Originally Posted by: Jolly McJollysonLet me further stress the words "A LOT." Sweeping is a really disciplined technique when done correctly, and by far, for me at least, the most impressive.

As far as how to do it goes, I'll try to explain as best I can without being able to show you.


......^......V....V......^.....^.....^.....V
e|--15---12------------------12---15---------
B|------------13--------13--------------------
G|-----------------12-------------------------
D|--------------------------------------------
A|--------------------------------------------
E|--------------------------------------------


What I've written out there is a C major arpeggio that spans the 3 top strings (if you're one of the people who calls the thick strings the "top" ones, I'm referring to the thin ones). After you downstroke on the 15, if you want to keep playing the arpeggio, just pull to the twelve (so you don't have to throw yourself off with an upstroke), and continue in the same picking pattern as before. As for fingering, I play it like this: 4th finger (pinky) on the 15, index (1) on the b string 12, middle (2) on the 13, then 1 again on the g string 12.

When I use my index here, I play the first twelve (b string), then lift my index finger off the note as I play the 13. Then my finger is ready to be placed on the G when I play that note. Some people would tell you to just bar the twelfth fret from B to G, but forget that. If you do that, it will be harder to mute the notes after their done. Remember: muting is key. After you play each note, you should either mute with your right hand (sounds a little sloppy) or with the finger you'd just used to play it (sounds much cleaner). You'll want to stop the note as soon as the next note begins, because if you don't, you'll get notes ringing out and it will just sound like a chord (and with distortion it will just sound like bad). There are some Arpeggios, since I touched on barring, where you do bar the string. When you encounter these arpeggios, try muting by rolling the barring finger up and down (vertically) to mute the strings that aren't playing.

Jolly pretty much covered the deal there. Sweeping, in my opinion, is one of the hardest techniques to get down to a science, let alone perfect. It took me a good year before my sweeps stopped sounding like ass, and even still, when I experiment with abstract arpeggios or something of the sort it can still get muddy, the key is, as Jolly said, muting. Start very slow and pay close attention to which hand is doing what. You'll have an easier time finding where it is that unwanted noise is coming from and doing something about it. Always take it slow. You'll never get it right if you start your practice off at the tempo you want.