Sweep-picking
Encyclopedia
Guitar picking
Guitar picking is a collection of techniques for setting a string into motion to produce an audible note; that is, plucking or strumming the strings on a guitar. Picking can be done:-* With a plectrum held in the hand...
in which a 'sweeping' motion of the pick
Plectrum
A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick, and is a separate tool held in the player's hand...
is combined with a matching fret hand technique in order to produce a specific series of notes which are fast and fluid in sound. Despite being commonly known as sweep picking, both hands essentially perform an integral motion in unison to achieve the desired effect. It was invented and developed by the
jazz fusion guitarist Frank Gambale, who was student and teacher at the Los Angeles Music Institute in the 80's. He discovered the sweeping after trying to emulate piano and saxophone licks, which are impossible to play fast with the regular guitar techniques. Gambale has made several books and educational videos about sweeping. The most famous is Speed Picking, which has been released in the early 80's. Since then, Frank Gambale has been recognized as one of the major contributors in guitar technique.
Application
The technique is often applied for but not limited to arpeggioArpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
s, with a common shape being the one- or two-octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
stacked triad
Triad (music)
In music and music theory, a triad is a three-note chord that can be stacked in thirds. Its members, when actually stacked in thirds, from lowest pitched tone to highest, are called:* the Root...
; or in scalar terms the first (tonic
Tonic (music)
In music, the tonic is the first scale degree of the diatonic scale and the tonal center or final resolution tone. The triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord...
), third (mediant
Mediant
In music, the mediant is the third scale degree of the diatonic scale, being the note halfway between the tonic and the dominant. Similarly, the submediant is halfway between the tonic and subdominant...
) and fifth (dominant
Dominant (music)
In music, the dominant is the fifth scale degree of the diatonic scale, called "dominant" because it is next in importance to the tonic,and a dominant chord is any chord built upon that pitch, using the notes of the same diatonic scale...
) of a scale, played twice with an additional tonic added to the highest point in the shape. For example, an A minor stacked triad would notate as A-C-E-A-E-C-A. When these series of notes are played quickly up and down as an arpeggio, they are notably classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
-sounding as opposed to more blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
-based progressions. The ability to move the shape of an arpeggio up and down the fretboard in order to initiate, 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 an intermediate technique of guitar performance.
Compared to other techniques often used in its basic forms by shredders, such as alternate picking
Alternate picking
Alternate picking is a guitar playing technique that employs strictly alternating downward and upward picking strokes in a continuous run, and is the most common method of plectrum playing...
, few strokes are required in sweep picking. In certain instances, however, legato
Legato
In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence...
is used to sound notes instead of an actual pick stroke (in the case of guitar, hammer-on
Hammer-on
Hammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off...
s and pull-off
Pull-off
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 to fret the note.-Performance and effect:...
s); 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. 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
Lick (music)
In popular music genres such as rock or jazz music, a lick is "a stock pattern or phrase" consisting of a short series of notes that is used in solos and melodic lines...
. In this sense, sweep picking is not so much a concrete action such as the aforementioned alternate picking
Alternate picking
Alternate picking is a guitar playing technique that employs strictly alternating downward and upward picking strokes in a continuous run, and is the most common method of plectrum playing...
, but instead is a technical idea with many possible applications.
Practical examples
A simple example of the technique is the use of the three-string sweep arpeggio done on the upper three (thinnest) strings.Beginning on the middle tonic of this progression, the player may sweep first up the arpeggio and then back down to resolve
Resolution (music)
Resolution in western tonal music theory is the move of a note or chord from dissonance to a consonance .Dissonance, resolution, and suspense can be used to create musical interest...
on the initial tonic. This would notate as A-C-E-A-E-C-A. Written in tablature
Tablature
Tablature is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches....
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 position) 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. 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
Slur (music)
A slur is a symbol in Western musical notation indicating that the notes it embraces are to be played without separation. This implies legato articulation, and in music for bowed string instruments, it also indicates the notes should be played in one bow; and in music for wind instruments, that the...
, though the latter is rarely enforced due to the acute control necessary to slide to a precise point on the string.
Sweeps may even be continued to the next note via means of tapping
Tapping
Tapping is a guitar playing technique, where a string is fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion of being pushed onto the fretboard, as opposed to the standard technique being fretted with one hand and picked with the other...
and may facilitate the ability to play passing notes outside of the classic arpeggio sequence. 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.
The main goal in sweeping is to synchronize your left and right hand in order to create a sweeping motion and hit each note and then lift off.
Guitarists known for their sweep picking technique
- Lori LinstruthLori LinstruthLori Linstruth is a guitarist. She currently resides in the Netherlands where she lives with Arjen Lucassen.-Warbride:Linstruth first came to prominence in the late eighties when she was featured in Mike Varney's "Spotlight" column in Guitar Player magazine...
- Devin TownsendDevin TownsendDevin Garret Townsend is a Canadian musician and record producer. He was the founder, songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist in extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad from 1994 to 2007 and has had an extensive career as a solo artist....
- Uli Jon Roth
- Michael Angelo BatioMichael Angelo BatioMichael Angelo Batio also known as Mike Batio or MAB, is a guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. His work has encompassed many genres, notably metal and its subgenres. Batio was voted the "No. 1 Shredder of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine in 2003...
- Jason BeckerJason BeckerJason Eli Becker is an American virtuoso neo-classical metal guitarist and composer. At the age of 16, he became part of the Mike Varney-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman. They released Speed Metal Symphony in 1987 and Go Off! in 1988...
- BucketheadBucketheadBrian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
- Rusty CooleyRusty CooleyRusty Cooley is a guitarist from Houston, Texas known for his highly refined guitar technique.-Early life:Rusty received his first equipment on his fifteenth birthday. From that day on Cooley immersed himself in music, practicing upwards of 4 hours a day...
- Marty FriedmanMarty Friedman (guitarist)Marty Friedman is a guitarist, well known for his tenure as the lead/rhythm guitarist for thrash metal band Megadeth, which lasted almost a decade...
- Frank GambaleFrank GambaleFrank Gambale is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He has released eleven studio albums over a period of more than two decades, and is renowned for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques.-Recording career:...
- Steve HackettSteve HackettStephen Richard Hackett is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. He gained prominence as a member of the British progressive rock group Genesis, which he joined in 1970 and left in 1977 to pursue a solo career...
- Muhammed SuiçmezMuhammed SuiçmezMuhammed Suiçmez is a German-Turkish guitarist and the frontman of the technical death metal band Necrophagist.-Biography:Muhammed Suiçmez was born in Karlsruhe to Turkish Muslim immigrants. Around the age of 10 he began listening to death metal, and took up an interest in music.At the age of 14,...
- Alex SkolnickAlex SkolnickAlexander Nathan Skolnick is an American jazz and metal guitarist. He was a member of the San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal band Testament from 1983 until his departure in 1993...
- Tony MacAlpineTony MacAlpineTony Jeff MacAlpine is an American guitarist and keyboardist. Having released ten studio albums over a career spanning more than two decades, he is best known as an instrumental solo guitarist, although he has worked with many different bands and musicians in the form of guest appearances and...
- Glenn TiptonGlenn TiptonGlenn Tipton is one of the Grammy Award-winning guitarists for the heavy metal band Judas Priest...
- Yngwie Malmsteen
- Todd Park MohrTodd Park MohrTodd Park Mohr is the singer and guitarist for the American rock band Big Head Todd & the Monsters, as well as being the band's namesake and primary lyricist. A founding member of the band, he also occasionally provides keyboards and saxophone in addition to his duties as frontman.Todd was born...
- Alexi LaihoAlexi LaihoAlexi "Wildchild" Laiho is a Finnish singer, composer, and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead guitarist as well as lead vocalist for melodic death metal band Children of Bodom, and he is also the guitarist for Sinergy and Kylähullut...
- Corey Beaulieu
- Vinnie MooreVinnie MooreVinnie Moore is a guitarist and a member of the English hard rock band UFO. Along with Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony MacAlpine, and others, Moore is known as one of the most influential guitarists to emerge out of the shredder boom in the mid 1980s.-Biography:Moore was born in New Castle, Delaware...
- John PetrucciJohn PetrucciJohn Peter Petrucci is an American guitarist and songwriter best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Along with his former bandmate Mike Portnoy, he has produced all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory...
- Leigh Williams
- Jari MäenpääJari MäenpääJari Mäenpää is the founder of the band Wintersun in which he performs vocals, plays guitar and keyboards. He also played bass on Wintersun's first album before hiring a full-time line-up....
- Steve VaiSteve VaiSteven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....
- Jeff LoomisJeff LoomisJeff Loomis is an American musician, best known for his role as lead guitarist in the progressive metal band Nevermore.-Early days:...
- Jan AkkermanJan AkkermanJan Akkerman is a Dutch guitarist. Akkerman is a distinctive guitarist, constantly experimenting with new equipment and guitars. Akkerman's distinctive guitar sound is characterised by his pioneering use of volume swells which produce a smooth, fluty, sustained tone, and other complex techniques...
- Paul WaggonerPaul WaggonerPaul Waggoner is the lead guitarist of the American heavy metal band, Between the Buried and Me from North Carolina. Being an avid fan of progressive rock, he is heavily influenced by John Petrucci, Pat Metheny, Allan Holdsworth and Steve Vai. He formerly played guitar in the metalcore band, Prayer...
- John Gallagher
- Richie KotzenRichie KotzenRichie Kotzen is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter.At a young age, Richie Kotzen was taken by music and first began playing piano at the age of five. At the age of seven he was inspired by the band KISS to learn the electric guitar...
- Herman LiHerman LiHerman Li is a British Chinese musician, best known as a guitarist for the power metal band DragonForce.-Playing style:Li draws influences from rock, all sub-genres of metal as well as video game music and often mimics sounds from popular retro games from the late 80s, early-90s arcade, and PC games...
- Anna CalviAnna CalviAnna Calvi is an English musician who plays in the band of the same name. On 6 December 2010, Calvi was announced as a nominee for the BBC's Sound of 2011 poll. Her self-titled debut album was released in the UK on 17 January 2011, where it debuted at number 40 on 23 January...
- Helge EngelkeHelge EngelkeHelge Engelke is a German guitar player most notable for his work in Fair Warning and Dreamtide. He has also employed his guitar talents in noted “studio work” and has guested on various artists albums/CD’s including vocals and guitars for his friend Zeno Roth. Herr Engelke was born on September...
- Per NilssonPer NilssonPer Elis Albert Nilsson was a Swedish gymnast who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics.He was part of the Swedish team, which won the gold medal in the gymnastics men's team, Swedish system event.-External links:*...
- Shannon HammShannon HammShannon Hamm is a heavy metal guitarist who played in Death from 1996 until their break-up in 1999. He then joined Chuck Schuldiner's second band Control Denied, which ended with the death of Schuldiner in 2001. Before Death, he was a locally well known guitarist in the Texas underground metal scene...
- Karl SandersKarl SandersKarl Sanders is an American musician, most widely known as the founding member of the American Egyptian-themed death metal band Nile. He was born in California, and lives in Greenville, South Carolina. Karl is endorsed by Dean Guitars, and has two signature models by KxK Guitars...