Sweep picking

Sweep picking is a guitar-playing technique. When sweep picking, the guitarist plays single notes on consecutive strings with a 'sweeping' motion of the pick, while using the fretting hand to produce a specific series of notes that are fast and fluid in sound. Both hands essentially perform an integral motion in unison to achieve the desired effect. Quotes about sweep picking In many cases, I was trying to play saxophone and keyboard licks on the guitar—with the 'current' techniques, as they were, like alternate picking, but they just didn't cut it for everything. So I had to push the boundaries, really, to create and develop this incredible technique that is now part of the guitar lexicon. But I put thousands and thousands of hours into getting it. One of the biggest stumbling blocks was playing it in time. That was really, really challenging. And as far as technique, it works better at medium to fast tempos—I describe it as fifth or sixth gear in a car. It's that extra torque and low-revs at great velocity, it's the best analogy I can make. Where sweep picking lives, for the most part, is at fast tempos, it's not a slow technique, but if I'm playing slower notes, I'll alternate or hammer-on and pull-off. Frank Gambale, as quoted by Greg Prato of Ultimate-Guitar (August 29, 2024) External links Category:Guitar techniques