3 string sweeps guide

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The Art of Sweeping

Sweeping, while by no means a new guitar technique, was rarely seen in mainstream

music priorto the millennium. Now its become almost the standard in modern rock and metal

music, perhaps most notoriously used by bands like Protest the Hero, Beneath the massacre, I

wrestled a bear once.....just about every modern metal/rock band out there. Sweeping is the newshredding or soloing that many guitarists exhibited throughout the 80s. Its meant to impress

and wow audiences, but also other guitar players, not just because of the abrupt ascending and

descending motion but because of its apparent technical difficulty and sonic complexity. For

observers it can appear to be a very difficult technique, simply because it looks that way, and

dont get me wrong, sweeping is by no means easy to master, it takes practice and determination

like any other guitar technique, but it is no more difficult to learn than the tremolo or pinch

harmonics, it just appears that way. In order to more quickly learn how to sweep it helps to have

a fundamental understanding of exactly what a Sweep is.

Sweeping is a term thats used to describe what is essentially just a fast Arpeggio. Anarpeggio is a broken chord or chord played one note at a time, usually based on an existing chord

or triad. Instead of plucking the notes simultaneously as you would when playing a chord, you

would ascend or descend one note at time playing the notes independently from each other. But

theres more to it than this. If you play an open chord one note at a time from the sixth string to

the first string, an E minor for instance, you will hear a nice full tone, but all the notes will likely

still be ringing even when you reach the final note or first stringthis is not sweeping. If you

played it faster it would merely become a strum and all the notes will be ringing loudly together

like a chord. While not a sweep, strumming is the foundation of what a sweep is. The difference

between a sweep and a strummed arpeggio or arpeggio played on an open chord is not the speed

at which you play it. A sweep must be performed in a staccato form. Each note must be plucked

independently from the other and immediately be silenced upon moving to the next string. This

is what allows each successive not to ring independently from the last. Each finger pushes down

and immediately lifts off as the following note is plucked, immediately muting the string that

was plucked before it. A typical sped up strum will leave you with every string still ringing, but

the sweep allows every note in the arpeggio or every successive string to ring by itself without

having to share the spot light with the other notes. This is what makes the sweep a much more

difficult technique to master than that of a broken chord or Arpeggio.

What you need to know before moving into Sweeping

Bar sweepingMany sweep patterns require that you are able to cleanly play three or

sometimes more notes with one finger. This requires you to be able to perform a sweep with one

finger and is arguably one of the most difficult aspects of mastering the sweeping technique.

You need to know which muscle within the finger needs to be pressed and lifted as you move

from string 6 to string 1 with your single finger barred across the width of the fretboard. The

finger needs to sort of roll across the fretboad as your right hand falls from one string to the next.


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For this reason it is imperative that before you move forwards with sweeping that you master one

finger sweeping or bar sweeping with each finger. You should be able to sweep and entire six

strings cleanly with all four of your fingers, not just your first one. This is half the battle, if you

can successfully do this, you will have a huge head-start when it comes to mastering the various

sweeping patterns.

The Chords/TriadsKeep in mind all arpeggios or sweeps are generally derived from chords.

Sweeping is an advanced technique, it would be best and most logical to learn at least a solid

amount of chords before moving into sweeping. Sweeping will be much easier to master

because youll already be familiar with the chord patterns and shapes. The fingering you use to

perform the sweep will be similar to the fingering used when strumming the chord.

String NumbersStrings are numbered as 1-6, however it is common for beginners to assume

that the first string is the first string they see (the bass string). The bass string is in fact the 6th

string and the highest string is actually the 1st

string. String numbers ascend from the string

closest to the floor to the string closest to you.

Understanding the information in the screenshots as you read through this guide you will

come across numerous screenshots like the example screen shot below. To someone who

doesnt know much about musical theory or rarely views staff music this may appear to be a

foreign language, but these symbols actually provide direction on how to play the notes

indicated. The symbols in this case are as follows:

RThe R underneath some of the notes within the various measure indicates that that particular

none is the root not or tonic note, often this note will also be the key in the which that particular

arpeggio is in. Arpeggios and music in general will usually start on the root not and end on theroot not.

Down pick Up pickIf you look just above the fret number youll notice just above each

number is either a square brackets opening downwards or a pointed arrow opening upwards.

This is telling you which way to pick. The square bracket opening downwards means you

should be picking down, the pointed arrow opening upwards means you should be picking up.

Generally with arpeggios and sweeping, you begin picking down and then return to the root note

by picking up towards where you began.

LegatoIf you notice a curved line connecting two or more notes, this is known as a legato. Alegato indicates that the note is meant to be sustained and does not need to be picked again. You

may simply lift your finger off of the note you are playing or hammer on the next note.


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Performing a Sweep

Like all things in music, start at a slow pace, as slow as you need to in order to perform

the technique properly, this means with each note sustained for the same amount of time as the

note before it, preferably with a metronome. A metronome helps you to develop the technique

cleanly and reduces the risk of developing bad habits or poor technique when you perform thetechnique sped up. Take your time when adjusting the metronome and dont be afraid to turn it

back a couple BPMs if you notice your technique has begun to fall apart. Begin by mastering

the major or minor sweeps first. Naturally some musicians (Especially metal players) may

employ the use of the minor scale more frequently than say the major scale. For instance darker

metal bands may not even touch the major scale, of course its still good to know, but its best to

start with what will engage you more. The major scale is generally an upbeat and happy

sounding scale where as the minor scale is darker sounding, so start with a scale that you

generally prefer.

The technique youre going to use is very similar to a slow strum you would use on anopen chord. At first concentrate on plucking the notes individually at a slow speed, so your mind

and hands become familiar with the pattern. Once your fingers are working through the arpeggio

easily, attempt to slant the pick slightly. Dont pick as hard, but rather let the pick sort of fall

into the next note as your left hand guides your right hand. With each successive note your left

hand pushes down, your right hand should just fall into it, as your previous finger simultaneously

releases pressure from the fretboard, thus muting the note you just played just in time for the next


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note. Dont force the right hand to speed up, just let it slide down words as your left hand pushes

down the frets until you get to string one. Remember, the left hand controls this technique.

3 String SweepsMajor Arpeggios

Above are all seven of the major three string arpeggios. Note, as I mentioned in the

introduction to sweeping, a few of the arpeggios here require you to bar three successive strings,

with one finger as in the fourth arpeggio pattern, three successive notes must be played on the

same fret, (17,17,17) and then again descending. In order to play this is it essential that you learn

to play three notes successively with one finger, in this case the first finger, practice this by itself

prior to delving into sweeping, or simply skip over the patterns that require you to bar sweep.

You should practice this independently which each finger until you can move from the 6th

string

to the first string in one fluid motion. Eventually you should be able to bar an entire sweep with

one finger up to six strings. This takes lots of practice with a metronome to perform properly,

but its essential to mastering three string sweeps.


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Minor Arpeggio Shapes

The minor chord shapes or the Aeolian mode is closely related to the major scale or

Ionian mode. These are the Arpeggios you want to master ifyoure into that dark soundemployed by a lot of metal musicians. Make sure you have the fingering correct. Anytime the

same fret is required to be used on the successive string, you will be required to use the muscles

in your one finger to flatten the next string while simultaneously lifting the muscle off the

previous string. This is arguably one of the most difficult techniques to master with regards to

sweeping. Use a metronome and go very slow. Note that the first three notes you are to pick

downwards, where as the descending three notes you should be picking back up towards you,

although in pitch the tone would be descending.


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Heres the last three. On the first chord string the first two notes on fret 15 and 15 should be

barred with your ring finger, your second finger should play the 13th

fret, your pinky should play

the 17th

. * Note: you should always descend the same way as you ascended with the exact

same fingering.

2nd Arpeggio

second finger on the first string, bar strings five and six on the 10th fret and than

use your pinky finger to play fret 14 and then descend slowly ensure that you properly execute

the backwards bar. This can be tricky,

3rd

Minor ArpeggioUse your first finger on the 8th

fret, your pinky on the 11th

and your

second finger to bar the two notes on string 5 and 6, descend with the bar intact, be careful to use

the fingers muscles to cleanly lift off into the following note as you descend. This can be tricky.


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Augmented and Diminished Arpeggios

Augmented and Diminished triads have a lot in common, they both arent frequently used

in mainstream music, and both deal with the altered fifth note in the triad. They work very much

the same as seventh chords, and work well as a dominant chord progression from I to V, or the

root chord to the fifth note in the scale, also known as the dominant chord.

An augmented chord is when the 3rd

note in a triad is raised to the sixth note instead of

the fifth. The diminished chord is when the last note in a triad or fifth note in a diatonic scale is

lowered a tone, so it is very similar sounding to the augmented chord. The diminished chord is

based on a tonehalf tone progression, so youll notice theres a lot less barring required when

it comes to diminished Arpeggios. Also there are a number of possibilities when it comes to the

diminished chord because the diminished scale has more notes, much closer to one another, than

in the typical western diatonic scales, such as the major or minor scale.


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Sus4 Triads

A suspended triad is a triad in which the third note is omitted, replaced usually with

either a perfect fourth or a major second, in this case however the 4th

, which is far more common

than a suspended second. The lack of a minor or a major third in the chord creates an open

sound, while the tension between the fourth and fifth or second and first creates dissonance.

Each suspended chord has two inversions. Theres the suspended 4th

chords and

suspended second chord, they are both inversions of each other, however the suspended fourth is

far more common. For example, Gsus2 (G-A-D) is the first inversion of Dsus4 (D-G-A) which is

the second inversion of Gsus2 (G-A-D). The sus2 and sus4 chords both have an inversion that

creates aquartal chord with two stacked perfect fourths.

Suspended chords are commonly found in folk music and popular music. A jazz sus

chord is a dominant seventh chord with an added fourth (Gsus, for example), and may be written

as a slash chord (F/G, or even Dm7/G) so as to show its function in II-V-I progressions.

Sevenths on suspended chords are while the 9sus chord is similar to an eleventh chord and may

be notated as such.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_(music)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_fourthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_secondhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicing_(music)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicing_(music)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonance_and_dissonancehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversion_(music)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversion_(music)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartal_chordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_fourthshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_musichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_musichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_chordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/II-V-I_turnaroundhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleventh_chordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleventh_chordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/II-V-I_turnaroundhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_chordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_musichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_musichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_fourthshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartal_chordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversion_(music)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonance_and_dissonancehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicing_(music)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicing_(music)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_secondhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_fourthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_(music)


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Sus2 Triad Arpeggios

As mentioned above suspended triads dont have a clear happy or sad tone because the

third note that would typically be found in a minor or major triad which determines whether or

not a chord is minor or major is omitted and in its place the suspended second triad turns to the

perfect second note, thus it is dubbed the suspended 2nd

. Like the Sus4 chord the Sus2 triad has adissonant sort of sound.


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Madd9

Madd9 is the Minor version of the added 9th

chord. So for instance if you have an A minor

chord, A, C, and E, the ninth in this case would be B. As with the Major added 9th

there is no

seventh note, it is strictly the ninth. This is what distinguishes it from your regular 9th

chord.

Added ninth chords, or any ninth chords are frequently used in Jazz, but now a days in the worldof metal, ninth chords or chords that create dissonance are becoming more increasingly used.


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6th

Arpeggios

6th

arpeggios are similar to 7th

arpeggios except in this case its the sixth note of theIonian mode/major scale that is included along with the original triad. If you took out the third

note it would than in be an add6 arpeggio, however the 6th

arpeggios includes the original triad.

So if we were in the key of C major, the root triad would be C, E, G and A. Note that A, E, andC also form the A minor chord. For this reason sixth chords can be major or minor, augmented

or diminished. The 6th chord (major) can probably be best described as odd sounding. It's the

kind of chord you'd think a harp would play. The 6th is not flatted, this would make the chord aC 6 flat or C minor 6 flat.


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Minor Sixth Chords

Minor sixth chords are the minor version of the major sixth chord. So for instance if you

look at C majors relative minor, A, your triad will consist of A, C, E and F.


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Major and Minor 7th

Chords

Seventh chords are very common chords. Jazz is generally based upon 7th progressions.A seventh chord can be major, minor, augmented or diminished. Remember that the 3rd is the

note that determines whether it is major or minor. The seventh automatically assumes that the

seventh note is a flattened seventh, or the note is a whole step (2 frets) above the octave of yourtonic. If it's only one fret above your tonic it's called a major 7th chord. A minor 7th chord is

your flatted third plus the flattened 7th.

As far as use of 7th chords, the 7th is used a lot in jazz and in country music. It naturally

sounds mellow, not overly happy, it has a country sort of sound, not as uplifting as the majorarpeggios, it definitely has Western sort of Jazzy feel. The minor 7th also is very jazzysounding, but it's more complex sounding than the major 7th. As with all minors, it doesn't lend

itself to uplifting melodies. It is contemplative but can also be used to get your groove on.


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Major 7th

b5

Major 7th

flat five arpeggios are a little more complicated. If you already read the section on

augmented and diminished arpeggios, it is similar to this, but not quite the same. A diminished

chord will always have a minor 3rd

and a flatted fifth. As discussed in the section on Augmented

and Diminished Chords, the augmented and diminished suffix effect the natural of the 5th

note orthird note in a triad. So a major 7

this essentially a diminished chord with a major third instead of

a minor third. So for instance if were in the key of C, a diminished chord would be C, the minor

3rd

, E flat, and a diminished fifth which would be G flat. This would be the C diminished Chord.

The Major 7th

flat five differs from this chord in a number of ways. First of all the third in this

case is a major third, not a minor third, so the E in this case would be a natural E instead of a

flattened E, the fifth would be the same as it is with a diminished chordG flat. However in this

case you also have the added seventh as well. So the Major 7th

flat 5 chord, given the tonic is C,

would be C, E, G flat, and B.

These chords tend to be difficult to properly employ because they dont really fall withinthe context of the C major scale. A G flat note suggests the chord would fit over an E minor or

G major key signature and there for it would be best used as a 6th

chord in the case of e minor, or

as a 4th

in the case of G major. Of course rhythmically it could also be used as an accidental

chord as well.


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Major Seventh Augmented 5th

The augmented seventh chord or seventh augmented fifth chord is a dominant seventh

chord consisting of an augmented triad with a minor seventh. Thus, it consists of a root, major

third, augmented fifth, and the minor seventh. It is the opposite of the Major seventh diminished

5th

chord, only instead of the fifth being lower a semitone as it is the with the Major Seventh

Diminished 5th

, it is augmented or raised. So in the key of C major it would be C, E, G sharp,

and B-flat. The root is the only optional note in an augmented seventh chord, the fifth being

required because it is raised. This alteration is useful in the major mode because the raised 5th

creates a leading tone to the 3rd of the tonic triad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_seventh_chordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_seventh_chordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_triadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_seventhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_(chord)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_thirdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_thirdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_fifthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_(music)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_(music)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_fifthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_thirdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_thirdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_(chord)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_seventhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_triadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_seventh_chordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_seventh_chord


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