Sweep Picking

[Reaper of Souls]

Hello, I am new to the forum, but have been listening to opeth for quite some time. Im guessing that the majority of all of you play guitar, and i kno that opeth has sweep picking in some of their songs, i was wondering if any of you mastered sweep picking?

 

[synergy]

I haven't even tried sweep picking, but i heard it wasn't very hard to learn

 

[dorian gray]

"sweep picking" as i understand it is simply alternate picking. ie: up, down, up, down, down, up....whatever is fastest. in the olden days, it was known as "economy picking". just keep practicing scales like that and you'll be fast as a motherfucker. or are you talking about something else? music lingo is hardly universal.

welcome to one of the greatest forums of all time....second only to thenest.com

 

[drowssap]

Alternate picking is going up, down, up, down. Economy of movement.

 

[synergy]

I think he means when you sweep your pick up and down all the strings really fast while playing 100 different notes per second....I think there's some sweep picking on the Funeral Portrait solo

 

[dorian gray]

hey, moor666, did you see the guy from urbana on here the other day? do you know where that is?


oh, like i said, "sweep picking" to one person is an entirely different subject to someone else. music is wierd that way. anyway, what you described isnt any different from what i said. at least, i dont think so.

 

[dorian gray]

"...as you change strings there are two downstrokes in a row. this is to conserve energy......it has been called speed picking, sweeping, or shredding."

page 4 of the good ol' "Exercise Book" from Adam Kadmon

works for me

 

[Reaper of Souls]

thanks for the replies, and yes sweep picking, or whatever else it may be called is what i need to work on a bit more, i can to those 3 string sweeps, but 5 strings is crazy for me at this point

 

[synergy]

it's not alternate picking it's like picking down through a few strings at a time and then back up through all the strings...not picking one string alternately....

 

[drowssap]

right

 

[Anarkissed]

Themoor666 is right, sweep picking is playing several notes across several strings in one moment, instead of picking each note individual (e.g. playing six notes across the fretboard up and down would be 12 alternate picks, but with sweeping, you 'sweep' the pick across, a bit like strumming, but more precise.)

It's possible that in the Funeral Portrait solo he's alternate picking them really fast, it doesn't sound like sweeping to me (but I could be wrong).

 

[Reaper of Souls]

mmkay

 

[synergy]

wheres Moonlapse, I'm pretty sure he's mastered it

 

[dorian gray]

thats what i always thought it was, but never officially read that anywhere. oh well. like i said, terminology isn't universal.
for what it's worth, i prefer good ol' alternate picking. sweeping reminds me of cheesy techniques like tapping. blech. just my opinion though.

 

[Reaper of Souls]

blech.?

 

[dorian gray]

^^i cant stand "cheesy" techniqes that remind me of 80s shred. just my opinion.

anyway, i rented "live at budokan" from netflix. i just finished watching it today. incredible - ridiculous - guitar playing. ive seen DT live before, but it was 8 years ago. JP seems to have gotten even better. i wasnt sure whether to just throw my guitar in the trash or start practicing more.

ps: he did some tapping, but i just turned my head until he stopped.

 

[Wreath]

I've been working on mastering my sweeps for some time now...still not smooth enough for me...it's tough.

 

[Reaper of Souls]

Yes,i own live at budokan and yes it is pretty insane, those guitar and keybored solos

 

[dorian gray]

i thought jordan rudess was kinda annoying. JP, however, was top-notch. i also appreciated a more subdued MP - no ridiculous and irritating solos. getting a little more relaxed in his old age apparently. sounded great too.

 

[Wreath]

I own that too, before I got into Opeth I was a HUGE DT fan. But...I started listening to Opeth...and started hating James LaBrie and loving Mikael Akerfeldt. Still gotta love how extremely that whole band is though...I mean...good god. Insane drummer, bass player, keyboardist, GUITARIST, and an extremely talented (and annoying) singer.

I also saw DT live last year...Petrucci OWNED the Stream of Consciousness solo.