Hate Sweep Picking? Try This Instead | 5 Minute Licks

[@BedeLaplume]

Finally, a very detailed explanation. The magic really sets in when it's done fast, but the key is to first master the technique slowly.

[@LeonTodd]

That's the key! You've got it.

[@BedeLaplume]

@@LeonTodd Thanks Leon! Btw I really enjoyed that Neoclassical A minor shape at the 12th fret you showed... It would be fun to have more of these Vivvaldi-sounding arpeggios.. :)

[@NirvanaFan83]

AWESOME LESSON, THANKS LEON! For me, sweep picking is more about playing out long arpeggios like a synth would. Its just another tool to have in the arsenal and isnt the ONLY thing i practice tho! Been practicing it for years and only recently it stuck so if youre trying to figure it out, dont give up!!

[@guillotinedeath]

I learned No Boundaries as my first “shred” song had no choice but to learn! Keys to the Lamborghini!

[@Taylor___]

Sweep picking came naturally to me. The thing I’ve always got to practice is shredding from the low E to high E. Going from high to low E is much easier but it’s always been something I need to practice to keep fast.

[@dennyclosser8456]

Leon, I can’t tell you how helpful that one was. I’ve been playing guitar for an awfully long time and I could never get sweep picking down. Greatly appreciated. By the way, loving the ragdoll tunes.

[@LeonTodd]

I'll have to post some more tunes soon!

[@dreamsinmusic]

Thanks for sharing this lesson for everyone to observe n learn! My 0.1 cent here, for the sake of adding to the discussion, is that except the first few times that allow me figure out the shape, the rest of the playing sweeps I do is at more than the required speed. And, just to open alternative approaches, sweep it's possible with fingers only too. Way To Go Leon 🤟

[@willschut4917]

Cool vid (as usual :-)) 100% accurate. I find with my students who want to learn how to sweep pick that they struggle with synchronisation the most. Frethand can't keep up with the pickhand resulting is a nice flow of plops and clicks. So I have them do a patern legato first, just to make them get a feel for their max speed of the fretting hand while playing in time. O yeah, and before I forget, your sweeps are mighty clean mate!

[@andrelafosse]

I remember seeing a Ritchie Kotzen clinic in '91 or '92, and his approach to "sweeping" was largely hammer-ons from nowhere, too. (Good grief, that was 33 years ago...!) Great vid as usual. :)

[@IamtheFerryMan]

Ritchie Kotzen's Live 2015 brought me out of an existential crisis and got me playing guitar again after a 10-year hiatus. That was about 5 years ago, and I'm a far better player now than I ever was. He's an amazing guitarist/singer/songwriter

[@LeonTodd]

RK is on another level

[@IamtheFerryMan]

​@LeonTodd So are you, Leon. Which is why I'm here! You're definitely one of the more tasteful heavy players around. I'm really liking these 5 minute lick videos, and if I'm looking for the scoop on a piece of gear and one of your videos come up, it's the first one I click on. Keep it up, man!

[@70mcnevin]

​@@IamtheFerryMansame. From broken back and depression, to finding Richie Kotzen, Rory Gallagher and Fractal Audio, building pedalboards, acquiring equipment and learning DAW's again. Turning that huge negative into something positive. I hadn't felt that inspired in years. My back is still f'd but I can sit for an hour at a time and play.

[@peterharvin2775]

I will give this a try, but I'm grateful that your intro absolved me of the need to.

[@shinjial]

I really like the caveat at the beggining of the video. I am not a big fan of the sound of sweep picking licks, so I wouldn't use it in a musical context; I can't see myself going for that sound. But on occasion I like to try something different and give myself a different workout. Regardless of applicability, I often learn something in the process that can lead me into a sound I actually like. So here I am! 5 minute licks is a pretty nice format, the lessons are very well structured.

[@jimmccall8030]

All of your recent 5 minute lick videos are excellent - thanks!

[@LeonTodd]

Really enjoying doing them!

[@jimmccall8030]

@ Great how you’re incorporating usable musical licks to teach technique at the same time. Fretting as lightly as possible up to speed is a big part of my practice at this point

[@stickman55100]

This is such a great way to breakdown this technique! Also, love that you’re playing your Lassie in the clip!!! Fantastic guitar!!

[@LeonTodd]

She's a beauty!

[@stickman55100]

@ INDEED! I bought one based on your demo!

[@NeurodivergentMetal]

Great advice at the beginning of the video! I practiced sweep picking for a year straight (Even bought MAB's Speed Kills series) and although I got better, there were still kids on Instagram that blew me out of the water, lol. Then I came to the conclusion that I was just learning it because I felt like I should, but I never had any musical ideas that called for it so I let it go. But after watching this I'm going to give it another shot, your examples are really inspiring and I can actually think of ways to use them in my leads. Thanks very much for a great lesson and the words of wisdom!

[@LeonTodd]

It's not about the speed, it's about finding your own voice!

[@mikechristy1840]

I accidentally figured out the rest pause technique and have been working on sweeping technique for a while now. My biggest problem is sweeping back up, so the idea of the hammer-on from nowhere seems like a really good add-on in my case. Regardless, I still need to get better at upward picking motions. This is a great video!

[@heavybrett-al4082]

It's definitely cool, I have managed to incorporate small sweeps within solos since the last time you did a video on sweeping 👍 so this is extra helpful 🙏

[@gl3605]

Thanks. Jan Akkerman of the band Focus who had the crazy song "Hocus Pocus" is the first guitar player to do it in a hit song. He was a master at it.

[@LeonTodd]

Now I've got that song stuck in my head!

[@ExpatZ266]

Nice to know I am not the only one lifting Vai licks from that album. Thanks for the lesson teach!

[@70mcnevin]

I was trying to peg that one down. It sounded "Vai" for sure. Nice call.

[@LeonTodd]

You bet!

[@JonDeth]

This is the perfect introduction to sweep picking arpeggios. Something I can share as a word of caution is pick selection can create bad habits. I switched to Tortex wedges about 4 1/2 to 5 years ago and really let my alternative picking go to shit. *I had switched from jazz tortex which are amazing for everything but so tiny, I just couldn't stomach them any longer after about 9 years!* Anyway, that's my own personal little hurdle to tackle. *It's just a word of caution to less experienced players still deeply experimenting.*

[@GoldenFriedTofu]

LOVE your content Leon and have been following for a few years. Are you moving to a studio or new home? Why the change of scenery?

[@LeonTodd]

New home, slowly getting it setup to work from home more

[@AAAA-lt9hq]

Vivaldi was the first metal sweeper. I've noticed most people are great sweepers when it comes to triadic sweeps. I always practiced up and down all 6 strings, through all CAGED positions and sometimes through 3 note per string patterns. Finding sweepers who deliberately target all 6 strings with difficult patterns (say G in CAGED) is less common than finding someone who sweeps triads through the A, E, and D forms. For newer players, you'll get a lot more mileage out of great vibrato (tight, wide, fast, and slow with control) than sweeps, which tend to be exclamation points in solos. Not sure if people have tried to merge sweeps with string skipping (jumping a string but making it fast enough to still sound like a sweep sounds hard), but you can always find some more homework to do when you run out of hard stuff. :)

[@leegollin4417]

Yessss!!!!! I teach the rest stroke to little kids right off the bat.

[@traviswoyen2243]

I wish this lesson had been available 25 years ago.

[@EvelioPerez]

It was brother! The Frank Gambale Technique Book came out in '93 or '94 and it had everything you wanted to know about sweeping from the master himself. There was even a DVD version of it! I think it was called no more mystery LOL. Sorry for going full GenXr on you!

[@fillo1971]

​@@EvelioPerez La cassetta VHS di Frank Gambale è uscita nell'anno '85/'86 ancora ce l'ho e la tengo gelosamente, grande tecnica💯👍🏻💪🏻

[@70mcnevin]

​@@EvelioPerezbreaking it down note by note on video makes it so much clearer.

[@traviswoyen2243]

@@EvelioPerez Yeah, but that was $29.99 and I was on a $5/hr budget, lol.

[@70mcnevin]

Sweep picking for the sake of it is good to learn. Just like trem picking big bends and good vibrato. It adds another element to draw from. Painting with 10 colors instead of 5.

[@LeonTodd]

Totally!

[@wulfbak]

Also remember that you are doing the sweep as one unified downward stroke, so you always begin each strong beat with a downstroke. The legato is not only for smoothing your sound (which it does beautifully), but it lets your right hand get back into position to start that downstroke motion again.

[@LeonTodd]

Exactly, that's the key!

[@LeStraTele]

Frank Gambale is one to check out.

[@highgear1]

...great advise ....exactly, the reststroke it's why Yngwie says, that he's not sweep picking...because the notes come out very accurate ...

[@Tvaroh]

Thanks Leon! You're the most tasty sounding modern guitarist.

[@LeonTodd]

I'm not worthy!

[@DC11GTR]

I’ve always had the right hand mechanics down to sweep in either direction but luckily, I never liked the sound of it with notes. I do, however LOVE the sound of that SRV-style rake. Especially descending. Keeps that technique from being wasted 😂

[@LeonTodd]

So cool!

[@akaboo69]

I agree sweep picking and arpeggios are definitely overused I have like maybe two songs in my arsenal that use them but for the most part I prefer more Moody sounding melodic lead lines so yeah your question is valid a lot of guys do seem to overdo it on the sweep picking are there so many other things that could be played

[@austinfailz]

I find that a lot of people have trouble with sweeping because they'll start with say the 14th fret E note on the D string in a C major sweep arpeggio, downstroke through the arpeggio, then come back. When they come back, they upstroke that same 14th fret note. This throws off their picking pattern and makes it harder in my opinion. Instead, they should only be doing an upstroke on the B and G strings. This is when. They are doing sweep picking without the hammer on from nowhere legato style you are showing, which works as well.

[@70mcnevin]

Good point. That said, I think everybody's different mechanics and hand size makes learning easier or more difficult depending on the spread of the frets. Chordal sweeping is easiest for me around the 7-9 frets. Sweeping hammer-ons from 9-12 or so. Tendonitis, arthritis and wrist ligament damage impact my ability to be proficient at all positions. Today's players have it so much easier to learn. But also so much more difficult to extract a living from it.

[@LeonTodd]

Yep that got me too when I first learnt!

[@azharkhan8796]

That's such a nice guitar!

[@LeonTodd]

Great mix of old and new school about it

[@sweezyjackson4935]

Most sweep shredders sound like musical gibberish. Frank Gambale does it right. He is so melodical with his sweeping

[@johnoakleymusic]

What guitar are you playing live at the end? Looks like a carbon fibre PRS???

[@LeonTodd]

Rubato Lassie :)

[@chrisdaviesguitar]

action height requirements?

[@implayingsomebass4753]

Sweep picking is to guitar what slap bass is to bass guitar. And I don't mean that to same either one! When it's done musically it's great, when it's done for sport it's tiring.

[@totalbullion5882]

If you want to take it one step further use an upstroke on the high e for the return sweep 😈

[@LeonTodd]

That Jason Becker style "pop"

[@johnhartley3022]

Sweep picking….economy picking turned up to 11. Gambale is the truly musical sweep god

[@OldDawg-mc3dy]

For me sweeps are one more tool to use and sprinkle in here and there not live there as some do

[@metinbaydere]

I assume you have a full of love cat 😄

[@caezar..]

Check out Frank Gambale, he invented sweep picking.

[@LeonTodd]

As an Australian I can confirm Frank is a national hero

[@rockstarjazzcat]

🔥🧹

[@scriptkiddy1492]

Why I got into sweep picking? Same reason for picking up the guitar in the first place: money, fame and chicks.

[@xprophet9]

I hope ya got the fame and chicks because their is no money in sweeping anymore😎❤️

[@BrendanMacsGuitarGear]

hehehe!

[@LeonTodd]

The only valid reasons

[@gscgold]

Sweep picking is to me just another tool in the bag, kind of like having good Vibrato or good hammer on and offs or good bending technique. I don't understand the whole I only shred mentality of today's guitar players, If all you do is shred after about 2 minutes, it sounds the same and boring

[@TheHitmann069]

I can't stand sweep picking. It's like a disease. You can't express yourself with a swept arpeggio. Every man and his dog uses it nowadays. But thanks for the great video as always mate.

[@TheJML1975]

Same as strumming a chord eh! 😏 haha

[@rblossey]

That’s the keyword right there: “arpeggio” is the problem, not the sweeps. People just got hooked on playing arpeggios-usually triadic ones-and forgot to apply it to the rest of the music 😂

[@ajpeagle]

Bull shit! Eric Johnson is a sweep picker. It’s nothing to do with arpeggios.