Yngwie Malmsteen Lick Of The Week

I find myself teaching sweep picking very often as lots of guitarist seem to struggle with this technique for two reasons:

1. The ‘rake’ thing, and
2. they think it’s played faster than it really is!

Okay, the rake thing... What I mean by this is the technique where you hit two or three strings but they are muted out to create a rake sound which is usually followed by a note. This is how a lot of people sound when they sweep pick, you hear the first and last notes, the notes in the middle are nonexistent. How do you fix this problem? Practice slowly, listen to what you’re doing, ask yourself “Can I hear each note in the arpeggio?” and remember, when you sweep pick an arpeggio it’s important that you have the same distant of time between each note otherwise it will be out of time and the faster part will probably sound like you are raking rather than sweep picking!

The second issue is the big one. Many people sweep pick way to fast, in fact it’s often out of time with the backing track or band! Sweep picking sounds fast but it doesn’t mean it’s played quite as fast as you might imagine, keep this in mind when you are practicing. It’s always wise to ask yourself “Am I playing out of time?”.