trouble sweeping upwards

I just got to the point where im good enough to begin learning to sweep. My technique is still a bit sloppy going downwards (e b g d a e) but i cant seem to even really begin to get my picking hand to cooperate going upwards. I get the concept alright, but i just cant seem to get it to sound like anything but "picking" when i go up. If i dont try to pick the notes going up it just sounds like ****. Anyone have any suggestions as to how i can improve that part of my playing?

Just start slow to "train" your fingers. Use a metronome and and then when it becomes automatic, increase the metronome speed by 5bpm or so, keep doing this until your up to the speed you want to be at. Always start slow and build up the speed later....

Trying to learn sweeps at full speed will take a lot longer than learning slow and progressing up to speed. It's a very delicate technique.

Ya its just one of those things you have to practice, practice, and practice some more. Your hands are more used to picking downward, so picking up will feel different, and it may take you a while to "feel out" how your supposed to be playing it.

Right on. thanks for the input...it can be real frustrating when you are simply unable to recreate a particular sound

Your tone will have a lot to do with getting them right too, bring the gain down to no more than 7 on the dial and play off the neck picups when you start out. Also, the key to sweeping is in rolling the pressure from string to string with the fretting hand so that only the string you are picking rings out. Lots of different ways and patterns to sweep the same set of notes too, pick the one that suits you. The more you work them into your playing you will come to realise that each different pattern of the same arpeggio has a different tonal and rhythmic quality to it which can add a new dimension to your lead.

Im actually having a lot of trouble with upstrokes with Megadeth's "Lucretia" if your familiar with it. It isn't too fast, but the way he palm mutes and drags the pick upward just feels awkward to me and I can't get it right. So ya, upstrokes aren't my best friends right now.

Dave Mustaine can come up with some awkward and complicated stuff.....that's for sure. He doesn't get near the credit he deserves.

Lucretia is an awesome song by the way. I recently learned Rust In Peace...Polaris. Always loved that intro and the main riff....

Learning it just takes time. Practice, practice, practice and it will come to you.

Tip: Keep both hands in sync, focus your practice on the one that's staying behind.

how about the way you pick...lets say im up picking (e-b-g ect) and when i get to the low E string, should you down pick the low e, or up pick it and then start down picking on the A string? i find it easier to do the latter, but when i do the former, i can do it faster and cleaner...i just cant "restart" quite as well

I'm not 100% sure which way will give you better results in the long term. I've seen them both used.

Usually I pick the low string 2 times, which means use the former.

The general rule is to always hit the string from the direction you're attacking.

However in the Steve Vai's 30 hour workout there is an exercise where he used the latter, and he only hits the low string once, on the downstroke. It some situations I might use this, but it's uncommon.

When I sweep I only hit the string once in the direction of travel - so I'd hit the low E heading up and then pull off and hammer on again before travelling back up through the strings If I was going straight in to sweeping another arpeggio.

If travelling up with 2 or 3 notes on the highest string, I always hammer and pull rather than pick repeatedly. I prefer the sound that way...