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. Despite being commonly known as sweep "picking" both hands perform an integral motion to achieve the desired effect.
Explanation of Technique
The fret hand portion of sweep picking can be described as when multiple, adjacent strings are "articulated", or acutely controlled by the fretting fingers, and thus sounded in succession without ringing together (as opposed to barre chords in which all strings are held down throughout the pick stroke). The fingers cannot hold down multiple strings at once nor can they make individual fretting actions, the motion is seen as a rolling of the fingers in the direction of the desired notes across the fretboard, rather than up or down the neck. In terms of placement, the fretting hand assumes a shape much like a chord over the fretboard when in motion but instead of completely lifting away, the fingers have to first fret the note to make a sound, then make a slight but immediate raising off the fretboard so as to mute the note by staying in slight contact with the string. This motion of first fretting and then leaving the fingertip in contact with the respective string while simultaneously fretting the next string with another finger tends to create a habitual rolling motion that when perfected can be played at impressive speed due to muscle memory. It is when this motion is done clearly, fluidly and at speed that it is seen as the actual technique.
In relation to this fretting motion, the pick hand performs a single broad stroke all the way down and/or all the way up, much akin to the strumming of a chord. The major differences between strumming and sweeping are the meticulous timing required to coincide with the fret hand's motion and the fact that the pick is "pushed" (in the case of a downstroke) or "pulled" (in the case of an upstroke) into each string, essentially knocking into each following string, whereas in strumming a lighter, more rhythmic, and often faster stroke is used to play all the notes in unison. The player must be sure that although fast and fluid in nature, each string in the sweep must be sounded individually in relation to the note the fret hand is currently fingering. Thus the player must take care not to sweep too fast or too slow for the fret hand. This requires a considerable amount of skill and practice.
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. 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 apposed to more Blues based progressions. The ability to move the shape of an arpeggio up and down the fretboard in order to, or because of, a change in keys lends itself to being the primary choice of guitar players, helping ease the use of what is considered a difficult technique of guitar performance.
Sweep picked licks (lead phrases) were primarily popularized by a host of "Shredders" during the 80's Neo-classical boom, such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Frank Gambale, Tony MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore, Michael Angelo Batio, Jason Becker and Marty Friedman, although it should be noted artists as diverse as Luca Turilli, Steve Vai, John Petrucci and Alan Holdsworth often use sweep picking in their compositions.
Compared to other techniques often used by "shredders" such as tremolo picking, few strokes are required in sweep picking, although all sweeps can be seen as a minimum of 3-5 strokes. 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, 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 integrates the technique into his existing repitoire and thusly, certain guitarists may use legato where others will have a natural tendency to double pick these strings. 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 this sense, sweep picking is not so much a concrete action such as the aformentioned tremolo picking, but instead is a technical idea with many possible applications.
Examples
A common way to break the technique up is the use of the three string sweep arpeggio done on the upper three or "skinniest" strings, moreso than the lower, "thicker" strings due to the awkward motion necessary and general lack of clarity in comparison to the higher notes. In the case of the upper three string sweep, we see the arpeggio as the upper register of a standard 5 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 scale and then back down to resolve on the initial tonic. This would notate as A-C-E-A-E-C-A. Written in a tab form for the 12th position, it would be seen as:
1-------12-17-12-------
2-----13---------13----
3---14-------------14--
4----------------------
5----------------------
6----------------------
Now if we add on the lower octave of the arpeggio, the complete shape (in this particular fingering) is seen as:
1--------------12-17-12-------------
2------------13--------13-----------
3----------14------------14---------
4--------14----------------14-------
5---12-15--------------------15-12--
6-----------------------------------
Note how in the middle of the sequence, on the 3rd and 4th string, we need to finger the same fret for both strings. By design we also have more fingerings than we do actual fingers, however both of these problems are solved by fretting the initial string (4th on the downstroke) with the tip of the ring finger, and the rolling into the next string fretting it with the pad of the same finger. When we are in the returning upstroke, we fret the 3rd string first obviously, simply reversing the rolling action from before. Also note 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 legato, etc comes in so that a fluid picking motion is sustained.
The sounding of these notes in the arpeggio may be accomplished through any number of techniques, including change in pick articulation, upstroke or downstroke, legato techniques (known as hammer-ons or pull-offs), or in some instances legato slides, rarely used because of the acute control necessary to slide to a precise point on the string. Steve Vai and Shane Gibson are two artists who can use this fluidly. Sweeps may also be continued to the next note via means of tapping (as used by Michael Angelo Batio and Tony McAlpine), and may facilitate the ability to play passing notes outside of the classic arpeggio sequence. Here are the notes of an A minor triad; While the first six notes follow the arpeggio, the E would be tapped, thereby opening an avenue through which the D,C, and B notes may be more easily sounded via pull-offs.
""= Tapped ()= Pull-off.
i.e. A-C-E-A-C-"E"-(D)-(C)-(B)-A-E-C-A
Ascending Descending
Notice that while the duration is extended, some of the fluidity that an arpeggio is naturally endowed with is lost due to the inclusion of passing tones which change the intervallic leaps in the "embellished" arpeggio. This also undermines the classical tone of the passage many people look for.
Ultimately sweep picking, once mastered, can be applied to virtually any idea, arpeggio or otherwise, and is considered amongst most guitar players as one of the signs of guitar mastery and virtuosity. (Couresy of Wikipedia)
Sweep Picking, which is also known as "Economy Picking", is the rapid picking of each note of a chord instead of strumming it.
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