7 Common Problems with Learning Sweep Picking and What to do About Them
by Mike Philippov
Sweep picking is considered by many to be a technique that separates average players from highly advanced players. Unfortunately, there are many challenges to be overcome with this technique before one can successfully adapt it as part of his or her style.
First, for anyone who may not know, sweep picking is a technique used by guitarists to play arpeggios. It is typically done when using distortion, but this technique is also used in other styles when clean guitar sound is used. The use of distortion makes it very challenging to play arpeggios quickly and cleanly.
In this article, I will present several of the most common problems that I have seen many people run into with sweep picking. Based on my own experience as a player and after replying to dozens of e-mails on this topic from students all over the world, I noticed that many students seem to be experiencing many of the same problems. Of course there are also likely to be issues that are specific to each student, but these questions are best addressed in person with a competent teacher.
So there are 7 main problems that I believe prevent many students from either learning sweep picking at all, or (for those who are more advanced,) with using this technique in expressive ways. Not all students have every one of these same 7 problems of course, (most have various combinations of them), but I think that by listing them all here, it will help more people to become aware of ways to improve their playing even if a specific problem may not apply directly to them.
These problems are:
1) Practicing too fast
Yes, this is common sense advice that we’ve all heard a million times,
right? However, even though this advice is commonly heard, it is shocking how
many people either choose to ignore it, or simply are not aware that they are
practicing way too fast because the general words such as “fast”
or “slow” are often misleading and meaningless because they mean
different things for different people. Just remember this (as a general guideline),
if you are practicing and your playing sounds sloppy, inconsistent in quality
and filled with mistakes, then chances are you are practicing much too fast.
Just remember that you can play ANY combination of notes perfectly if you play
slowly enough. If you keep trying to increase the speed but your playing is
full of mistakes and sloppy string noise, then you are just learning to play
sloppily. On the other hand, if you play slowly enough to play without mistakes
and you only increase the speed once you are sure that you can do so without
sacrificing the quality of your playing, you will be teaching your hands to
play the technique perfectly. So this piece of advice is twofold: first play
slowly enough to play without mistakes. And second: only increase the speed
once you are sure that you will not be sacrificing accuracy.
Is this piece of advice common sense and common knowledge to most people? Of
course it is. But is this also one of the most common things to see guitarists
doing wrong? You bet it is! For example, we all know that exercise and working
out is good for our health (this is common knowledge) but how many people actually
DO exercise on a regular basis? So this means that even though the need to practice
slowly is obvious to most guitarists, many of those who struggle with their
progress would benefit greatly by slowing down their playing and focusing more
on accuracy. I hope you are starting to see where I’m going with this.
2) Not paying attention to muting of the strings
This is a very common problem that makes itself especially evident with sweep
picking. What do I mean by this? Well, the main goal of sweep picking is to
only have one note of the arpeggio sounding at any one time with the other notes
being completely muted (this is the only way to get the arpeggios to sound clean
and precise when playing with a lot of gain and distortion). There are two main
ways of going about this: either to use the palm of your hand to mute the strings
you are not playing (this method is the most common and is used by players such
as Rusty Cooley, Michael Romeo and Yngwie Malmsteen) and to use the thumb of
the picking hand to do the same thing (this method is used by virtuosos such
as George Bellas and Tom Hess) The main point here is to pay attention to how
effective your muting technique is (regardless of which of the two methods you
choose to use) and evaluate its effectiveness by LISTENING to how clean your
playing actually is when you play slow and when you play fast. The best way
to do this is to either record yourself or to ask for honest and unbiased feedback
from your teacher about your playing. If your playing is not as clean as you
would like it to be, then I highly recommend paying careful attention to the
way you mute the strings and perhaps change your technique a bit if necessary
to fix that problem.
3) Trying to “strum” the arpeggios with the right hand
instead of hitting each note individually
When sweep picking, each note should have definition and rhythmic placement.
If you simply strum or rake the pick across the strings, the notes will sound
sloppy and out of time. You need to make sure that each note has definition
and you should be able to play the arpeggio slowly to a metronome and have it
be in time. The arm moves in a continuous motion across the strings but each
note must have definition.
4) Not isolating the “rolling” motion of the left hand
to practice it exclusively until it is no longer a challenge.
If you have spent any amount of time trying to learn sweep picking, then you
have most likely encountered (or at least heard about) the technique of “finger
rolling” that is used in some arpeggio shapes. This challenging aspect
of the technique is one of many topics thorougly discussed in the The
Ultimate Sweep Picker's Guide. The best way to tackle the rolling technique
is to isolate it and practice just the rolling motion by itself until it no
longer poses a challenge. Make sure to practice slowly of course and avoid having
the notes ring together (this is a very common problem) Many players simply
play the arpeggios that contain the rolling technique up and down hundreds of
times in hopes that the problem will simply solve itself. But you will be MUCH
more effective if you are able to get specific about the nature of the problem
(see this
article). In this case, the problem is the rolling itself, not necessarily
the rest of the arpeggio, so by focusing your attention only on the problem
you save yourself time and are able to be much more effective in your practice.
5) Not making the pull off at the top of each arpeggio articulate
enough.
Many arpeggio shapes require you to perform a pull off at the top of the shape
(usually on the high E string). Many players make the mistake of letting the
pull off sound way too weak compared to the other notes of the arpeggio (which
are picked). This creates an unevenness in volume and the arpeggio lacks precision
and rhythmic control. What I recommend is spending a bit of time only on the
pull off part of the arpeggio and practice making the pull off as LOUD as you
can (of course I'm referring to how strong your pull off itself is, not to how
loud you can turn up the amp). When you do this, you will notice a big difference
in your arpeggio playing.
6) Not learning how to build chords and arpeggios and how to use them
in a musical way.
Do you know what the word “arpeggio” means? Do you understand the
principles of chord construction and how chords are grouped into keys? Can you
name diatonic triads and diatonic seventh chords in any key? Do you understand
the concepts of voice
leading? The answers to these questions can GREATLY help you expand your
creativity with sweep picking. Many players learn several arpeggio shapes and
may even be able to play them up and down pretty quickly and cleanly. However
without knowing how arpeggios can be used in different musical contexts such
as soloing or songwriting, that player will be stuck playing the same shapes
in the same way for months and years. These problems can easily be prevented
and fixed by studying music theory and chord construction. For some beginning
resources, check out this free Music
Theory Master Class as well as this article: Voice
Leading Part 1.
7) Only using standard shapes and limiting the creative potential of this technique
It is unfortunate that many players box themselves into using only simple major/minor/diminished
arpeggios in ways that have already been done many times. There are so many
other ways in which this technique can be used creatively. Some of the most
obvious ways include the use of seventh chords in combination with triads, extending
arpeggios using tapping, using different picking/articulation techniques to
play the arpeggios, and connecting the shapes using the principles of voice
leading. Many of the creative approaches can be discovered by studying chord
theory and knowing the names of all the notes on the fretboard. This will help
spark ideas for how sweep picking can be used in more expressive ways that will
help you enhance your songwriting. Then you will not need to search the web
for “sweep picking licks”, because you will be able to come up with
your own creative ways of using the technique to express yourself.
At this point, we have looked at several problems that guitarists typically have with learning this elusive technique. What should I do now, I hear you ask? Well, if you don’t think you have any of the above problems, then great, you’re on the right track! But if you think that some of these points can apply to you, then you now know what you need to work on to take your playing to the next level.
Check out these additional resources: The Ultimate Sweep Picker's Guide, free Music Theory Master Class as well as my article on Voice Leading Part 1.
You can e-mail Mike at mike@mikephilippov.com and he would be happy to answer any questions you may have.