Pardon my Ignorance but...

Sorry if this is kinda a silly question but, what exactly is sweep picking? I know finger picking and flat picking. Is this something you do with or without a pick? Could ya give me an example....

Thanx

Sweep picking is almost like strumming a chord, but instead of strumming the chord, each note is picked individually. The "strumming" hand sweeps the strings with a pick while the fretting hand fingers and mutes each seperate note. Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Yngwie, etc....use this technique a lot. It's hard to explain....

An example would be Steve Vai's "Eugene's Trick Bag" from the movie Crossroads (not the Britney one).....

he pretty much explained it all.

E|----0-------0-----|
B|---2-2-----2-2----|
G|--2---2---2---2---|
D|-2-----2-2-----2--|
A|0-------0--------0|
E|------------------|

I'm still a little confused by it myself... is that what is used in the acoustic intro to stairway to heaven?

e|--5-------5---7---------------8---------8---2-----
B|--------5-----------5-----5----------5------------
G|------5----------------5----------5---------------
D|--7-----------5---------------5-------------0----- and so on...
A|---------------------------------------------------
E|---------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by: 6strngs_2hmbkrsI'm still a little confused by it myself... is that what is used in the acoustic intro to stairway to heaven?

e|--5-------5---7---------------8---------8---2-----
B|--------5-----------5-----5----------5------------
G|------5----------------5----------5---------------
D|--7-----------5---------------5-------------0----- and so on...
A|---------------------------------------------------
E|---------------------------------------------------

No. That's all fingerpicking.

Sweeping is playing chords, but you only play ecah note individually.

Like:

e|-------------12--------17---------12----------------
b|---------13-----------------------------13-----------
G|-----14---------------------------------------14-----

That's an A minor sweep arpeggio. You just play one note at a time.

For example, you start on the A note on the G string. Now, you "roll" your hand off as you start the sequence whilst your picking hand does a "sweep."

Go to: www.metalmethod.com And on the bottom there is a video link to Michael Angelo's instructional DVD. You can watch the video of him playing his song "No Boundaries" The opening of this song starts with a sweep, and you can see what he's doing.

Dudes , use the search on this forum ... There are like a million threads on the sweeping topic , with very much usefull tips and so !

k sweep picking is like this
take a chord
ok now instead of strumming it and like holding a chord with all your fingers down at the same time
sweep picking is wen you just hit the notes of the chord one by one, meaning you should just have one finger down at a time (unless you are usen open notes) and you will then place the next finger and so on
like an arpegious idea
the second thing to remember is the right hand should be just doin a simple motion of sweeping down the strings
so lets take an example
e-----2---
B---3---3-
G-2--------
so you will have only one finger down at a time and you will not pick each slowly (just at the beginnin)
the point of sweep picken is doen it smoothly with both hands
right hand doen a nice sweep down the strings in a rythmic fashion and the left hand playin the notes nice neatly and clearly
its not easy but have fun with it
hope that helps
later

oh ok, I've actually been doing that for a while... didn't know it was called sweep picking though. :D

Just don't confuse sweep picking with arpegiating (sp?) a chord. It looks the same, but it's not....

Originally Posted by: 6strngs_2hmbkrsoh ok, I've actually been doing that for a while... didn't know it was called sweep picking though. :D

You remind me of myself !
I was like this with most of the techniques that I've ever learned , from legato and bending , to sweeping . :D

this whole time I've been trying to play stairway to heaven with a pick... and just mute the strings you're supposed to skip... yeah much easier with fingers... the website I got tabs off of didn't mention that you were supposed to finger pick it... of course now it's obvious why the song seemed so hard!!!

Originally Posted by: 6strngs_2hmbkrs this whole time I've been trying to play stairway to heaven with a pick... and just mute the strings you're supposed to skip...

If you want to use the pick for this song and similar styles , you have to use "Hybrid Picking" ... You hold the pick normaly between thumb & index , and use the middle and ring fingers for picking too.
So when you have to play 2 notes to be played simultaneously, one on D-string and the other on the e-string , you'd use the pick on the D-string and the ring or middle finger on the e-string.

well what I've been doing is, having my index finger on the fret hand where it's supposed to be on the string it's supposed to be, have my ring finger on the right fret and right string, and then the middle finger of my fret hand would be between the other two strings I don't want to sound, then I would make one strum and it would play only the two notes... and that's how I would play the song... but I've discovered finger picking to be much easier to do for this song, although trying to play the song with a pick really increased my fret hand muting skills as well as finger accuracy, coordination, etc.