How to Use Sweep Picking for Electric Guitar Solos: Part 1

Video Transcript

"I’m a professional guitar instructor and today I’ll be going over some of the basic rudiments of playing the lead guitar or soloing. Okay the next thing I’m going to show you here today is the sweep pick arpeggios now sweep picking is picking in one fluid motion, arpeggio is an Italian term which means broken cord. So here we’re taking cords and playing the notes as a cord out individually, for example here would be an E-major arpeggio…but in lead guitar we do typically what is called a sweep picked arpeggio pattern using the same E, G-sharp and B-notes the same roots, thirds and fifths, I’m going to play it in this shape…E, G-sharp, B, B sharp and then so with my picking hand my right hand I pick down pick the ascending part of the arpeggio and up pick the descending part of the arpeggio all in one direction… Now just like with any other cord and remember that an arpeggio is just a cord, I would flat the third to make it minor so if here was my third…flatted…flat my third here…to make that into a diminished triad I would flat the third and I’d flat the fifth…"