How to Use Sweep Picking Techniques in Metal Guitar

Sweep picking is a popular technique for guitar players trying to create impressive solos with methods that guitar insiders call "shredding." Sweep picking is basically the idea that you are creating a series of notes using downward or upward strokes to play more than one string in a fast sequence. Here are some ways to do sweep picking for metal guitar.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Choose your end note. In sweep picking, you will almost always have a pronounced end note, the destination of your sweep, that is heard more clearly than the others, or that you, as a guitar player, "resolve" to. Figure out what you want this note to be depending on the key you're playing in.
2. Try a basic sweep picking technique. Find notes on the strings below your end note (which is generally up on the B or high E string, though not always) and hold those notes with your fingers. "Sweep" the pick over them, and you'll hear the sound of a series of notes played in rhythmic order.
3. Mute your lower strings for a "muted sweep picking" riff, sometimes called a "muted rake." In this style, your first notes will be just a rhythmic clicking sound, or very muted, subdued tones, and then your end note will ring out loud and clear. Guitar players like to use this style to showcase an end note in a riff.
4. Play arpeggios with sweep picking. Figure out the scale notes you need for an "arpeggio." These are roughly the same notes you would use in a major chord. Then sweep pick them for an interesting major key sound.
5. Add techniques like hammer-on and pull-off to enhance sweep picking. These methods let you get more than one note in on any one string as you sweep, and your results will be longer, more impressive sweep picking riffs. Practice adding an extra note on a string, rather than just plucking it once, spending extra time on that string on the way to your end note.