I need help with sweeping

[Ethan Bay]

I’m having really hard time learning to sweep pick. Any advice on how to do it?

 

[Ed Seith]

Start with the lessons, then move into Syn’s Etudes on sweeping. Take them REALLY SLOW. I’ve been playing 35 years and never really did sweeping PROPERLY. I’ve been working on Etude #1 for a couple of months to make sure I’m getting everything as clean and right as I can.
Now, I say a couple of months, but I only spend about 5 minutes a day, 5-6 days a week on that specifically. Your mileage may vary, but the point is, to do it RIGHT takes a SERIOUSLY long time.

 

[Kevin Welton]

Which aspect of sweeping are you having issues with?

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Oh Lord have mercy. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I hate sweep picking. It’s one of those tedious, ridiculously intricate things to get decent. I struggled with it for over a decade and didn’t even get somewhat ok with it until just a few months ago. I can play the phrases faster than I can slow. But it’s SOOO crucial to keep slowing it down and practicing them slow because timing IS of the essence with sweeping. You definitely don’t want to muddle your way through. You want every note to be clear and well heard. Every note has its own beat. I don’t know if this will help you or not, but since I share your frustrations with sweeping, when I found my own personal “tricks” that helped, I made this video in hopes to help others. Maybe it’ll help you Watch for the little notes that pop up by my right arm in the form of texts.

 

[idssdi]

Start with 2-string sweeps and when you get those down go to 3 strings etc. Also take a look at the etudes and the exercises that are here in the school. I also can’t stress left hand muting enough. So try to do the sweeps with left hand muting. One other thing is try to start with the c-shape(minor and major) because those don’t really contain any rolling and probably are the least demotivating to start with.