sweeping 2

um i am escited i can alomost sweep pick. i have been practicing five string sweeps in C shape.

i have practice majour, minor, and minor flat five sweeps. what sweeps would you suggest i add to my practice. seventh ones?

like root 3 5 7
root 3 5 b7
root b3 5 b7
root b3 b5 b7

or somethin else?

or should i practice the sweeps i know in a different shape eg the A one that would require me to roll my fingger down the bar?

diminished arpeggios give you an instant neo-classical sound, and they sound clever thrown in during 'normal' play.

Also, try moving them about so you're sweeping diatonically - C Major, D Minor, E Minor, F Major, G Major, A minor, B Diminished.... etc. Very helpful when trying to sweep in a musical way....

you might also consider learning the 3 string patterns - the 5 and 6 ones are harder to work in to your lead playing... It's using them that presents the real challenge... :cool:

And yeah, you should learn the different shapes. you can also sweep atonal stuff to make your fingers make unfamiliar movements...

thanx for the tips. i already do the the c majour d minor e minor f majour g majour a minor b dim sweeps.


when you said diminished before did u mena like 1 b3 b5 bb7? or just 1 b3 b5?

with the three string paterns i tend to just alternate pick them. i find this easier. as sweepin slightly throws me off balance. which is alright for big sweeps cos i have time in them to regain it. but in small ones they just confise me. but then again maybe i should work on this.

I meant the full diminished, so including the 7th, but probably a better answer is to practice what you use.

Also, as it's related - are you OK with rakes as well as sweeps? That's worth playing with too - ther percussive sound of a rake gives a nice texture to a piece.....

alrite at rakes, although not great. havent practiced them much.

am beter with low strings, cos i can use my thumb to mute the strings i am rakin over.

but could be improved.

Originally Posted by: ren

you might also consider learning the 3 string patterns - the 5 and 6 ones are harder to work in to your lead playing... It's using them that presents the real challenge... :cool:

When I first started playing seriously I wanted to learn how to sweep pick so bad because my best friend had already picked up on it... Since then i have put in a lot of hours of constantly sweeping... Since then I've taken a sharp left hand turn out of Metal'ville and into Blues'ville.... Try to practice improving and throwing the sweeps that you already know into your playing... Like Ren said.... that's the difficult part... I found that most of the sweeps that I knew were pretty much useless in anything except shred... So I haven't even touched sweep picking since then.... Here's about the extent of the sweep runs that I use... Often I use them to start a run or to abruptly end a run.... Very rarely do I mix one into the middle of a run....

{--------sweep------------}
|--------------8h11p8--------11b-8-----------------------------
|----------8h11------11p8----------11-8------------------------
|---8h9h10---------------10~------------10b-8-------8/10-8~~-
|-10-------------------------------------------8h9h10-----------
|----------------------------------------------------------------
|----------------------------------------------------------------

Obviously only the first run is a sweep... but the second lick is how I might follow it up... Working in the same pent box as the sweep... Here's another example of what I might do... Just a quick run... more like a rake than an actual sweep... A long sweep would be so out of place in a blues jam... But here's how I would incorporate a different, more simplified version of a sweep... basically just a variation of what I did above with a different follow up lick.

.....^rake.......{----sweep---}
|--------------12--------------------------------------------------------
|---15-12~~----15p12----------------------12-15b-12---------15b 12~--
|--14----------------14p12-----------12-14b-----------14b-12-----------
|-12----------------------12-14~~-14-----------------------------------
|------------------------------------------------------------------------
|------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ah.... blues licks. I don't even know how that will sound.... that's just something off the top of my head but you can see how I work simplified sweeps into my blues style... The most important thing about learning sweeps is learning the ones that benefit you. I wasted a lot of time learning sweeps that I could never possibly make sound good because my style has evolved into such a heavily blues influenced style that a quick accurate sweep would sound as out of place as an eagle in the middle of a flock of ducks... So just try to practice and APPLY the sweeps. It's good practice for dexterity and good to warm up with sweeps up and down the neck but unless you can apply them to your playing they're not doing you much good. If you have to simplify them like I did to adapt it to your style go ahead and do it. Guitar theory is made to be a guide not necessarily the strict laws of playing the guitar. As long as you get the most out your hard long hours of praciticing sweeps... I pretty much wasted 6 hours a day for a month on practicing every sweep I could... now I don't even use them.


*if you try those blues licks and they don't sound right it's probably because I did it from memory and imaginiation... I'm at work and don't have my guitar to see how they sound. But they should okay.

thanx for the tips guys

and i agree with you about it bein hard to incorporate them.

i am presently messin about with other ideas in my improv, and have been ignoring the technical side of it. i just wanted to know when i am ready creativity wise to use sweeps that i will be ready for them. if you see what i mean.

thanx again especially for the tab.

For anyone that cares... I made a quick video of the tabs I posted so you have a reference of what I was TRYING to do... the quality could be better but it works.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1714133405

Ummm, the only sweeping i do is with a broom. :D