Solos for practicing sweeping

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six

six

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Hi there

I still can't sweep. What a shame. :(

Now I wan't to try another approach. I'd like to learn to sweep by just ripping some solos... but I don't know which ones.

Do you know some solos containing some easy sweeping stuff?

I like Richie Kotzen, but I think he often combines his sweeping chops with fancy legato playing - so this might distract me from my aim. :)

Anyway, if you know something - tell me.
 
Anything from Frank Gambale. He's an arppegio, econo, sweep picking nut.
 
Arpeggios, arpeggios, arpeggios

That's how I leared sweeps. Play them up and down, over and over, and they will natually become sweeps.
 
Your approach is not making much sense to me.....

Are you trying to do monster 6 string sweeps or are you simply trying to get started with economy picking? I would recommend starting slowly with 2 or 3 string economy picked licks. You've simply got to get your hands to do the right sort of motions and once you get past that hurdle the more elaborate sweeps will come alot easier.

It's very important to play them slowly and sort out the mechanics of your movements carefully and methodically. Working through them slowly will establish the proper technique, it will let you know where you are wasting motion and letting strings ring out, etc. The technique is something you will more or less commit to muscle memory so you can rip them off at lightning speed without even thinking.

I think that muting with both hands is very important, but not everybody mutes much with their pick hand. Just something to think about.

For some good sweep picking licks to practice, check out the aforementioned Frank Gambale, or Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker, and one of my personal favorites in that territory, Marty Friedman.
 
ok, will check gambale.

metalhead28: i really practiced the technique itself a lot, but I got stuck. I know I only can get faster by doing it over and over again, but that bores me :D .
so I'd prefer _playing_ a piece of music and then gradually speed it up. I still can focus on single licks inside the solo if/when it's necessary.

by the way: I've become some kind of a "natural econo-picker" ;) , which actually slows me down sometimes. had to "upload" strict alternate picking again.
 
Here's a little exercise I put together for you. It's part sweep arpeggio, with hammer ons/pull off ala Eric Johnson. I added a touch of Paul Gilbert in there to spice it up (the tapping/slide). This example is in Dm7 and is a cool sounding lick. As for other arpeggios to practice sweeping, just find a root note on the fifth or sixth string and add a third (min or maj), a fifth & a seventh (min or maj). Pull these from adjacent strings and you'll be sweeping. They're all over the place and offer a shitload of possiblities.


Dmin7 arpeggio
 
six said:
by the way: I've become some kind of a "natural econo-picker" ;) , which actually slows me down sometimes. had to "upload" strict alternate picking again.
Click to expand...


Economy picking should be a way around the confines of strict alternate picking. If it slows you down versus your alternate picking, it's not economy picking you're doing...it's the opposite ;)

Once economy picking becomes second nature, you are opening the door to doing sweep picked licks all the time. Whether or not this all applies to you I don't know, but I figure it's worth breaking down economy picking.

Work on this exercise:

-----------------------------
-----------------------------
--------------------7-9-11---
-----------7-9-10-----------
---7-9-10-------------------
----------------------------

Pick the first 3 notes down, up, down, and as you go to the 4th note on the next string continue your downstroke from the string above and hit the fourth note with one continuous downward motion. Use the same principle across several strings. That is economy picking in it's most simplistic form.

When you are used to that, try to throw this in the mix:

--------------7-8-10--
-----------8-----------
---7-9-10-------------
----------------------
----------------------
----------------------

When you play the downstroke from the 3rd note, continue it on across the next string for the 4th note - but also continue it on one string further and hit the 5th note with the same stroke, then proceed with an upstroke and a downstroke to finish the phrase.
I've taught several people economy picking by getting them to concentrate on this basic approach. Before too long they are turning 3 string economy picked lines into one note per string arpeggios and the rest is history.
 
metalhead, thanks for your post.

the thing is: I DO know how it works and what the benefits are. I'm just looking for 'pieces' resp. solos that contain sweeped arpeggios.

I tried to learn several shapes and speed them up to finally apply them in my music. It didn't work. Don't know why, it's just me.

Then I remembered that I learned to play the final countdown solo just by playing it (and starting very slow). It didn't even take me a whole week of INextensive practising. And I have to say I didn't play stuff like that before.

So maybe if I find a 'sweeping-solo' that I really like it won't take me too long to get able to play it.

that's the approach I want to try.
 
six said:
Hi there

I still can't sweep. What a shame. :(

Now I wan't to try another approach. I'd like to learn to sweep by just ripping some solos... but I don't know which ones.

Do you know some solos containing some easy sweeping stuff?

I like Richie Kotzen, but I think he often combines his sweeping chops with fancy legato playing - so this might distract me from my aim. :)

Anyway, if you know something - tell me.
Click to expand...



between the buried and me- alaska

not easy but nto hard. its a basic arpreggio and very fun sweep. plyus it has tremelo picking, and other technicniques to practice. [esspecially hammer ons ;] ]

that was the first song i learned for sweeps
 
buryher17 said:
between the buried and me- alaska
Click to expand...
Woo hoo! A BTBAM fan! Haha didn't know if there'd be any of 'em in here :)

Back on topic, I know what you mean about getting bored doing the same patterns: my feeling is that you have two choices:

A: Quit your bitching, realize it's work, and play the damned patterns until your fingers bleed and you amp turns itself off out of protest.

or

B: Write your own sweeping solos! That's the way I learned the majority of what I can do is by writing a bunch of stuff I can't play, and playing it until I was good at it!
 
steve...

as for A: i never believed there'd be a shortcut.

b: I just did that a few days ago and I think that might work.
 
six said:
steve...

as for A: i never believed there'd be a shortcut.

b: I just did that a few days ago and I think that might work.
Click to expand...

I know, and I think I was in a bad mood when I posted that 'cause it was supposed to sound good-natured, but it came off like I was an asshole haha, sorry 'bout that! :p
 
yeah, you bunghole!! :p
no, everything fine.

hey, just wanted to tell you guys that I actually made some progress. I mean, I'm still far away from being a shredder, but I think considering the time I spent my progresses are ok.

I figured out a solo to "long train running" that contains a bit of sweeped arpeggios and started at 60 bpm. now I'm at about 90 bpm - more or less unsloppy - or 110 bpm... quite sloppy thru the 6-string-arpeggios. oh yeah... 16th-notes-sweeps. so still on the slow side.

here's something I always ignored and that I want to tell anybody who starts sweeping:

KEEP AWAY FROM THE BIG 5- AND 6-STRING-SWEEPS.

I concentrated on 3-string-shapes like

------12-15-12----
---13----------13-
12----------------

and they work now at around 95 bpm (sixteenth-triplets). and without even practicing the bigger shapes, they also flow better now.

but... as I am an old man (30), I still don't really believe I will ever sweep 16th-triplets at 130bpm and up. :( :p
 
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