Arpeggios and Sweep Picking
- Thread starter Phoenix5
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- Mar 16, 2004
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It's always tricky starting out,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb_0fQwtwgo
Gilbert can tell you a few things!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb_0fQwtwgo
Gilbert can tell you a few things!
FretsAflame
Undercover Shredder
personally I found it tricky to get the picking hand motion down more than the arpeggiation (word? wtf 
)
therefore in terms of technique, I would recommend trying to get that sweep feel on a full chord before you try to arpeggiate it. By this I mean, pick something (I used an A minor) and just try to sweep the notes out with your right hand.
After you feel you've got a fluid motion in your right hand I'd move up to 3 string sweeps (major minor diminished blah blah) and then try major and minor 5 string sweeps and then maybe 6 strings. Give yourself a good week per sweep and I think you'll be solid
Good luck!
Yeah and listen to Guilbert!
) therefore in terms of technique, I would recommend trying to get that sweep feel on a full chord before you try to arpeggiate it. By this I mean, pick something (I used an A minor) and just try to sweep the notes out with your right hand.
After you feel you've got a fluid motion in your right hand I'd move up to 3 string sweeps (major minor diminished blah blah) and then try major and minor 5 string sweeps and then maybe 6 strings. Give yourself a good week per sweep and I think you'll be solid
Good luck!
Yeah and listen to Guilbert!
FretsAflame
Undercover Shredder
guitarguru777
Member
The trick to sweep picking is the transition from up to down stroke or down to up ....
The lat not of the arpeggio on the top should be the opposite of what ever motion you started with .... so for example ....
This A minor arpeggio would be
The upstrok5 on A note of the high E string transitions you for the move back down the arpeggio in the other direction.
So next would be
And the 12th fret on the A string (A) would be a down stroke transitioning into the start of the arpeggio again.
This is very important when it comes to sweeping its hepls make the motion more fluid.
The lat not of the arpeggio on the top should be the opposite of what ever motion you started with .... so for example ....
This A minor arpeggio would be
Code:
V - Down Stroke ^ is up
V H V V V V ^
----------------------12--15--------
------------------13----------------
--------------14--------------------
----------14------------------------
-12--15-----------------------------
------------------------------------So next would be
Code:
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ V
-12-----------------------------------
-----13-------------------------------
----------14--------------------------
----------------14--------------------
---------------------15---12---------
-------------------------------------This is very important when it comes to sweeping its hepls make the motion more fluid.
i find it easier with legatto, when changing picking directions.
for a example a more beginner friendly arpegio would be
e-------------15h19p
b--------17------------17
g---16----------------------16
d
a
e
that is an E minor arpegio in E standard, even though it doesn't start and ends with an E note, it has all the notes of an E minor arp. good luck
for a example a more beginner friendly arpegio would be
e-------------15h19p
b--------17------------17
g---16----------------------16
d
a
e
that is an E minor arpegio in E standard, even though it doesn't start and ends with an E note, it has all the notes of an E minor arp. good luck
Liverslapper
w00t
took me months and months to get sweeping down, though i still need some work. It takes a lot of practice.
It took me a long time to learn how to sweep and I still need to work on it.
Practice very,very slowly. when I first started to learn how to sweep I would play mys arps fast, and I got decent at it pretty quickly, but I soon discovered that I could only play them at one tempo. If I had to to actually arppegiate and pick out each note in the arp, I was sloppy and the notes were really uneven. (If you don't know what I mean liten to Marcel Coenen), it'a almost like sweeping slowly, but it's constant. best shredder out there that no ones heard of. Learning this song made me see the error of my ways. (and I still can't play it right )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pje_a8ly4Y
Playing stuff like this made me realize "SLOW DOWN" learn it right learn to do it smoothly and evenly.
It takes alot of practice.
Vinnie Moores first instructional video has great arpeggio exercises on it as does Gilberts.
Frank Gambales "Monster Licks" video has a whole section on sweeping that is very good.
and check this guy out for sheer "Holy shit" factor. He's a prominant player over in Greece.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS4F3JZaIe4&mode=related&search=
Practice very,very slowly. when I first started to learn how to sweep I would play mys arps fast, and I got decent at it pretty quickly, but I soon discovered that I could only play them at one tempo. If I had to to actually arppegiate and pick out each note in the arp, I was sloppy and the notes were really uneven. (If you don't know what I mean liten to Marcel Coenen), it'a almost like sweeping slowly, but it's constant. best shredder out there that no ones heard of. Learning this song made me see the error of my ways. (and I still can't play it right
)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pje_a8ly4Y
Playing stuff like this made me realize "SLOW DOWN" learn it right learn to do it smoothly and evenly.
It takes alot of practice.
Vinnie Moores first instructional video has great arpeggio exercises on it as does Gilberts.
Frank Gambales "Monster Licks" video has a whole section on sweeping that is very good.
and check this guy out for sheer "Holy shit" factor. He's a prominant player over in Greece.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS4F3JZaIe4&mode=related&search=
guitarguru777
Member
Marcel destroys Ziras ....
Ziras has no feel. Never bends notes ... its so boring ...
Loomis and Smyth kill em both.
Ziras has no feel. Never bends notes ... its so boring ...
Loomis and Smyth kill em both.
I agree Ziras is boring as shit, but his sweeping technique is real good.
I just posted these up thew so D3 could get a look at different ways of sweeping (at different tempos as well)
Rusty Cooley is another one (I can't stand his playing) but his sweeping technique is pretty awesome. that was the focus of this question right , not who is a better guitarist?
I agree with you I'd rather listen to Loomis or Steve any day of the week (although I do have Coenen's Cd and it is pretty freaking good, but it's all instrumental shred and I got bored of that a while ago), but a beginner should see as many different ways of playing something that they can.
(just my opinion )
I just posted these up thew so D3 could get a look at different ways of sweeping (at different tempos as well)
Rusty Cooley is another one (I can't stand his playing) but his sweeping technique is pretty awesome. that was the focus of this question right , not who is a better guitarist?
I agree with you I'd rather listen to Loomis or Steve any day of the week (although I do have Coenen's Cd and it is pretty freaking good, but it's all instrumental shred and I got bored of that a while ago), but a beginner should see as many different ways of playing something that they can.
(just my opinion
)I liked the vids. Hopefully I'll to that point by the time I'm 25. (I'm 18) haha.
I've been working with a few arpeggio progressions with eigth notes at about 84 bpm.
They are Cmaj to Dm to F to G back to Cmaj. Slow, but I'm starting to get the arpeggio feel. The sweep picking is becoming a little more smooth, but is still very choppy.
I've been working with a few arpeggio progressions with eigth notes at about 84 bpm.
They are Cmaj to Dm to F to G back to Cmaj. Slow, but I'm starting to get the arpeggio feel. The sweep picking is becoming a little more smooth, but is still very choppy.
Zakatron
Jason Becker PWNS
Now, I'm not anywhere near as good as sweeps and arpeggios as anyone on here since I'm doing them at a very slow bpm.
One thing that I can't stress enough is that your left hand has to be prepared to haul some ass lol. So doing chromatics 4's or Rusty Cooley's "Legato Workout" is great to get all finger combinations going.
Now one thing that I'm noticed with the best sweepers out there is that they don't curve their hands to go up or down...They use a normal alternating up down without making the pick flow across the strings.
When I practise sweeps, I make sure I-
A- Pick as hard as possible, make sure you have pure resistence from the string
B- Hang on to a note as long as possible then letting go when changing string
C- Don't curve your picking hand so the pick is on a retarded angle
D- Practise them Super SLOWLY... I mean starting out on the lowest setting on your metronome and working your way up to a desireble speed.
Now most people will dissagree with me and say, you don't wanna strain yourself, don't wanna snap a string blah blah balh but if you play as hard as hell and have no-mercy with your pick, your gunna get 3 vital things- Clarity, Definition and Volume...All of which are essential to sweeps and arpeggios.
If you watch players like Jeff Loomis, Jason Becker, Frangk Gambale or Richie Kotzen, you notice they don't alter their right hand posture, and they are the best sweepers out there in terms of speed and clarity.
As for arpeggios, like everyone tells yta, arpeggios are notes of a chord played separately. That's true but the way I look at it is l;ooking at the main notes of a scale that harmonize with the root note within the key eg. C Major scale = C D E F G A B C high. Now If I were to play a C Major chord, the main notes/harmonizing notes would be C E G and High C. If it's minor you 'd obviously go flat 3 but still, all the same. It's just a matter of finding those notes on the fretboard and sonnetcing the dots.
Some people also add colour tones as well, to make sweeps/apeggios sound more "out of the box' or "exotic"... I will write up an example on this later on but it's best to learn from the guys mentioned above so scope around the internet or magazines to see what you can find.
Hope this helps
One thing that I can't stress enough is that your left hand has to be prepared to haul some ass lol. So doing chromatics 4's or Rusty Cooley's "Legato Workout" is great to get all finger combinations going.
Now one thing that I'm noticed with the best sweepers out there is that they don't curve their hands to go up or down...They use a normal alternating up down without making the pick flow across the strings.
When I practise sweeps, I make sure I-
A- Pick as hard as possible, make sure you have pure resistence from the string
B- Hang on to a note as long as possible then letting go when changing string
C- Don't curve your picking hand so the pick is on a retarded angle
D- Practise them Super SLOWLY... I mean starting out on the lowest setting on your metronome and working your way up to a desireble speed.
Now most people will dissagree with me and say, you don't wanna strain yourself, don't wanna snap a string blah blah balh but if you play as hard as hell and have no-mercy with your pick, your gunna get 3 vital things- Clarity, Definition and Volume...All of which are essential to sweeps and arpeggios.
If you watch players like Jeff Loomis, Jason Becker, Frangk Gambale or Richie Kotzen, you notice they don't alter their right hand posture, and they are the best sweepers out there in terms of speed and clarity.
As for arpeggios, like everyone tells yta, arpeggios are notes of a chord played separately. That's true but the way I look at it is l;ooking at the main notes of a scale that harmonize with the root note within the key eg. C Major scale = C D E F G A B C high. Now If I were to play a C Major chord, the main notes/harmonizing notes would be C E G and High C. If it's minor you 'd obviously go flat 3 but still, all the same. It's just a matter of finding those notes on the fretboard and sonnetcing the dots.
Some people also add colour tones as well, to make sweeps/apeggios sound more "out of the box' or "exotic"... I will write up an example on this later on but it's best to learn from the guys mentioned above so scope around the internet or magazines to see what you can find.
Hope this helps
