ok, gonna take you thought a bit of sweep picking 101 haha. This has been one of the most requested techniques I've had students ask me to teach them, so I've developed a pretty good, somewhat methodical, approach to sweep arps.
I'll preface this by making sure you know what a triad is and how it is made up. Since "sweep arpeggios" on guitar are almost *always* referring to the standard "neoclassical" sweep shapes that Yngwie made popular, we're going to focus on regular major and minor triads to start with. A triad is made up of the first, 3rd, and 5th notes of a major scale. If the 3rd note is lowered a half step, it becomes a flat (b) 3rd, and makes the chord a minor chord.
So if we have an A major scale (A B C# D E F# G#) the root, 3rd, and 5th would be A, C#, and E. If we wanted to make it an A minor chord, we'd lower the C# to a C natural (thus making it A, C, E).
A triad has what is known as 3 inversions, meaning, the order in which the notes can be spelt. Root position, 1st inversion, and 2nd inversion. Root position spells the chord exactly as it is generated, starting with the root, then the 3rd, then the 5th (1, 3, 5). 1st inversion moves the 1 up an octave, effectively putting the 3rd in the bass (3, 5, 1). Finally, 2nd inversion takes the 3rd into the next octave, putting the 5th in the bass (5, 1, 3).
So going back to our A major chord example, the 3 inversions would be:
root: A C# E
1st inversion: C# E A
2nd inversion: E A C#
When we play sweep arpeggios, we are playing different fingerings for each of these 3 inversions up the fretboard. I typically introduce a simple 2 string sweep shape (used a lot by Ritchie Blackmore and Yngwie as well) that looks something like this:
Code:
A minor 2 string sweep 2nd inversion
D D D D D etc...
e|--12p8----12p8----12p8----12p8----
b|-------10------10------10------10-
g|----------------------------------
root position
e|--17p12----17p12----17p12----
b|--------13-------13-------13-
g|-----------------------------
1st inversion
e|--8p5---8p5---8p5---8p5---
b|------5-----5-----5-----5-
g|--------------------------
yeah, yeah, I'm calling the inversions based on what note is the highest note, that'll make sense when we move onto the 3 string and 5 string shapes (because in 3 and 5 string shapes, the top and bottom note are the same, so even though in my 2 string "2nd inversion" shape the root note is in the bass, the 5th will be in the bass in both the 3 and 5 string variations of the same shape).
To make these inversions major, just raise the 3rd:
Code:
D D D D D etc...
e|--12p9----12p9----12p9----12p9----
b|-------10------10------10------10-
g|----------------------------------
root position
e|--17p12----17p12----17p12----
b|--------14-------14-------14-
g|-----------------------------
1st inversion
e|--9p5---9p5---9p5---9p5---
b|------5-----5-----5-----5-
g|--------------------------
I'm playing these as triplets, btw, which is the most common way to play these shapes.
So now lets add a note on the g string to each of these shapes to make them 3 string arpeggios:
Code:
A minor 3 string sweep 2nd inversion
U U D D D U U D D D
e|--12p8---------8-12p8---------8-
b|-------10---10--------10---10---
g|----------9--------------9------
d|--------------------------------
root position
e|--17p12----------12-17p12----------12-
b|--------13----13----------13----13----
g|-----------14----------------14-------
d|--------------------------------------
1st inversion
e|--8p5-------5-8p5-------5-
b|------5---5-------5---5---
g|--------5-----------5-----
d|--------------------------
aaaaand raise the 3rd to make them major:
Code:
A major 3 string sweep 2nd inversion
U U D D D U U D D D
e|--12p9---------9-12p9---------9-
b|-------10---10--------10---10---
g|----------9--------------9------
d|--------------------------------
root position
e|--17p12----------12-17p12----------12-
b|--------14----14----------14----14----
g|-----------14----------------14-------
d|--------------------------------------
1st inversion
e|--9p5-------5-9p5-------5-
b|------5---5-------5---5---
g|--------6-----------6-----
d|--------------------------
I usually stop here and make sure my students are comfortable with 2 and 3 string shapes before moving them onto 5 string ones, usually giving them stuff to work on from either exercises I've written out, or excerpts from songs (old Yngwie tracks are teeming with them, some of my favorites are the arp sections from Rising Force, Trilogy Suite, Demon Driver, and Liar).
but for the curious (and for all I know, whoever reads this already has all this shit down already anyway
) here are the 5 string versions of these shapes:
Code:
A minor 5 string sweep 2nd inversion
U U U U U D D D D D
e|--12p8-------------------------8-
b|-------10-------------------10---
g|----------9---------------9------
d|------------10---------10--------
a|---------------12-7h12-----------
E|---------------------------------
root position
e|--17p12----------------------------12-
b|--------13----------------------13----
g|-----------14----------------14-------
d|--------------14----------14----------
a|-----------------15-12h15-------------
E|--------------------------------------
1st inversion
e|--8p5------------------5-
b|------5--------------5---
g|--------5-----------5----
d|----------7-------7------
a|------------7-3h7--------
E|-------------------------
and 5 string major arps:
Code:
A major 5 string sweep 2nd inversion
U U U U U D D D D D
e|--12p9-------------------------9-
b|-------10-------------------10---
g|----------9---------------9------
d|------------11---------11--------
a|---------------12-7h12-----------
E|---------------------------------
root position
e|--17p12----------------------------12-
b|--------14----------------------14----
g|-----------14----------------14-------
d|--------------14----------14----------
a|-----------------16-12h16-------------
E|--------------------------------------
1st inversion
e|--9p5-------------------5-
b|------5---------------5---
g|--------6-----------6-----
d|----------7-------7-------
a|------------7-4h7---------
E|--------------------------
Hope all that helps somewhat. The real fun starts when you get into mixing up 2 3 and 5 string shapes in the middle of a sequence (check out Becker for great examples of this, particularly the song Altitudes and of course Serrana).
i know romeo has done that sometimes
