T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
---|
605.1 | I'll try to explain ... | SCOMAN::WCLARK | voodoo mathematician | Mon Apr 25 1988 13:05 | 15 |
| Sweep picking is kind of hard to explain. Frank Gambale is the guru
of sweep picking. He had a good explanation in Guitar Player a few
months ago (the issue on SPEED). Essentially it involves carrying
an upstroke or downstroke over more than one string. The simplest
example is playing an arpeggio across all 6 strings - pick all the
strings in one direction (almost like a strum), then reverse and
pick all the strings in the opposite direction. A more complex
picking excersize would be to pick down,up,down on one string and
then jump to the next string on the last downstroke, so you can
get to the next note very quickly. Try it without using your left
hand to get an idea what I mean. It does increase speed. The
trade-off is that you have to learn a lot of new fingerings to
accomodate the picking style.
-Dave
|
605.2 | So THAT's What it's called ... | VENTUR::WOO | localtime(time(t))->tm_wday >= 5 ? | Mon Apr 25 1988 14:05 | 40 |
|
Interesting. Ridgely Snow introduced me to that technique about
fourteen years ago, except he didn't call it sweep picking.
Re. -1, no, you don't need to learn a lot of new fingerings. To
make it work properly, you pick three notes on each string. In
ascending order, downstroke - upstroke - downstroke and hit the
adjacent string - upstroke - downstroke and hit the adjacent string,
etc.
For descending order, just reverse the process.
The hardest thing to do using this technique, is to smooth out the
time value of each tone. This is not a technique that lends itself
to practicing slowly. You have to start at a moderate clip and
work up from there, so you should be very familiar with "three-tones-
per-string" scales.
Smoothing out the time value for each tone is critical for phrasing,
and is EASIER at the FASTER speeds with this style.
It's real good for blazing through a scale, picking every note as
you go. I find more use for it in the upper register where the
tones are closer together and hammer/pull techniques are more difficult
for me to implement. In the lower registers, I prefer the hammer/pull
techniques because they have a lyrical legatto sound. I don't really
like the "dig-a-dig-a-dig-a" you hear from picking every note.
Oh, one other thing ...
The way you hold the pick is critical to making this work. You
have to hold it the way Mel Bay says to in his introduction to guitar.
It looks uncomforatable, but you get used to it quickly, and it
gives you such a good grip on the pick.
The angle at which the pick strikes the string is critical. If
you dig in, you will impede your ability to fly, so practice angling
the pick so it "bows" the string, that is, it rubs across the top
of the string rather than slapping it broadside.
|
605.3 | Hope this helps clarify | MARKER::BUCKLEY | We Will Rock You! | Mon Apr 25 1988 14:36 | 33 |
|
Re: .2
I think you missed the idea on sweep picking. Sweep picking is
NOT picking every note (with a deliberate attack), its is (as stated
at the beginning of .1's reply) moreso and extended downstroke (or
upstroke)...similar to a strum. I got the impression from your
reply you were talking about an up and down picking technique.
I use sweep picking primarily for blues scales and (mostly) arpeggios.
Sweep picking appies best to when there is one note per string. So,
if you had an arpeggio, you start with a down stroke and rake
(lightly, but surely) across the strings til you came to the top
string, then you could do a hammer on with the left hand while you
reverse your stroke on the picking hand for a upward (descending) stroke.
Example:
E minor arpeggio:
H - Hammer on
P - Pull off
down stroke up stroke
H +---------+ H P +---------+ P
(Fngr) 1 4 3 3 2 1 4 1 2 3 3 4 1
(Note) E G B E G B E B G E B G E
(Fret) 7 10 9 9 8 7 12 7 8 9 9 10 7
(Strg) A D G B E B G D A
This is a common sweep picking lick.
wjb
|
605.4 | Oh ... | FSLENG::CAMUSO | localtime(time(t))->tm_wday >= 5 ? | Mon Apr 25 1988 15:45 | 8 |
| Re .2 and .3
Oh ... I was responding to the latter part of .1's reply.
In the unforgettable words of Emily Litella, "Never mind ..."
t
|
605.5 | String skipping | CADSYS::DALTON | A mind is a terrible thing | Thu Mar 02 1989 14:24 | 7 |
|
A technique I frequently hear mentioned in the same breath as sweep
picking is called (I think) "string skipping" does anybody know what
this technique is?
KD
|
605.6 | | CHEFS::DALLISON | With your G-string tuned to A | Wed Nov 29 1989 07:21 | 23 |
|
String skipping is just that - playing a note on a string and then
skipping to another note on a non-adjacent string.
The following example is an arppeggio in E somthingorother which uses
sweep picking and string skipping :-
E ------------------11------------------
B --------------h--------p--------------
G ------------12-16----16-12------------
D ---------14----------------14---------
A ------14----------------------14------
E 12-15----------------------------15-12 vwwwv
h
Play this first in E, then the same lick in D#, then in C then in
B. Great warm up exercise.
h = hammer
p = pull off
vwvw = wide vibrato
(but you guys know this anyway)
|
605.7 | RE: .6, FWIW | IOSG::CREASY | Smile out loud | Wed Nov 29 1989 13:04 | 8 |
| Tony,
It's an E minor triad played on the bottom 4 strings, with the major
seventh added on the top E.
Just bein' a smart a$$
Nick
|
605.8 | | CHEFS::DALLISON | With your G-string tuned to A | Thu Nov 30 1989 03:37 | 7 |
|
Nope it ain't, the note played on the high E should be the E @12th
fret, not D# @11th, like stated..
So whats that make it now ? 8^)
-Tony_who_doesn't_know_the_h*ll_what_he's_playing_but_likes_it_anyhow_8^)
|
605.9 | leads to an Yngwie trick. | CMBOOT::EVANS | if you don't C# you'll Bb | Thu Nov 30 1989 08:06 | 10 |
|
It's an arpeggiated Em except the second octave is missing the 6th &
7th. Looks like a typical bit of Malsteen to me. He skips bits of
standard runs to make em' fit. It also makes him sound faster than he
is cos' doing this implies he's playing more notes than he really is.
Clever chap our Yngwie.
Cheers
Pete.
|
605.10 | | CHEFS::DALLISON | With your G-string tuned to A | Wed Dec 06 1989 06:07 | 5 |
|
Its one of Chirs Impelletterri's licks, although its the same
idea.
-Tony
|
605.11 | ooooops! | CMBOOT::EVANS | if you don't C# you'll Bb | Wed Dec 06 1989 07:55 | 8 |
|
Actually I'm taking rot here Tony...it's a straight Eminor
arpeggio. By definition arpeggio's only have intervals 1,3 & 5 in,
which are the intervals that describe a triad which is the basis of any
chord so these always come up in the repetoir of the sweep picker.
Cheers
Pete.
|