How to learn to sweep pick

[arie]

As above ^^ I learned from Frank Gambale. No need for so many self-imposed roadblocks to master before doing it, bc it's not really that hard.

Dig him up on YT, he's an excellent teacher.

 

[CanserDYI]

I use my right hand and "rake" the strings by just pushing down and pulling up, and practiced the left hand by doing them legato and hammer on/pull offs, then just slowed it down and put them together.

 

[jaxadam]

Great videos and advice in here.

The only thing I would add, is that the trick seems to be allowing your pick to "rest" on the next string. Like a buddy of mine put it, pretend like the next string is a magnet, and allow it to pull the pick to it. Once you establish that little "push", at that point it is just about timing. You almost have to be behind the next note you plan to play in a weird sort of way until you get the cadence.

I would also say there's not prerequisite to impeccable alternate picking, but I do think learning to sweep does aid in economy picking down the line.

 

[CanserDYI]

Great videos and advice in here.

The only thing I would add, is that the trick seems to be allowing your pick to "rest" on the next string. Like a buddy of mine put it, pretend like the next string is a magnet, and allow it to pull the pick to it. Once you establish that little "push", at that point it is just about timing. You almost have to be behind the next note you plan to play in a weird sort of way until you get the cadence.

I would also say there's not prerequisite to impeccable alternate picking, but I do think learning to sweep does aid in economy picking down the line.

Very good way of putting it. I see it kinda like walking down the road with a stick and putting it into the fence as you're walking and hearing the tap tap tap or the cup on the jail cell doors. Just enough pressure to pluck the string and "magnet" into the next.

 

[Dushan S]

I can't get anywhere with it, I don't even know how to practice it. Do I need to be a fast alternate picker to be able to do it? In a sense that my left hand would be fast. I understand learning these takes time, but I can't time into it if I don't know how to.

It is not entirely clear, do you want to seep pick arpeggios or do you want to learn to really sweep pick? I have noticed that some people think about sweep picking only as an solution for fast playing of arps, as is often the case in metal music. This in itself is not that hard, as some people have already said, use metronome, start slow, etc etc. But if you want to REALLY sweep pick, Gambale style, it is a bit different ball game and takes some work and in a way forces you to treat fretboard in a slightly different way, arranging licks in odd/even number of notes per string etc. If this is what you ask about, for me personally, most important thing is to be really mindful about pick slanting, and second, to feel one group of notes that ends with a sweep to next string as if it was one motion. At least in my case, I had problems when I tried to sweep through the scale patterns and learn in this way, instead I focused on just two strings and learnd just the motion first, something like this:
^ v ^ ^
--------------12---
--12-13-15-------

and after that something like
^ v ^ ^ v v ^ v
--------------12--13------------
--12-13-15----------15-14-13-

It's really hard to describe this in written word, but I have noticed that some people really struggle by learning it in a usual way. Anyone who has a problem should just work on a sweeping motion, how to control it. For instance just play two notes on adjacent strings first until you get how to play sweep cleanly and then move to arps and scales. At least this worked for me and for some of my students later.

 

[jaxadam]

It is not entirely clear, do you want to seep pick arpeggios or do you want to learn to really sweep pick? I have noticed that some people think about sweep picking only as an solution for fast playing of arps, as is often the case in metal music. This in itself is not that hard, as some people have already said, use metronome, start slow, etc etc. But if you want to REALLY sweep pick, Gambale style, it is a bit different ball game and takes some work and in a way forces you to treat fretboard in a slightly different way, arranging licks in odd/even number of notes per string etc. If this is what you ask about, for me personally, most important thing is to be really mindful about pick slanting, and second, to feel one group of notes that ends with a sweep to next string as if it was one motion. At least in my case, I had problems when I tried to sweep through the scale patterns and learn in this way, instead I focused on just two strings and learnd just the motion first, something like this:
^ v ^ ^
--------------12---
--12-13-15-------

and after that something like
^ v ^ ^ v v ^ v
--------------12--13------------
--12-13-15----------15-14-13-

It's really hard to describe this in written word, but I have noticed that some people really struggle by learning it in a usual way. Anyone who has a problem should just work on a sweeping motion, how to control it. For instance just play two notes on adjacent strings first until you get how to play sweep cleanly and then move to arps and scales. At least this worked for me and for some of my students later.

Isn’t this economy picking?

 

[kisielk]

Isn’t this economy picking?

The terms get kind of confused and used interchangeably, but from my perspective economy picking just deals with pick direction. You can still have an individual stroke for each note that you play. Sweep picking is playing notes on adjacent strings in a single motion.

 

[jaxadam]

The terms get kind of confused and used interchangeably, but from my perspective economy picking just deals with pick direction. You can still have an individual stroke for each note that you play. Sweep picking is playing notes on adjacent strings in a single motion.

Yes I agree but his example described what I’d consider economy picking.

 

[kisielk]

Yes I agree but his example described what I’d consider economy picking.

Bassd on what part of the description?

 

[jaxadam]

Bassd on what part of the description?

The example of the two string exercise in the post I quoted.

 

[Dushan S]

Isn’t this economy picking?

As Kisielk has said, term gets sometimes used interchangeably, so I am not sure. Also, IMHO, it is the same thing. Some people, Steve Morse for instance, do play arps by using alternate picking, so sweep picking is economy picking applied to arps. Or you can turn it around and define economy picking as using sweep when changing strings. It is just that in the beginning most people were using this technique only for arpeggio runs so limited application became known as sweep picking and advanced application become known as economy picking.

For instance look at this lick, would you say it needs economy picking or sweeping? And where sweep stops and economy picking starts?

---------------------------7-10-14-10-------------------------------------
----------------------10-----------------12--------------------------------
-------------7-9-11--------------------------14-12-11------------------
----------9------------------------------------------------12-----------
-7-9-10--------------------------------------------------------14-10-----
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The terms get kind of confused and used interchangeably, but from my perspective economy picking just deals with pick direction. You can still have an individual stroke for each note that you play. Sweep picking is playing notes on adjacent strings in a single motion.

Not to say you aren't right, because I don't really know how you play it, maybe you are doing it differently compared to me, but my personal experience is that proper, controlled sweeping is actually identical to economy when it comes to right hand movement when changing strings. It does deal with direction but right hand motion in my case is identical i both cases. I do feel that for sweep to be rhythmically correct, you kind of have to look at it as a group of motions within one big sweep. Yes, when you are playing really fast it becomes one big motion, but at medium speed I feel there are still single motions for each string played. I feel there is always a pause, maybe even millisecond long, where my pick is resting on the next string that is to be played, but still not playing it.

 

[jaxadam]

As Kisielk has said, term gets sometimes used interchangeably, so I am not sure. Also, IMHO, it is the same thing. Some people, Steve Morse for instance, do play arps by using alternate picking, so sweep picking is economy picking applied to arps. Or you can turn it around and define economy picking as using sweep when changing strings. It is just that in the beginning most people were using this technique only for arpeggio runs so limited application became known as sweep picking and advanced application become known as economy picking.

For instance look at this lick, would you say it needs economy picking or sweeping? And where sweep stops and economy picking starts?

---------------------------7-10-14-10-------------------------------------
----------------------10-----------------12--------------------------------
-------------7-9-11--------------------------14-12-11------------------
----------9------------------------------------------------12-----------
-7-9-10--------------------------------------------------------14-10-----
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not to say you aren't right, because I don't really know how you play it, maybe you are doing it differently compared to me, but my personal experience is that proper, controlled sweeping is actually identical to economy when it comes to right hand movement when changing strings. It does deal with direction but right hand motion in my case is identical i both cases. I do feel that for sweep to be rhythmically correct, you kind of have to look at it as a group of motions within one big sweep. Yes, when you are playing really fast it becomes one big motion, but at medium speed I feel there are still single motions for each string played. I feel there is always a pause, maybe even millisecond long, where my pick is resting on the next string that is to be played, but still not playing it.

I think of sweeping as more than one string, and economy as sweeping between strings, so I agree with you.

For your example, I would play it as:

d-u-d-d-d-u-d-d-d-u-d-d-u-u-u-d-u-u-u-d

I do something similar in this video where I do little three string sweeps starting at 0:07, but drop back one string, but the overall section is progressively up then progressively down. You'll have to turn the volume up because it recorded really low.

 

[Dushan S]

I think of sweeping as more than one string, and economy as sweeping between strings, so I agree with you.

For your example, I would play it as:

d-u-d-d-d-u-d-d-d-u-d-d-u-u-u-d-u-u-u-d

I do something similar in this video where I do little three string sweeps starting at 0:07, but drop back one string, but the overall section is progressively up then progressively down. You'll have to turn the volume up because it recorded really low.

Cool playing, great chops you have there!
Btw not sure I got picking directions, maybe it is a typo?
I am plying it
d-u-d-d-d-u-d-d-d-u-d-u-u-u-d-u-u-u-d
Or in other words if you pick every note on E string, it changes the direction of the pick automatically, so you end up sweeping back when playing Gmaj9 arp. Or you want to say that what you have wrote works better for you, not sure?

 

[jaxadam]

Cool playing, great chops you have there!
Btw not sure I got picking directions, maybe it is a typo?
I am plying it
d-u-d-d-d-u-d-d-d-u-d-u-u-u-d-u-u-u-d
Or in other words if you pick every note on E string, it changes the direction of the pick automatically, so you end up sweeping back when playing Gmaj9 arp. Or you want to say that what you have wrote works better for you, not sure?

Thanks man, that's just years and years of no metronome and just playing to the tap of my foot.

I think I did have a typo, it is exactly how you do it.

 

[Dushan S]

Thanks man, that's just years and years of no metronome and just playing to the tap of my foot.

I think I did have a typo, it is exactly how you do it.

Well maybe you have extremely reliable foot!

 

[Fenriswolf]

do play arps by using alternate picking

Like down up down going down the arpeggio? How the hell does that work?

 

[Dushan S]

Like down up down going down the arpeggio? How the hell does that work?

Or this

Petrucci recorded this with alternate picking, but he often plays economy live.

 

[onefingersweep]

You don't have to be good at alternate picking at all to be good at sweeping. Completely different technique. The one thing they have in common though is that it's usually the upstroke that is harder. However with sweeping it's usually the fretting hand that has the problem with the descending part, especially if it's a sweep over many strings. Improving your legato technique and also your chordal playing will help. Then you just need to sync it with your picking hand. But this part is much easier for sweeping than for alternate picking IMO.