Sweep picking......

[sadromanticghost]

...what is the movement of the hand in sweep picking?????..does only your wrist move..or and other parts of the hand????

[lalimacefolle]

when you go up and down, your wrist moves, but your fingers have to make your pick go around in a 'circular motion'. It's pretty hard to explain, but watch someone doing it, it will be clearer.
This motion actually has to do with the angle that the pick takes to pick the strings.

[progg]

I've been trying to sweep pick a little from time to time. I think I know how it should be done but I think I could use a little help myself. Aren't there any video clips online somewhere? A vidoe lesson or similar?

Progg

[sadromanticghost]

..What's the right position of the pick..i mean must be vertical with the thumb..?..i'am asking because i hold the pick a little bit indirectly..is that wrong..or i have to play in the way i feel comfortably?

[lalimacefolle]

Here's a start, I've made it pretty quicly, so it's not a high quality film....

http://lalimace.free.fr/mp3/essai.wmv

[Seiko_Hejiro]

I started learning to sweep a while ago, and recently i figured out the best way to do so it to make sure your wrist is the only thing making your hand move down and up, the only other thing you have to do to make every sweep clean is keep the pick level horizontally to some extent all the way up and down.

SO as you go down, naturally your hand truns and if you tense up your thumb and fingers your pick will start getting all angled and funny making it harder to accurately hit each string. What you need to do is adjust your thubm and finger so that the pick is horizontally level all the way downa nd up, it makes every sweep crisp and clear.

With the lef thand you need to build muscle memory to increase the speed at which you can sweep arpeggios and what not and build coordination between the two hands, this part in my opinion takes the longest, becasue sweeping is not all that hard. It comes down to coordination, which allows for super speed.

Also i'd take up learning the arpeggio part from Jason Becker's Serrena as an exercise.

Anyhow, hope that helps a bit...

[Edited by Seiko_Hejiro on 02-17-2002 at 03:43 PM]

[Sivert Skaaren]

Yeah.. Seranna is a great song, and show lotsa ways
to sweep... but there are mostly 3 pattern(mades) 5 string sweeps.. both in minor and major(= 6 patterns)...

Another thing is to take a Malmsteen theme,
rewrite it.. and u got a awsomne sweep excercise...

http://www.ultimateguitarpage.com

Here they got some vids of sweeping too..

[aiwass]

I disagree a bit when it comes to the "circle" movement and how to hold the pick. As long as you move the hand as if you were strumming a chord (not as fast though, but just as continuous), you'll do fine. Eddie Van Halen has one of the weirdest ways of holding his pick, yet he seems to manage(!)

The most important thing is, believe it or not, your left hand. You have to mute every note after you've played it. In other words, in order to make an arpeggio sound like single notes, you have to lift your finger off the fretboard as soon as you move on to the next note. Just like with the right hand, try to do it in one continuous motion. It's not as hard as it seems. In fact, most of the fast sweeps performed by Becker and Malmsteen are really quite easy when you get around the fingerings.

Rock on!

[lalimacefolle]

Check out how Yngwie sweeps, he doesn't make a circle, but an 'ellipse' (I don't know the translation, maybe it's the right word) that's what I meant.

[skee1]

Aiwass

Very good point about the left hand muteing for
sweep picking this is very important!
I find it very hard to tell somebody how to do it,
unless your sitting right accross from the student
then you can explain whats going on with your
left hand.
If they watch a video they can't see whats going on,
behind the left hand.
learning this from a live teacher is the best way to learn
sweep picking for alot of guitarists.

Mark

[aiwass]

If you really wanna learn everything there is to sweep picking, and other techniques, get John Petrucci's Wild Stringdom compilation book. In my opinion, videos are only for fun.

[aiwass]

Does anyone think it would be a good idea to post a thread about practicing guitar vs. homework? I mean, for you senior members, it's hardly a problem, but for me (i'm 14) and other younger players, it's a real pain in the ass to have to play for only two hours on weekdays, and five-six on saturdays and sundays! It is very inconsistent, and weekdays feel like you're just trying to keep your chops up until the weekend! I am sure this rings a bell with someone.

[lalimacefolle]

I think they are a good help, but you are right, books allow you to go way further... Here's some help:

http://www.chopsfromhell.com/bellas1_ex1.rm

http://www.chopsfromhell.com/sweeper.html

[lalimacefolle]

Even if I sound like an old fart, homeworks win, hands down. If you want to practice, practice in some other time, take a class where you'll learn theory or whatever, choir, etc, but SCHOOL comes first.
I'm a pro musician, but I wouldn't have my job if I hadn't graduated, because I went to college and everything. I now play the guitar for 8 hours a day, and guess what, I get paid for it. But it all comes down to one thing, working in school to get this job...
If you think you're gonna get paid to be a rock star, forget it, you might also get hit by lightning (you actually have more chances).
Get an education, work hard in school, get your chops together, and your attitude (it's everything in pro music, if you are an asshole, forget about getting paid for a gig)and something good might happen.

[aiwass]

Thanks, but I have already been to that page (and many others). I feel that alot of those lessons aren't really saying anything new. You know? I was discussing with my workaholic-shred-woodshedder bass player the other day, how we would progress for each day when we were starting out, while now, that we know all of the techniques, all of the scales, we have trouble with finding something new and fresh to get our fingers around. Could this be the reason for many guitarists (and bassists) quitting?

[aiwass]

I actually meant how to fit in the practice routine.(sacrificing schoolwork is suicide with most normal parents)I often end up sacrificing sleep instead.

[lalimacefolle]

You can always find something new to master. I have worked a lot on string-bending-country-style, and my thread about the "fastest guitarist you know" is for that purpose, find something new to try and reach for...

[skee1]

Limacefolle

Country b-bender licks can be done without the b-bender,
if you want to be a hellecaster .(just kidding)
Will ray was in the booth out at the namm show in (cal)
this month demoing the hipshot setup he uses.
I,ve used the hipshot setup since the 80s and it dosn't
deface your guitar like the parson-white b-bender set-up
since the useing the b-bender i've learned lots of
b-bender licks that can be done by just useing bends
with your fingers.
these licks can be used in all styles of music.
chord bends ect.
Mark
Also james hatfield use's a b-bender setup on his tele.
Sounds great Limacefolle that your working on country,
bending because alot of these bends can be added,
to your style.Expermenting with these bends by trying,
them in other styles is a great way to come up with,
alot of new affects for all music.
Another affect that you can use from country is,
try useing (the chicken picking style in your blues.

[Edited by skee1 on 02-26-2002 at 09:44 AM]

[lalimacefolle]

I love the way Jerry DONAHUE bends, but I think he's so good at it he should burn in hell...

[aiwass]

I know this discussion is waay off track, but who cares?
Another very good bender (i think he sucks at everything else, though. Too much of a showoff, and everything sounds the same) is buddy guy. That guy (no pun intended) can really add vibrato to a note!

[lalimacefolle]

Yeah that's true, that guy could bend his guitar neck if he needed too, he does 3 tones bends!!
Jerry does bi directional bends, now that's scary...

[aiwass]

If i'm not mistaken, Gilmour (one of my only favorites who can't shred) does some three-tone bends in "another brick in the wall" (an awesome solo, by the way). However, he plays them like a scale, stopping at each note, with vibrato and everything!

[skee1]

Yea Jerry D is tough
about vibrato you can also hit a harmonic then
use 1 finger on your left hand behind the nut of your guitar to get some wierd affects for vibrato.

Mark

[lalimacefolle]

Yeah I have heard that Gilmour could bend like a maniac. There's a CD I have somewhere that features John Mc LAUGHLIN and he bends his strings to make his guitar sound like a sitar, pretty cool, but I think he must have been tuned 25 steps down :)

[aiwass]

So we're talking vibrato now? Ok! I probably have the weirdest technique ever for vibrato: I let go of the guitar's neck (like classical players do), although I still move my finger sideways in a conventional way. To create the vibrato, though, I don't move my wrist, but i flex my wrist-muscles, causing my whole hand to shake. (Those of you who are familiar with "the satriani way" of tapping know what i'm talking about)Don't worry 'bout synchin' it up with the beat, though. It goes so fast once you get the hang of it that the rhythm of it doesn't matter anymore. (I have always been a huge Zakk Wylde fan). Try using this technique on the high e string with an extremely wide vibrato! Every second note will fall on the edge of the fretboard, making it sound extremely fast tapping or something.

[aiwass]

Yeah, but Maclaughlin uses a guitar with a scallopped fretboard, and some weird Vietnamese bending technique. See, whith the scallopped fretboard (and probably detuned strings), he can push the strings DOWN to bend them, and probably both up sideways and down at the same time, too.