A Clean Sweep: Mastering Sweep Arpeggios

with John Petrucci

Here's a classic column from the pages of Guitar World magazine.
I always get frustrated when I hear someone talking about sweep arpeggios.

Though there are plenty of licks and examples out there, no one has ever really broken
down the mechanics of the technique. As a result, guitarists have had to figure them
out by trial and error. This became all the more evident when I was teaching.
My students repeatedly made the same mistake: they'd hold a barre chord while
articulating each note. To play sweep arpeggios correctly, you have to mute each note
with the left hand immediately after picking it.
The best way to learn sweep picking is to first isolate the right- and left-hand
techniques, master them separately and then coordinate them. Let's begin with the
right hand. Basically, you have to let the pick "fall" from string to string as if you were
strumming a chord. Don't try to separate the pick strokes!
This technique feels weird at first, but picture your right hand as a Slinky going down
from step to step-just let it fall. When executing an upstroke sweep, drag the pick
upwards over the strings. Keep your hand loose and relaxed, as if it were being lifted by
a string tied around your wrist.
Now let's look at the left hand. In order to use the sweeping technique, you can only
play one note per string. As I noted earlier, you need to mute each string with the left
hand immediately after picking it to keep the notes from "bleeding" into each other and
sounding like an ordinary strummed chord. FIGURE 1 is an atonal-sound sweep picking
exercise that is designed to coordinate you left-hand muting and right-hand sweeping
techniques. Practice it slowly at first, concentrating on keeping the notes separate and
distinct. The try playing it faster.

Muting the strings with the left hand can be difficult whenever two or more consecutive
notes are on the same fret, as when sweeping a familiar barre chord shape. The key to
muting the strings properly and keeping the notes separate when barring is using
what's know as the rolling technique. Rolling involves fully extending your barring
finger so that it becomes slightly arched. This is absolutely essential in order to make
the technique work. If your fingers don't seem to want to bend backwards, you can
work on increasing your flexibility by fully extending all your knuckles and pressing your
opposite fingertips together gently. When performing this limbering exercise, be careful
not to press too hard, as you could overextend your joints and injure them.
Let's look at an example of the rolling technique, using a major triad shape on the D, G
and B strings (Figure 2). In order to make the rolling technique work you'll need to fret
the D string note with the tip of your finger, using the fleshy underside of the finger to
fret the G- and B-string notes. To execute the first roll in Figure 2, pick the D string.
Then, as you go to pick the G string, arch the first knuckle of your barring finger and roll
the finger in the direction of the sweep, so that the tip of the finger mutes D string. As
you pick the B string, continue rolling the finger to mute the G string. Done correctly,
the notes will sound separate and distinct. When performing the descending (upstroke)
sweeps in Figure 2, roll your barring finger in the opposite direction. Keep repeating the
C and D triads in Figure 2 until you can sweep them quickly and cleanly. The rolling
movement should be like that of a rocking chair. Practice rolling with all four fingers of
your left hand.

Once you master Figure 2, try FIGURE 3, which will help you gain left-hand facility
across the fingerboard while sweep picking. Make sure you follow the right-hand
picking pattern indicated above the tablature. It's tricky, but well worth the effort!

As you coordinate the right-hand sweeping with the left-hand rolling and muting, you'll
start to develop the speed and definition that makes sweep picking such an exciting
technique. FIGURE 4 is a jazzy sounding lick that combine sweep picking, alternate
picking, rolling and quick position shifting. The lick is just chromatically descending
minor-sever arpeggios, but listen to how cool Ebm7 and Dbm7 sound over A7 altered
and G7 altered, respectively.

This lick sounds great when played with the sweep technique. Work on coordinating
both hands. Proceed slowly at first and concentrate on maintaining a steady flow of
16th notes. Though it'll feel awkward at first, you'll be truly amazed how you'll sound
when it clicks.

Big Strokes: A Beginner's Guide to

Sweep Picking
Although often regarded as a “shredder’s” technique, the notion of sweeping (or
raking) the pick across the strings to produce a quick succession of notes has been
around since the invention of the pick itself.
Jazz players from the Fifties, such as Les Paul, Barney Kessel and Tal Farlow, would
use the approach in their improvisations, and country guitar genius Chet Atkins was
known to eschew his signature fingerstyle hybrid-picking technique from time to
time and rip out sweep-picked arpeggios, proving that the technique is not genre
specific.
Within rock, Ritchie Blackmore used sweep picking to play arpeggios in Deep
Purple’s “April” and Rainbow’s “Kill the King.” Fusion maestro Frank Gambale is
widely considered to be the most versatile and innovative sweep picker and the first
artist to fully integrate the technique into his style, applying sweeping to arpeggios,
pentatonics, heptatonic (seven-note) scales and modes, and beyond.
Gambale explains his approach wonderfully in his instructional video, Monster Licks
and Speed Picking. Originally released in 1988, it remains a must-watch video for
anyone interested in developing a smooth sweep-picking technique.
It was Stockholm, Sweden, however that would produce the name most
synonymous with sweeping in a rock context, one that gave rise to a guitar
movement known as neoclassical heavy metal. Swedish guitar virtuoso Yngwie
Malmsteen was influenced by Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore and Uli Jon Roth but
was also equally enthralled by 19th-century virtuoso violinist Niccolò Paganini.
Attempting to emulate on his Fender Stratocaster the fluid, breathtaking passages
Paganini would compose and play on violin, Malmsteen concluded that sweep
picking was the perfect way to travel quickly from string to string with a smooth,
fluid sound much like what a violinist can create with his bow.
Malmsteen’s style has since influenced two generations of guitarists, including Tony
MacAlpine, Jason Becker, Steve Vai, Mattias “IA” Eklundh, Ritchie Kotzen, Marty
Friedman, John Petrucci, Vinnie Moore, Jeff Loomis, Synyster Gates, Alexi Laiho and
Tosin Abasi, to name but a few.
The first five exercises in this lesson are designed to give you a systematic approach
to practicing the component movements of sweep picking: from two-string sweeps
to six-string sweeps, and everything in between. Practicing each exercise with a
metronome for just two minutes every day will improve your coordination and your
confidence to use the technique in your own playing.
Work from two strings up to six, keeping your metronome at the same tempo. This
means starting with eighth notes, and while this will feel very slow, the technique
will become trickier with each successive note grouping: eighth-note triplets, 16th
notes, quintuplets and, most difficult of all, 16th-note triplets and their equivalent
sextuplets.
Focus on synchronizing your hands so that your pick and fretting fingers make
contact with the string at exactly the same moment. Only one string should be
fretted at any time (this is key!), and any idle strings should be diligently muted with
your remaining fingers. If you fail to do this and allow notes on adjacent strings to
ring together, it will negate the desired effect and sound like you are simply
strumming a chord.
When it comes to sweep picking, muting is the key to cleanliness. It is also the
aspect that will take the most practice to master. The second set of five exercises
handles some common sweep-picking approaches. These are shown in one position
and based on one chord type each, thus focusing your attention on the exercise until
you have become accustomed to the technique.
The final piece helps you tackle the various aspects of sweeping while bolstering
your stamina, as the bulk of it consists of nonstop 16th notes, with only a few pauses
for “breathing.” Break it down into four-bar sections and practice each with a
metronome, gradually building up to the 100-beats-per-minute (100bpm) target
tempo.
Get the Tone In rock, this technique is best suited to Strat-style guitars, using the
neck pickup setting for a warm, round tone. Use a modern tube amp with the gain
set to a moderate amount—just enough to give all the notes a uniform volume and
sustain, but not so much that string muting becomes an impossible battle.
The thickness and sharpness of your pick will hugely impact the tone of your sweep
picking. Something with a thickness between one and two millimeters and a
rounded tip will provide the right amount of attack and still glide over the strings
with
ease.

[FIGURE 1] This Cmaj7 arpeggio on the two middle strings works just as well on the
top two or bottom two. Lightly drag your pick across (push down, pull up) the two
strings so that there’s very little resistance. This teaches your picking hand to make
smooth motions rather than two separate downward or upward strokes.
FIGURE 2 is a C7 arpeggio played across three strings. Strive to maintain the same
smooth down/up motion with your pick used in the previous example. Focus on the
pick strokes that land on downbeats, and allow the in-between, or “offbeat,” notes
to naturally fall into place. Every three notes your pick will change direction.
Now let’s move on to four strings with this exotic C7 altered-dominant lick,
reminiscent of one of Gambale’s fusion forays. Remember, sweep picking is most
effective when each note is cleanly separated from the last, so aim to have only one
finger in contact with the fretboard at a time in order to keep the notes from ringing
together.

Now we move on to some five-string shapes, the likes of which you can hear in the
playing of Steve Vai and Mattias Eklundh. The phrasing here is 16th-note
quintuplets (five notes per beat). Once again, if you focus on nailing the highest and
lowest notes along with the beat, the in-between notes should automatically fall
into place.
Move your pick at a constant speed to ensure the notes are evenly spaced. Say “Hip-
po-pot-a-mus” to get the sound of properly performed quintuplets in your mind’s
ear.

This six-string arpeggio is an A major triad (A C# E), with the third in the bass and a
fifth interval added to the high E string’s 12th fret, so we have the right number of
notes for 16th-note triplets (six notes per click).
When ascending, use a single motion to pick all six strings, making sure only one
note is fretted at a time. The descending section includes a pull-off on the high E
string, which, although momentarily disruptive to your picking, is preferable to
adding another downstroke.
This major triad shape is an essential part of the Yngwie Malmsteen school of
sweeping. Pay special attention to the picking directions in both the ascending and
descending fragments. The alternating eighth-note triplet and quarter-note
phrasing allows you to focus on the picking pattern in small bursts and then rest for
a beat.

This example includes ascending and descending fragments again, this time played
together. Concentrate on the general down-up motion of your picking hand rather
than each pick stroke. Once you are comfortable with this shape you can apply the
same approach to minor, suspended and diminished-seven arpeggios.

This example is reminiscent of players such as Jason Becker and Jeff Loomis. We
start with the three-string shapes from the previous example, followed by the six-
string shape from FIGURE 5. This is quite challenging for the picking hand, so start
very slowly and remember to keep the hand moving smoothly.
Here we utilize two-string sweeps with pentatonic shapes. Use your first finger on
the fifth fret and third finger on the seventh fret. Keep your fingers flat against the
two-string groups, and transfer pressure between strings using a rolling action to
mute inactive strings and prevent notes from ringing together.

Economy picking requires that your pick take the shortest journey possible when
crossing from string to string. This essentially means that when you play a scale,
there will be a two-string mini-sweep whenever you move to an adjacent string. This
exercise combines the eight-note B whole-half diminished scale (B C# D E F G G#
As) and a Bdim7 arpeggio (B D F G#).
This piece is in the key of A minor. The first part is based around a “V-i” (five-one)
progression, with the arpeggios clearly outlining the implied chord changes. We
begin with some ascending two-string sweeps using alternating E (E G# B) and Bb
(Bb D F) triads.
Next come some A minor triads (A C E), played with a progressively increasing
number of strings; this is a great way to build your confidence in sweep picking
larger shapes. The Bm7b5 (B D F A) arpeggio in bar 4 has a series of three-string
sweeps combined with some challenging string skips. Bar 7 is an A minor pentatonic
scale (A C D E G) played in fourths using two-string sweeps/economy picking.
The second part of the piece has a more neoclassical approach and begins with
some Yngwie-style three-string triads incorporating pull-offs. Be sure to follow the
indicated picking directions.
Bar 12 is the trickiest part of the piece to play and utilizes some Jason Becker–
inspired six-string shapes. If you have problems with string muting or note
separation, apply some light palm muting to the notes as they are picked. This is an
effective way to improve note clarity.
The final bar is based on the A harmonic minor scale (A B C E D F G#) and
incorporates economy picking when traveling from the fifth string to the fourth.