I would first like to point out that Jason Becker and his sweep picking has been a real inspiration to me and I don't pretend to be as good as Jason Becker when he was in his prime.

I am a messy player with lots of habits within my sweep picking that some people point out as incorrect.

If you are new to guitar playing, you will hear a lot of this a time goes on. Don’t listen to one person, not even me! See what others have got to say and form your own opinion. Some people say don’t try to play like others, well Jimmy Hendrix mimicked other guitarists and he did ok?

Please view my Guitar Idol 2010 entry!!

If you’re not familiar with sweep picking then start listening to Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker, Steve Vai and you will notice that there is a classical element to some of the passages. Some of it is legato (hammer on and pull off) some is alternate picking but a fair amount of the fast runs you hear are Sweep Arpeggios using the sweep picking technique.

This style of playing is usually associated with arpeggios, a series of notes played via a down stoke or upstroke with classical sound rather than the usual blues style scales. The main difference between playing the notes of a chord 1 by one and calling it sweep picking, is the ability to sound each individual note one at a time. This can be hard without other notes ringing out. Sweep picking is considered an intermediate/advanced level. Sweep picking is different to alternate picking and legato. The hardest thing I found when learning to sweep pick is getting the timing of my right hand stroke and the ability to mute notes that shouldn’t be heard. Sweep picking should be practiced at a very low tempo until you feel comfortable, increasing the tempo gradually. Although its not recommended when learning sweep picking, to play at a faster tempo than your able, racing at a faster tempo and returning back to the comfortable tempo intermittently is a tried and tested approach as taught by guitarists such as John Petrucci.

As you start from beginning of the stroke, I find that sweep picking can be played much easier if you rock your wrist backwards on the down stroke and forwards on the upstroke. (It really is all in the wrist!)

Sweep picking often requires being able to play 2 notes one after the other on the same fret using the same finger!

This can be frustrating at first but rocking your finger downwards as your wrist rocks helps fret the next string while muting the previous string.

Once you can are able to play up to speed, start practicing the next sweep picking scale. All styles if practiced properly will enable you to play to a good technical level but remember to practice improvisation during practice as these will triger new ideas and will help give a less clinical sound to your guitar playing.

Read more about me and how I learned sweep picking.

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