shredding/sweeping progress is damn frustrating me

[Emdprodukt]

I'm sick of it. I'm practicing every day for more than 1 hour. sometimes it's up to 2 hours. I'm doing that for... 8 or 9 month. Maybe more. Sure I got faster. I think around 40 bpm since I started. I'm at around 140 bpm now with picking (sweeps up to 130 or 140, depends on the riff. started to learn sweeps like 6 month ago).

I still feel like my progress is way too slow. It's like I'm doing something wrong, especially with my picking hand...

If anyone of you has any advice how to keep up the mood and don't stop to practice because it takes so fucking long to improve... I would appreciate it

I know it's hard work to get there. So please don't say that

How long did it take for you to play precise shreds and sweeps at high speed (like 200bpm)?

 

[Torniojaws]

Petrucci, Satriani etc, I think I read they practiced it for 5 years before reaching their standard level.

 

[Ronixis]

Sweeping isn't exactly my 'holy grail of techniques' in guitar playing, but here's some tips:

Just remember to use your picking hand exactly like you would, if you played an open-chord arpeggio. Overdo the right hand movement if you need. Loosen your grip on the pick gently, and let the pick to angle more towards the guitar body than it normally would. That - at least for me - helped to keep the sweep motion smooth. Choose the easiest possible fingerings, so you can focus on the right hand, which is usually the one what gets left behind.

I think the hardest part is to do this slow with a 100% smooth movement, but I'll bet that the problem starts to unravel, when you nail it slow. To quote Vai: "If you want to play it fast, practice it slow." This has been said like a million times before, but it's true, and a foolproof method.

When you have forced you to be comfortable with the exaggerated moves, you can start to 'clean it up' and get the technique more efficient.

Happy playing!

 

[STINNETT]

+1 on doing it slowly.
I tried to incorporate sweeping into my playing for a long time without a great level of success. When I started approaching it very very slowly and making sure the mechanics of my movement were actually working, I got worlds better at it. You should be able to make it sound perfect when you do it slow. A lot of people fall apart doing that.

 

[Zack Uidl]

Check out this article by a friend of mine. A lot of people have found it to be very helpful:

http://mikephilippov.com/load_article.php?articleName=sweep_picking_problems

He is one hell of a sweep picker, just look him up on youtube.

 

[Zack Uidl]

For me it did not take me very long to be able to sweep pick quickly. The reason for this is I had a guitar instructor who could tell me what I was doing wrong and give me the best possible course of action to achieving your goals. If I didn't have the instructors, I would have been lost when learning this technique.

If you do not already have one, a professional guitar instructor is a must. You get results faster with less work because he/she will know exactly what you need to do to get your goals accomplished.

 

[Metaltastic]

Ugghh, sweeping - I hate it because you can't just roar away at trying to build up your speed by always attempting to play faster (as with alternate picking), you have to intentionally restrain yourself to keep the motion in time and sync'ed. I just gave up, alternate picking and legato will do fine for me thank you

 

[Metal Overload]

Im one of those who could tell you to stop, hehe of course i wont tell you to stop but, i was in the same situation like you practiced a lot and just too little improvement until i realized that the thing wasn´t for me, what i wanted to do with this was like try to keep the same or better level as some young kids here that could do the sweeping really cool, but them where only good at that, they even can´t do palm mute, so i say Fuck it, i just leave it and started focusing on the things i where very capable, then realize that i like to shred but im not really good at that, mine is rhythm guitars so i practiced to be tighter at that and write song for my band, but if you want to keep well practice is the key, specially the right hand where my problem was, but don´t know if physical issues comes here, but i never could do a smooth sweep.

 

[JeroenV]

Man,

i remember how long it took me te sweep properly.
My advice for you (if it hasnt been said already) is indeed to start slow, and not on the higher frets but in the region of the 5th/7th etc.
I would also start with 3 string sweeps instead of the whole 6 strings, and one note per string might be wise.

Try this:
1|5 8(hammeron/pullof) and back again.
2| 6
3|5
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Ohyeah, i remember when i was propably as frustrated as you, that you really need to relax your hands while playing, especially your picking hand, really helps!