By Jason Earls, author of How to Become a Guitar Player from Hell
Sweep picking is one of the sweetest techniques you can perform on the electric guitar. It simply involves playing arpeggios by "sweeping" your pick up or down the strings in one continuous strumming motion. Usually when doing sweep picking guitarists will "sweep" across all six strings very quickly, but not quite as fast as performing a regular uncontrolled strum. The goal with sweep picking is to sound the INDIVIDUAL notes of a chord; that is, not allow them to bleed together. Also, more than one note can occur on a single string with the arpeggios played, but usually those are hammered-on or pulled-off to so as not to hinder the one-directional movement of the pick.
Concerning speed with sweep picking, some guitarists perform the technique too quickly. Be careful not to simply smear your pick over the notes so that it ends up sounding like an incoherent mess. You want to play quickly yet still be able to discern most of the pitches or overall tonality of the arpeggio. Don’t fall into the habit of making your arpeggios sound like a mish-mash of dead clicks (for more advice on sweep picking, along with a valuable personal anecdote, see my book, How to Become a Guitar Player from Hell). The tricky thing with sweep picking is to get your plectrum and fingers in perfect synchronization so the notes flow out quickly with complete accuracy and clarity.
Our first sweep picked arpeggio will be a simple one involving an A minor triad:
-----------12-15p12------------
-------13-----------13----------
-12h14-----------------14p12--
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
Notice the hammer-on and pull-off between the G note and A note, and on the high E string the G and E notes, respectively. Practice this lick so the arpeggio flows up and back continuously and you could keep it going for hours if you were forced to.
Next we have an arpeggio spanning all six strings. This one is a real doozy. A C# minor barre chord:
----------------9-12p9----------------
--------------9--------9--------------
------------9------------9------------
---------11----------------11---------
------11----------------------11------
-9h12----------------------------12p9-
Very tricky to pull this one off cleanly. It takes good hand and plectrum synchronization to play it fast yet with each note articulated. Notice the hammers and pulls that allow the pick to ascend and descend in one fluid motion. With this arpeggio you will have to use a rolling motion with your fingers to grab the notes (mostly on the 11th and the higher 9th frets), applying and releasing tension with the fingertips so that the notes do not bleed together. Move this arpeggio around to get different keys, e.g., move it down to the 7th fret to have a B minor arpeggio.
Next is a lick that combines two arpeggios together. This one sounds quite pretty. The chords involved are D minor and C major, respectively, which both fit into the overall key of A minor. Usually I toss in this lick when I’m soloing in the A Aeolian mode (See my book How to Become a Guitar Player from Hell for a full explanation of modes and how they are used; okay, I’ll stop plugging my book now).
~
-17p13----------------------13-17p13-15--
-------15----------------15--------------
----------14----------14-----------------
-------------15----15--------------------
----------------17-----------------------
-----------------------------------------
~
-12-15p12---------------------12-15p12-13--
----------13---------------13--------------
-------------12---------12-----------------
----------------14---14--------------------
-------------------15----------------------
-------------------------------------------
Next is a fairly unusual arpeggio that uses a few half step intervals in its chord voicing. I don’t know the name of the chord this one is based on. It could be B major with a flatted 5th and a sharp 11th, but I’m not exactly sure. If you have the answer please email me – see my Bio at the end of this book for contact information. Anyway, I love this arpeggio because it’s very exotic sounding.
------------------------11-13h14p13p11--
---------------------12-----------------
---------------10s11--------------------
------------13--------------------------
-----8s9-14-----------------------------
-7/8------------------------------------
-------------------------
-12----------------------
----11-10----------------
----------13-------------
-------------14-8-9------
--------------------8-7--
Note that I use slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs when ascending, but on descending I pick every note. It’s easier for me that way, but you may be different and want to add slides and slurs on the descent. Feel free to do so.
Next is a lovely arpeggio that consists of notes from an A major chord but with an extension to notes in the same key further up the neck:
----------------9-12-9-----------------
-------------10--------10--------------
---------6-9--------------9-6----------
-------7----------------------7--------
-----7--------------------------7------
-5-9------------------------------9-5--
When you hit the 6th fret, you should slide your index finger up to the 9th fret and continue playing the rest of the notes. Move this arpeggio around to get different keys as well. I play it often with A and G root notes also.
And finally here is a basic A7 arpeggio:
-----------------5--------------
-------------5-8---8-5-—--------
-----------6-----------6--------
-------5-7---------------7------
-----7---------------------7----
-5-9-------------------------9--
So there you have a few of my favorite arpeggios. You can use them when practicing your sweep picking and also be sure to transpose them to different areas of the neck, depending upon the key you are in when soloing. The arpeggios above are all quite musical so you don’t have to worry about adding anything else to your "chromatic-lick" repertoire, which you should always avoid whenever possible.
One personal performance note: for some reason it is easier for me to sweep pick DESCENDING (going from the high E to the low E string) than it is to sweep ASCENDING. Just because of the natural movement of my hands and the way my nervous system is wired, I suppose. Hence I have to practice the ascending motion with more concentration than the descending motion. Pay attention to your own natural movements and figure out what you need to work on to improve.
A good suggestion for working on arpeggios and sweep picking is to get a good book on music theory, learn many chords from it, then practice laying out the notes on the fretboard comfortably for new arpeggios to add to your arsenal. Then practice sweep picking the bejeesus out of them and have fun doing so. Bon Voyage.
-end-
Jason Earls is author of the books How to Become a Guitar Player from Hell, Cocoon of Terror (Afterbirth Books), Red Zen, Heartless Bast*rd In Ecstasy, If(Sid_Vicious == TRUE && Alan_Turing == TRUE) {ERROR_Cyberpunk(); } and 0.136101521283655... all available at Amazon.com and other online book stores. His fiction and mathematical work have been published in Red Scream, Yankee Pot Roast, Scientia Magna, three of Clifford Pickover’s books, Mathworld, Thirteen, Chiaroscuro, Dogmatika, Neometropolis, Prime Curios, the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, OG’s Speculative Fiction, AlienSkin, Escaping Elsewhere, Recreational and Educational Computing, Theatre of Decay, Nocturnal Ooze, Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens, and other publications. He currently resides in Oklahoma with his wife, Christine.
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