Learning Guitar Sweeps
- 1). Fret a triad (three-note chord) above the 12th fret on the three highest strings. Any major or minor triad will work.
- 2). Sweep your pick slowly across the three fretted strings in one fluid motion. Practice both up strokes and down strokes. Make sure that each note rings clearly, but is cut off right before the next note is struck. If you build up too much speed before you are cleanly fretting the notes, your sweeps will sound muddy.
- 3). Add a pull-off on the high E string after you hit the highest note of the triad. If you are playing an E minor triad (B on the 16th fret of the G string, E on the 17th fret of the B string and G on the 15th fret of the E string), try hitting the B on the 19th fret of the high E string. Practice doing a down-stroke sweep, hitting the pull-off and doing a two-note up-stroke sweep back to the root note, keeping all notes even in length.
- 4). Practice sweep picking with a metronome. Start very slowly at first, making sure that you are playing everything evenly and cleanly. Speed up when you begin to feel confident. After you master three string sweeps, practice sweeps on four, five and six strings.
