Guitar Sweeping Techniques

Sweep guitar is almost exclusively used by lead guitarists.

Sweeping is a guitar technique that is predominately associated with virtuosic metal guitar solos. This technique is used to play rapid series of notes across multiple strings. At high playing speeds, more conventional techniques, like alternate picking, tend to be too slow to play these passages. The pick hand smoothly sweeps across the strings, while the fretting hand rapidly frets notes on each string in turn. More advanced players can mix different sweeping techniques to create more complex passages that normally would not be possible through sweep picking.

Basic Arpeggio

The most basic technique of sweep picking is the arpeggio. An arpeggio is a passage where only chord tones are played, but it is not a full chord. A chord has three or more notes playing simultaneously. An arpeggio uses the notes from the chord, but only one note is ever played at any time. For example, the A minor chord contains the A, C and E notes. When playing the full chord, the A, C and E notes are played at the same time. When playing an A minor arpeggio, the A, C and E notes are all used in the passage, but never at the same time. The fretboard shape of an arpeggio is usually similar to the shape used to form the chord. The only difference is the playing technique.

Turn Around

A sweep passage could only contain a maximum of six notes if you only swept up or down across the string. Most sweeping passages contain far more than six notes. One of the techniques to add additional notes to a sweeping passage is the turn-around. You sweep across the strings normally, and immediately start sweeping in the opposite direction. The string you turn around on gets played twice in a row as a result. Usually, the note on this string changes between the start and end of the turn-around. You do not need to turn around on the highest or lowest string on the guitar; any string can be used for the turn-around.

Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs

The turn-around only allows the same string to be played twice in a row and forces you to change directions. Some guitarists need to play several notes on the same string in a row in the middle of a sweeping passage. One solution is to use hammer-ons and pull-offs to change the notes on a single string. A hammer-on is a guitar technique where you hit a fret higher up on the fretboard to increase the pitch of a string without playing it again. A pull-off is the opposite technique where you push a fret lower on the neck and pull your fretting finger up to allow the lower fret to play. Usually, the picking hand still uses the same pace. In order to accommodate this, the notes formed by the hammer-ons and pull-offs are proportionately smaller than the notes created through normal sweeping.

Alternate Picking

Hammer-ons and pull-offs are not always a practical answer during sweep picking. You only have a limited range with the notes you can form using a hammer-on or pull-off. The other approach is to insert alternate picking sections within the sweep passage. For the most part, the normal sweep technique is used, but you alternate pick a string when you want to play multiple notes in a row on the same string. Unlike hammer-ons and pull-offs, the notes played on the same string are usually the same duration as the rest of the notes in the sweeping passage.

References

• “Metal Lead Guitar: Volume One”; Troy Stetina; 1995
• “Fretboard Mastery”; Troy Stetina; 2007