Sweep picking is a technique used on the guitar in which a 'sweeping' motion of the pick is combined with a matching fret hand technique in order to produce a specific series of notes which are fast and fluid in sound. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles Often called a pick or plec, a plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. Despite being commonly known as sweep picking, both hands essentially perform an integral motion in unison to achieve the desired effect.
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Application
The technique is almost exclusively applied for arpeggios, with a common shape being the one- or two-octave stacked triad; or in scalar terms the first (tonic), third (mediant) and fifth (dominant) of a scale, repeated twice with an additional tonic added to the highest point in the shape. In Music, an arpeggio is a broken chord where the Notes are played or sung in Sequence, one after the other rather than Ringing out simultaneously In Music, an octave ( is the the use of which is "common in most musical systems In Music and Music theory, a triad is a three- note chord that can be stacked in thirds The tonic is the first note of a musical scale in the tonal method of Musical composition. In Music, the mediant is the third degree of the Diatonic scale, being the "middle" note of the tonic In Music, the dominant is the Fifth degree of the scale. For example in the C Major scale (white keys on a piano starting with C the For example, an A minor stacked triad would notate as A-C-E-A-C-E-A. When these series of notes are played quickly up and down as an arpeggio, they are notably classical-sounding as opposed to more blues-based progressions. Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and Secular music The Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of Music based on the use of the Blue notes It emerged as an accessible form of self-expression The ability to move the shape of an arpeggio up and down the fretboard in order to, or because of, a change in key lends itself to being the primary choice of guitar players, helping ease the use of what is considered a difficult technique of guitar performance.
Compared to other techniques often used by shredders, such as alternate picking, few strokes are required in sweep picking; although all sweeps can be seen as a minimum of three to five strokes. Alternate picking is a Guitar playing technique used only by pick users that employs strictly alternating downward and upward picking strokes in a continuous run Each time the pick strikes a string could be considered a stroke in itself. In certain instances, however, legato is used to sound notes instead of an actual pick stroke (in the case of guitar, hammer-ons and pull-offs); notably in the upper and lower sections of an arpeggio, where successive strokes on the same string in a row would effectively negate the natural sweeping motion in question. In Musical notation the Italian word legato (literally meaning "tied together" indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly Hammer-on is a Stringed instrument playing technique performed (especially on Guitar) by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the Fingerboard A pull-off is a stringed instrument technique performed by plucking a string by "pulling" the string off the Fingerboard with one of the fingers being used This comes into play whenever a certain string has to sound two notes in the shape due to the natural limits of a fretted string instrument.
However, as with all guitar techniques, each individual player can seek to integrate sweep picking into their existing repertoire and make use of it in an individually stylistic manner. Therefore some guitarists may use legato whereas others may have a natural tendency to double-pick multiple notes on a single string. This in itself can be seen as separate yet related idea or technique, due to the obvious differences in the sound of legato versus struck notes, as well as the shift in the timing of the entire arpeggio. Furthering the idea, most players who master the basic sweep picking pattern will use only parts of it or alter the technique to purposefully achieve a certain lick. In Popular music genres such as rock music a lick is "a stock pattern or phrase" consisting of a short phrase, or series of notes In this sense, sweep picking is not so much a concrete action such as the aforementioned alternate picking, but instead is a technical idea with many possible applications. Alternate picking is a Guitar playing technique used only by pick users that employs strictly alternating downward and upward picking strokes in a continuous run
Practical examples
A common way to break up the technique is the use of the three-string sweep arpeggio done on the upper three (thinnest) strings, more so than the lower (thicker) strings due to the awkward motion necessary and general lack of tonal clarity in comparison to the higher notes. In the case of a sweep on the upper three strings, one can see the arpeggio as the upper register of a standard five-string sweep, where the notes for A minor would be, in an ascending order, A-C-E-A-C-E-A.
Beginning on the middle tonic of this progression, the player may sweep first up the arpeggio and then back down to resolve on the initial tonic. Resolution in western tonal Music theory is the "need" for a sounded Note and/or chord to move from a dissonance (an unstable sound This would notate as A-C-E-A-E-C-A. Written in tablature form for the twelfth position, it would be seen as:
e|-------12-17-12-------| B|----13----------13----| G|-14----------------14-| D|----------------------| A|----------------------| E|----------------------|
If one then adds to it the lower octave of the arpeggio, the complete shape (in this particular fingering) is seen as:
e|----------------12-17-12----------------| B|-------------13----------13-------------| G|----------14----------------14----------| D|-------14----------------------14-------| A|-12-15----------------------------15-12-| E|----------------------------------------|
In the middle of the above sequence, on the third and fourth string, there is a need to finger the same fret for both strings. Tablature (or Tabulature) is a form of Musical notation, which tells players where to place their fingers on a particular instrument By design there are more fingerings than humans have actual fingers, although both of these problems are solved by first fretting the initial string (fourth on the downstroke) with the tip of the ring finger, then rolling into the next string by fretting it with the pad of the same finger. In the returning upstroke, one frets the third string first by consequently reversing the rolling action from before. Also note that on the lowest and highest strings in the shape, two notes must be played immediately following each other, but on the same string. This is where the general use of the aforementioned application of legato comes into effect, so that a fluid picking motion is sustained.
However, the sounding of these notes in the arpeggio may be accomplished through any number of techniques, including a change in pick articulation; double-picking notes (which would then mean an additional upstroke or downstroke); legato; or in some instances sliding, though the latter is rarely enforced due to the acute control necessary to slide to a precise point on the string (Steve Vai and Shane Gibson are two artists who have been known to use this method fluidly). A slur is a symbol in Western Musical notation indicating that the notes it embraces are to be played without separation
Sweeps may even be continued to the next note via means of tapping (as used by Michael Angelo Batio, Michael Romeo, Mario Parga and Tony MacAlpine), and may facilitate the ability to play passing notes outside of the classic arpeggio sequence. Tapping is a playing technique generally associated with the Electric guitar, although the technique may be performed on almost any String instrument. Michael Angelo Batio (ˈbeɪtioʊ also known as Mike Batio or MAB) (born in 1956 is an American Guitarist and Columnist from Michael James Romeo (born March 6, 1968) is an American Guitarist and a founding member of the Guitarist Mario Parga, born in Lytham, Lancashire, England on 7 August 1969, came into the spotlight during the late Tony Jeff MacAlpine (born August 29, 1960, in Springfield Massachusetts) is an American Guitarist and Keyboardist. Hence, sweeps should never be limited solely to the above pattern; one can choose to construct completely new and different patterns just as chords can be modified into endless combinations. Ultimately, once mastered, sweep picking can be applied to virtually any idea—arpeggio or otherwise.
Guitarists known for their sweep picking technique
- Michael Angelo Batio
- Jason Becker
- Buckethead
- Rusty Cooley
- Marty Friedman
- Frank Gambale
- Steve Hackett
- Tony MacAlpine
- Yngwie Malmsteen
- Vinnie Moore
- John Petrucci
- Glenn Tipton
- Steve Vai
External links
- Sweep Picking Lesson
- Sweep Picking Guitar Lesson
- Sweep Picking Guitar Lesson (more in depth lesson)
| Guitar shredding techniques |
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| Alternate picking - Economy picking - Hammer-ons - Hybrid picking - Legato - Pull-offs - String skipping - Sweep-picking - Tapping - Tremolo picking - Wide intervals |
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