Im having a hard time sweep picking on my guitar?

Question

I have it basicly down its just i dont see my speed increasing much im doing some 5 string arpeggios to practice and a couple 3 string but i was just wondering if there was anything that could help me get my speed up.

Answer 1

Hey Kitta

Arpeggios are simple because you are using a downstroke. I do arpeggio evengoing up. That is a little trickier and called up-sweeping.

To increase your speed , you have to start slowly but stay in that one position and see how fast you can come back to the fingering.

It's a matter of knowing when to have your sweep ready and not wait at the last note to have your pick ready for another sweep.

Also, hammers-ons and pulls are greatly used in conjunction with the sweep which , in my teaching, increase the speed by 50%.

Use strong hammer-ons on some note so that you do not have to pick them. Understand. If you pick only 3 notes and the rest are hammer-ons, your sweeps will seem twice as fast, smoother.

Also, we finger tap the middle note to give it more speed.

Go on youtube and watch Symphone-X guitarist 's video. He shows it in slow mode. Or, check out Frank Gambale and Paul Gilbert.

You will see how it is done efficiently and effortlessly.

Answer 2

I really would suggest practicing with a metronome. I don't know if you have a keyboard at home or the powertab or guitar pro programs that have one but there are tons online that you can easily find. Basically, start with a pattern you're comfortable with and start at a relatively slow speed (maybe 60-70 bpm?) Go through 10 or 20 cycles then slowly increase the speed. I usually increase by increments of 5 bpm. Just repeat this for a while, it's very tedious but it really does work.