Kevan's Krazy Sweeps!!!

Sweep Picking (a.k.a. sweeping) means: your left hand fingers are already in position on the notes you want, then take your picking hand and "sweep" the pick in one fluid motion- only sounding the fingered notes one at a time (NOT like strumming a chord). I use my neck pickup for a "cleaner" sweep sound. Select one you like, turn up your amp and dive in...

Here's the first part of the pattern: (The up-sweep the notes are marked with a "*", and the down-sweep notes are marked with a "^". Pulloff= "p")




So, you would DOWN pick(^) the 19, then UP (*) sweep the 16, 17, and 19 in one fluid motion, then down pick the 16th fret on the G string, getting ready for the next set of sweeping. Follow me here? Try the same thing on the second one (starts on the 18th fret). Same pattern, but one string lower and a half step (one fret) down the fretboard. Keep following those same patterns, all the way down...like this...







         For some variation, the last eight notes can be done legatto, individually picked, or (if you have enough sustain...heh heh) try sliding inbetween them...whichever works for you. Hell, change that whole section if you want! :-D

Don't forget to play it SLOW at first, and work your way up to your desired speed. ALWAYS practice with a metronome or drum machine...even one of those old Swatch watches that ticks real loud is better than nothing at all. Or, tune your radio to the R&B station, turn the treble all the way up and the bass all the way down- use that for drums.

These sweeps are very versatile and can be used all over the fretboard once you get the first two measures down: Try it out on the lower frets (1-12). Fun, huh? :-) You can also pick each note individually if you like.   It's just one of the bajillion different ways to express yourself.

Ice Cream and Bridge Tickets,
Kevan Kevan5150@aol.com
Proud Owner & Player of an Ibanez UV777BK
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