--------------15-18---------|
|-8-----------11----------------14---------------|
|------------------------------------------------|
Augmented
Root 1st Inversion 2nd Inversion
|---7-11----------11-15------------15-19----------|
|-8------------12---------------16----------------|
|-------------------------------------------------|
these are the shapes you need to memorize to complete your 2 string studies for triads across the B and E strings. you could apply these to other stringsets if you wish, but i recommend you learn these across the top two strings first, as we'll be utilizing this stringset as a framework for the 3, 4, and 5 string arpeggios, discussed in later articles.
if you feel so inclined, you could also figure out patterns for suspended triads, 7th chords without a 5th, or any other variation you can dream up that yields 3 notes per chord.
until next time, happy sweeping!
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