Intermediate/Advanced Sweeping!
by Ioannis Anastassakis

Greetings fellow guitarists! This is Ioannis Anastassakis with the second installment of a series of articles on modern rock guitar techniques. This month we will examine the exciting technique of sweep picking, a.k.a. "sweeping".

Sweeping was popularized in the mid-80s by the amazing fusion guitarist Frank Gambale and entered the vocabulary of aspiring rock guitarists very quickly due to its popularization by Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai, both very avid sweepers!

The main advantage of sweeping is that only one tightly-controlled pick stroke is used to strike multiple strings, thus minimizing picking-hand motion. This movement can be likened to the movement of a violinist playing a series of notes using only an up-bow or down-bow.

All the following music examples are from my upcoming 60 Sweep Picking Licks for Contemporary Rock Guitar Book/DVD instructional project to be published in early 2008 by Mel Bay Publications!

Example #1

For our 1st example, we have a series of swept Am7 arpeggios played in different inversions, starting from the 5^th position and moving all the way to the 15^th fret!

Click to hear Example1.mp3.



Performance Tips
Try to minimize noise and follow the picking directions to the letter!
Don't forget to use a metronome!

Example #2

For our 2nd example, we will stay in the A natural minor scale, but this time we will use 3-string arpeggios located on the top three strings. The arpeggios used are Dm7, Em7 and finally Am7. This lick takes a fairly simple sweeping sequence and climbs the fretboard diatonically!

Click to hear Example2.mp3.



Performance Tips

Again, try to minimize noise and follow the picking directions to the letter! Make sure you learn the main picking pattern well before you start speeding it up and don't forget to use a metronome!

Example #3

Staying with our trusty A natural minor scale, the next lick combines 5-string sweeping with legato for a very fluid effect. The arpeggios used in this exercise are Dm7 and Em7 and you can hear examples similar to this in the playing of Richie Kotzen.

Click to hear Example3.mp3.


Performance Tips

Once again, follow the picking directions carefully. The most difficult aspect of this exercise is synchronizing your sweeping with the legato. Take it very slow initially and be sure to use a metronome!

Suggested Listening:

• Yngwie Malmsteen "Rising Force" & "Trilogy"
• Vinnie Moore "Time Odyssey"
• Richie Kotzen "Fever Dream"
• Whitesnake "Slip of the Tongue"
• Joe Satriani "Flying in a Blue Dream"

Well, that's all for this month!!! Make sure you work on the examples slowly at first before trying to play them fast; a little patience will pay off very soon. Listen carefully to the MP3 recordings to get a clear idea of what each phrase is supposed to sound like in slow and fast speeds. If you have any comments on my articles, suggestions for future columns or any kind of relevant question, feel free to email me at info@ioannis.org.

If you like this kind of guitar playing, feel free to check out my brand-new instrumental CD entitled Suspension of Disbelief. Here's the link to the Music Video of the title Track: Suspension of Disbelief

For latest news and updates, please check out the Myspace profile at www.myspace.com/ioannisanastassakis and my website at www.ioannis.org

See you next month!
Yannis