What does RAKE mean?

Ok, so an example of a rake. Take a chord or any shape consisting of at least 3 strings eg.

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----------8-----------8----------------------------------
----------9----------9----------------------------------
----------9-------- 9----------------------------------
----------7--------7-------------------------------------
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On the left is the shape played normally - hitting all strings at once, then on right is a rake: You dont bang em all at once but you rake the pick down the notes so they are playing almost one at a time but still sorta together. You dont just play each note totally separetly, u still sort of play it as one chord and u let the notes ring into each other

Actually, when strumming a chord with a plectrum , you don't hit all the notes at the same time. A pick can only be in one place at a time. and the strings are all in different places. Basically, a "rake" is a slow strum. Go even slower and it somehow becomes an "appreggio", and if you like neo-classical metal terms you can also call it "sweep picking".

A rake is a slower version of a sweep and is only in one direction. For something to be a sweep it needs to go up and then back down again.

Any time I've "raked" the strings, I do it with my left hand on the fretboard.

From a Troy Stetina book, this is a rake.

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-------------------------x----------------------------------
------------------------x----------------------------------
----------------------x----------------------------------
---------------------x-------------------------------------
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spacefiller P.M.|_______|

A sweep doesnt have to be up and down. Its a sweep so long as the notes are played separetly - cos think about it, you can sweep much much faster or much slower than a rake, its all about hitting the notes separeltly, not letting them ring into each other and so when sweeping you dont hold the notes all together like a chord but fret them one at a time. If you stick do these rules you are sweeping wether its up, down or both (trust me I know I use it all the time lol) Hard to describe in words...

But what hairball said about a rake being like a slow strum is exactly right (better description than I gave lol), wether it be a chord or muted strings.

Can anyone tell me if the pattern Pete Townsend plays on the song, Tattoo, from The Who Sell Out album is a rake or sweep?

But more importantly, I tend to anchor my pinking on the guitar. Technique-wise, does this cause trouble with either raking or sweeping? Seems like both picking - sweeping and raking - methods require as much confidence as technique.

I've always heard the term rake used to mean sweep-picking a set of muted strings up to a string that is actually played w/o the mute, like so:

-----------------
---------5-------
--------x--------
-------x---------
------x----------
-----------------


Usually it's done pretty quickly, making a scraping sound leading up to the played note. Henry Garza from Los Lonely Boys uses this technique all the time in his playing. This is just how I have always used/heard the term; I wouldn't be surprised if it had other meanings though.

i've heard it as a muted stum, also, like the beginning of voodoo chile.