Sweeping on Guitar

Well, I have an amazing secret guitar tip that no one else knows about, and I'll tell you what it is... just make out a check to Dan T. for $19.95 and all your guitar dreams will come true! :wink: :lol:

Ok kidding aside, I don't know of any shortcuts to this type of playing, and I don't even know how to do sweep picking myself, but your post did remind me of a free lesson I saw awhile back that may help you. Check it out:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/features/steal_this_video_sweep_picking.html

Hope that helps you out. It does seem that this style of playing requires alot of patience and practice, so good luck & once you get it down, post something for us to hear. :D

Dan

IMHO, a great song to practice sweeping is "The House Of The Rising Sun".

IMHO, a great song to practice sweeping is "The House Of The Rising Sun".

That's not really sweeping though, it's just arpeggios.

unless i am mistaken . . .

That's not really sweeping though, it's just arpeggios.

unless i am mistaken . . .

sweeping is just a picking technique...

You could play House of the Rising Sun using sweep picking (Although, it would be done very slowly. Whereas sweep picking is usually associated with playing fast)

That's not really sweeping though, it's just arpeggios.

unless i am mistaken . . .

sweeping is just a picking technique...

You could play House of the Rising Sun using sweep picking (Although, it would be done very slowly. Whereas sweep picking is usually associated with playing fast)
Yeah I know that, I am saying in the song the arpeggios are definitely not sweeped

just keep at it is my advice, lots of things, in my case speed and artificial harmonics, come after time with this instrument. You just get them after awhile.

just keep at it is my advice, lots of things, in my case speed and artificial harmonics, come after time with this instrument. You just get them after awhile.
cool.

yeah it's starting to SLOWLY sink in.

i have a lot of trouble with the upstrokes on the sweeps, but i am getting better!

I am fairly good at sweep picking. Not super fast, but I get an even sweep. I kinda learned the hard way, but I found it's good to start with 3 strings, then 4......

And here is a great lesson that says the same thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th5oEvvlKOg

Edit- Yes, the upstoke is more difficult. :D

I am fairly good at sweep picking. Not super fast, but I get an even sweep. I kinda learned the hard way, but I found it's good to start with 3 strings, then 4......

And here is a great lesson that says the same thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th5oEvvlKOg

Edit- Yes, the upstoke is more difficult. :D
Thanks Wes, getting the strokes even is the most important part. I'll have it in a few more months. Oh and great link, I have that whole video series on my computer, I am learning almost exclusively from it for shred style stuff :)

Hi,

Presumably the difficulty is getting the timing and coordination right, so that both hands are doing their jobs smoothly and together??

So maybe it would help if you did some practice with the hands separately first and then put them together. But with the addition of a metronome to take the place of the missing hand?

I don't use sweep picking (at least I didn't..) but after reading this I tried working the left hand for while, in time with a metronome. Then I did the same with the right hand, until I felt that both were working OK.

Then I stuck them together (still with the metronome on). Then I got rid of the metronome. I don't enjoy metronomes much, but it seemed help in this case, and it didn't seem to take me long to get the feel for the technique. I imagine a drum machine would do the job too.

Just a thought anyway. Might be worth a try. Good luck. :)

Cheers,

Chris.

Thanks I'll try that!

I can do it slow with the metronome OK, but I lose it when I speed up. Soooooo I guess that means I just have to do it longer slower til it sinks in the old noggin

my problem is that my picking hand moves to fast......... or is it my fretting hand moving too slow??? hmmmm..........

I guess I also thought there wasn't alternate picking, but just up or down used with hammers and pulls.

Sheeesh, have I got a ways to go. I didn't even know such a thing existed.

Now I know something else I didn't know I didn't know.

Good links to instructional and entertaining Sweep vids. Thanks for the education.

Thanks I'll try that!

I can do it slow with the metronome OK, but I lose it when I speed up. Soooooo I guess that means I just have to do it longer slower til it sinks in the old noggin

When I'm trying to learn things I sometimes find that I'm 'trying too hard' and sort of scaring the bird off by being a bit to eager, as it were. Maybe there's a touch of that happening too? I know that I can get very determined at times and try to just force my way through. I'm just not a 'back off a bit' sort of person, preferring to keep pushing until it just 'clicks'. But I've had to learn to modify that a bit, 'cos sometimes it works against me! :shock:

So I back off a notch or two for a while. I don't stop, but I just ease off on making it the big thing I'm trying to beat right now. I slow down just a bit for while, as you say, but still do some each day. Then, later, when I go back to concentrating harder on it again, the "old noggin" seems to have done a lot of that soaking up you talk about. The bird seems tamer and I am able to push forwards again without so much flap and fluster..... if that makes sense... :wink:

Good luck. You've obviously got the determination to succeed, and the willingness to try things out. Sounds good to me... :D