Sweeping Solos
- Thread starter Horus
- Start date
MC Pee pants
Wookie Member
ABQShredHead
©1970
Learn your chords, then your arpeggios and scales. Then learn chord progressions. You'll eventually learn to sweep your arpeggios. And then you'll know how to put your arpeggios together because you'll know something about chord progressions.
yeet_SAY_jama
Gobble Jo0 fetus!
SyXified
Member
yeet_SAY_jama said:
I find my face melts more in response to a REALLY good chord sequence than sweeping in general.
the_satanic_rabbit
Return of Ganon
Well, sweeps are nothing but apreggios which are the individual notes of chords anyway, so it is beneficial to learn the chords first. But for starting out with arpeggios, I'd suggest limiting yourself to the bottom three strings at first. If you are learning basic chords, set your fingers up in the shape of a D major chord. Play the notes separately. That's an arpeggio. Now the object of sweeping is to play those notes separately and distinctly, so they don't ring or bleed into each other.
To do this, lift your finger off the note just after the pick hits it, but not completely, essentially you're muting with your fingering hand as you go. Do the same thing until you complete the sequence. It will be easier to do only downstrokes first. i.e.
-------2------
-----3----------
---2--------------
-----------------
------------------
----------------
^ ^ ^
When you are comfortable with that, extend the arpeggio by adding the next note in the sequence. Since you don't have any strings left, either slide up to this note or just hammer it.
-------2h--5--
-----3----------
---2--------------
-----------------
------------------
----------------
^ ^ ^
There you go, that's one way to sweep a D maj. arpeggio. As you learn you chords, practice sweeping by playing only the last 3 notes of those chords, and then progress to 4, 5, and 6 string sweeps.
To do this, lift your finger off the note just after the pick hits it, but not completely, essentially you're muting with your fingering hand as you go. Do the same thing until you complete the sequence. It will be easier to do only downstrokes first. i.e.
-------2------
-----3----------
---2--------------
-----------------
------------------
----------------
^ ^ ^
When you are comfortable with that, extend the arpeggio by adding the next note in the sequence. Since you don't have any strings left, either slide up to this note or just hammer it.
-------2h--5--
-----3----------
---2--------------
-----------------
------------------
----------------
^ ^ ^
There you go, that's one way to sweep a D maj. arpeggio. As you learn you chords, practice sweeping by playing only the last 3 notes of those chords, and then progress to 4, 5, and 6 string sweeps.
Finally, someone gives me a demonstration! Everybody has just been saying "learn your chords and arpegios" and finally, a reason to learn them! But I've actually been talking about those sweeping solos where you go from like the 7th frett to like the 14th (i forgot what those were called)
Yngvai X
Dark Emperor
ptah knemu said:
actually your teacher is right. Learn the basics first, man! Develop your rhythm skills, and be able to do simple lead phrases with good vibrato before you even try the shred stuff. Shred is like toppings on a pizza...but if the pizza itself is shit, then the toppings aren't going to taste very good either...and a good plain cheese pizza is always tastier than a shit pizza with lots of toppings
Eldrake
New Metal Member
Yngvai X said:actually your teacher is right. Learn the basics first, man! Develop your rhythm skills, and be able to do simple lead phrases with good vibrato before you even try the shred stuff. Shred is like toppings on a pizza...but if the pizza itself is shit, then the toppings aren't going to taste very good either...and a good plain cheese pizza is always tastier than a shit pizza with lots of toppings
...now I'm hungry!
...time to practice, AND eat Pizza...t3h win.Maximize your browser to ensure arpeggios are displayed correctly....best viewed at
1024x768
Alright suppose you do get to a point in your chosen path of guitar shredtacularness that you really think you can try to tackle this monster of a technique. As cool as it is, and as much as i love to perform it myself, if you dont have a basic foundation as a guitarist, to be quite frank, you wont be able to get a real good grasp on it. Irregardless of that im a supporter of shreds of all sort and willing to help anyone look for a bit of help. SO from what i can see, you are thinking more along the lines of 5 string arpeggios etc etc which ill post a shape or two here, that will hopefully point you in the direction you wish to go
||-----------------14-17--14--------------||-|
||o-------------15------------15----------o||-|
||-----------14------------------14--------||-|
||--------16------------------------16-----||-|
||o-12-17------------------------------17-o||-|
||-----------------------------------------||-|
4x
||-----------------17-20-17-----------------||---|
||o-------------18-----------18-------------o||---|
||-----------17-----------------17-----------||---|
||--------19-----------------------19--------||---|
||o-15-20-----------------------------20----o||---|
||--------------------------------------------||---|
Ex 2....3 and 5 string :-D
|18-14----------14-18-14----------14-19-14----------14-19-14--------14-
|o------16----16----------16----16----------15----15----------15---15---
|-----------15----------------15----------------16----------------16-----
|------------------------------------------------------------------------
|o-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------
3x
19-14----------------------------14-19-14--------------------------14-19
------15----------------------15----------15----------------------16----
---------16----------------16----------------16----------------16-------
------------16----------16----------------------16----------16----------
---------------17-14-17----------------------------17-14-17-------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
When it comes to Symphony X tunes obviously the most adament display of this technique comes in the intro of Smoke and Mirrors (tabs can be found here on the site) and is a great gateway into getting into the world of arpeggios and sweep picking. Just remember, old agages stand fast TAKE IT SLOW! As always with guitar, patience does truely pay off, take the time to master the technique slow, get it down well, get it clean, then speed it up, it'll take time, but it'll pay off in the end i promise if need be i could even throw a coupla videos on here demonstrating the technique a bit in order to give you more of an idea if you need it, in any sense im outta here best of luck brutha!
1024x768
Alright suppose you do get to a point in your chosen path of guitar shredtacularness
that you really think you can try to tackle this monster of a technique. As cool as it is, and as much as i love to perform it myself, if you dont have a basic foundation as a guitarist, to be quite frank, you wont be able to get a real good grasp on it. Irregardless of that im a supporter of shreds of all sort and willing to help anyone look for a bit of help. SO from what i can see, you are thinking more along the lines of 5 string arpeggios etc etc which ill post a shape or two here, that will hopefully point you in the direction you wish to go||-----------------14-17--14--------------||-|
||o-------------15------------15----------o||-|
||-----------14------------------14--------||-|
||--------16------------------------16-----||-|
||o-12-17------------------------------17-o||-|
||-----------------------------------------||-|
4x
||-----------------17-20-17-----------------||---|
||o-------------18-----------18-------------o||---|
||-----------17-----------------17-----------||---|
||--------19-----------------------19--------||---|
||o-15-20-----------------------------20----o||---|
||--------------------------------------------||---|
Ex 2....3 and 5 string :-D
|18-14----------14-18-14----------14-19-14----------14-19-14--------14-
|o------16----16----------16----16----------15----15----------15---15---
|-----------15----------------15----------------16----------------16-----
|------------------------------------------------------------------------
|o-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------
3x
19-14----------------------------14-19-14--------------------------14-19
------15----------------------15----------15----------------------16----
---------16----------------16----------------16----------------16-------
------------16----------16----------------------16----------16----------
---------------17-14-17----------------------------17-14-17-------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
When it comes to Symphony X tunes obviously the most adament display of this technique comes in the intro of Smoke and Mirrors (tabs can be found here on the site) and is a great gateway into getting into the world of arpeggios and sweep picking. Just remember, old agages stand fast TAKE IT SLOW! As always with guitar, patience does truely pay off, take the time to master the technique slow, get it down well, get it clean, then speed it up, it'll take time, but it'll pay off in the end i promise
if need be i could even throw a coupla videos on here demonstrating the technique a bit in order to give you more of an idea if you need it, in any sense im outta here best of luck brutha!
Yngvai X
Dark Emperor
well, I wouldn't start someone off sweeping 5 string arps. I start my students on 2 string stuff (like the infamous arpeggios in Rising Force) and then go on to 3 strings, then 5 then 6.
Lacrymosa1776 said:Alright suppose you do get to a point in your chosen path of guitar shredtacularness
...........
Hey, I'm a guitarrist who IDOLIZES Mike Romeo and John Petrucci. The only thing that can possibly stop me from taking the path of "shredtacularness" is a couple of hundred Nukes, and I know several people who can cover for me there
It wasn't coming from a mere teaching aspect Yng, he wanted 5 string arps, so thats what he got, developing the technique is a whole diffrent level, where you have to start with basic alternate picking anyways so but yeah i acknowledge and understand your point, which is way i made it known in my first post that starting with this wasnt the best way to go, building blocks
but yeah i acknowledge and understand your point, which is way i made it known in my first post that starting with this wasnt the best way to go, building blocks 
FrostbittenGrimness
Irrbloss
The Yngster
Member
Learn the chords and at least some basic theory first, do you think Romeo and Petrucci went straight to 5 string sweeps?
the_satanic_rabbit
Return of Ganon
It's funny, the first sweep I learned was a 6 string sweep of an e-maj arpeggio, starting at the 12th fret. After I learned that and coujld play it cleanly, I then learned a series of 6 string sweeps starting with that arpeggio, like so \n Emaj C#min Amaj Bmaj \n It's kind of a 50's style chord progression \n I practiced it so much I can still do it in my sleep, but anyway, even after that I had to start from the ground up.... Diminished arpeggios are some of the easiest 3-stringers to start with.The Yngster said:
