# John Petrucci Secret Sweep Picking Technique



## Xiphos68 (Jul 4, 2009)

Amazing!


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## Cadavuh (Jul 4, 2009)

I always thought that dragging thing was implied when you sweep


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## telecaster90 (Jul 4, 2009)

Damn


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## AySay (Jul 4, 2009)

Cadavuh said:


> I always thought that dragging thing was implied when you sweep



+1 but when petrucci says stuff i listen as i am a fanboy! I also want that MkIV combo SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BADLY!!!!!!!!!


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## cddragon (Jul 4, 2009)

Quite nice vid, though I still think that Jeff Loomis does sweeps way cleaner and better


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## liamh (Jul 4, 2009)

cddragon said:


> Quite nice vid, though I still think that Jeff Loomis does sweeps way cleaner and better


 Pfff..


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## 777_CHILLI_777 (Jul 4, 2009)

cddragon said:


> Quite nice vid, though I still think that Jeff Loomis does sweeps way cleaner and better


 
yeah there both pretty damn awesome


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## suffo20 (Jul 4, 2009)

The first video sounded sloppy to me! I think it might be his tone.


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## onefingersweep (Jul 9, 2009)

cddragon said:


> Quite nice vid, though I still think that Jeff Loomis does sweeps way cleaner and better



If you want to hear clean and fast sweep-pickers, listen to: Frank Gambale, Michael Angelo, George Bellas, Shane Gibson. But if you only like it in Metal, take a listen to Michael Romeo of Symphony X and there's a more unknown dude named Francesco Artusato who plays in a band called Hiss Of Atrocities who is completely unreal.


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## Harry (Jul 10, 2009)

suffo20 said:


> The first video sounded sloppy to me! I think it might be his tone.



Nah, you're right, it is sloppy.
I even slowed down the DVD (Live at Budokan) by 50 per cent and he does manage to miss half the notes in the sweeps.

To be far, Mike Portnoy sped the song up by about 10bpm with his drummer and even at the original recording speed of the studio version, the solo is insanely fast.
The fact Petrucci was able to play the alternate picked stuff faster than it was originally written is incredible as it is, and even if the sweeps were sloppy I can forgive him since at that tempo it would have been damn near impossible to play them cleanly unless all you practiced is sweep picking all day, which Petrucci doesn't do, since I think his strength in technique lies in alternate picking.


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## BurialWithin (Jul 10, 2009)

Check out Theodore Ziras if you like sweeps . John Petrucci is awesome though


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 10, 2009)

that old guy is very annoying.

I used to use that atonal sweep to piss off the singer in my old band when he was talking shit in between songs 

Petrucci actually seems like quite a cool guy.



cddragon said:


> Quite nice vid, though I still think that Jeff Loomis does sweeps way cleaner and better



actually Petrucci and Loomis are both sloppy sweepers.



onefingersweep said:


> If you want to hear clean and fast sweep-pickers, listen to: Frank Gambale, Michael Angelo, George Bellas, Shane Gibson. But if you only like it in Metal, take a listen to Michael Romeo of Symphony X and there's a more unknown dude named Francesco Artusato who plays in a band called Hiss Of Atrocities who is completely unreal.


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## XxXPete (Jul 10, 2009)

Bellas's sweeps own all!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 10, 2009)

tell you who I think has the cleanest sweeps/everything else: Vinnie Moore from UFO.



not only is that amazing playing, but it's also a really good lesson


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## liamh (Jul 10, 2009)

^ Next time I see someone fly through the sky like superman in a film, I'll listen out for the lydian mode


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## TomParenteau (Jul 10, 2009)

Scar Symmetry said:


> that old guy is very annoying.
> 
> 
> Hey!


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## vontetzianos (Jul 10, 2009)

Gambale can pull of some of the cleanest sweeps around. Batio is also actually a very clean sweep picker as well.


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## Uncle Remus (Jul 10, 2009)

Petrucci is like a gentle giant 

Michael Romeo for cleanest sweeper


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## Cheesebuiscut (Jul 10, 2009)

I love how in the op's video petrucci does the same nothing special pattern and just turns the distortion on and does it a few times and the crowd goes all

WOOOO ROOOOOOOAAAAARRRRR YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH HAVE MY BABIESSSSSS

Not that he doesn't shred or anything but they cheer at the wrong parts.


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## Trespass (Jul 11, 2009)

Gambale is the only one that really integrates it musically, and usually quite interestingly. (And Gambale derivatives)

I never understood metal arpeggios really. They just outline a progression, and then play it as fast as possible. Definitely great if it's placed well (TGE sweeps, I like the Stream of Conciousness uber sweep thing) but the Cooley stuff... Gets boring, really fast. It seems like it only serves as a bridge from huge run x to huge run y.


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## Dusty201087 (Jul 11, 2009)

Uncle Remus said:


> Michael Romeo for cleanest sweeper



He is phenomenal really. Uses the same picking technique Shawn Lane did to really make everything sound super legato-esq.

This "sweeping technique" even though JP is pretty sloppy, has actually helped me a lot. The four string thing especially. I could always do 3 string sweeps really well, but any more than that an I'm pretty much screwed. After practicing that four string atonal sweep though, I'm kicking five strings ass, and now I can actually do six string sweeps pretty clean. I still think sweeping sounds pretty terrible though  I only practice it to build up the chops 

I also really liked the two string thing, if you have a decent fret reach you can do some pretty cool stuff with it.


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## onefingersweep (Jul 11, 2009)

Scar Symmetry said:


> tell you who I think has the cleanest sweeps/everything else: Vinnie Moore from UFO.
> 
> 
> 
> not only is that amazing playing, but it's also a really good lesson




One of my favourite players, so good phrasing it's insane and his sweeping are always very melodic. He's not the fastest sweeper tho (if that matters, not to me but... ye)

I agree Petrucci and loomis are both kinda sloppy at times, they're still great songwriters and players tho.


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 11, 2009)

it's not about speed though it's about control, precision and application of technique which Vinnie does perfectly


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## BrainArt (Jul 13, 2009)

Merry Maids, that's my vote for best sweeper.  Maid Service, House Cleaning Services, Merry Maids


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## onefingersweep (Jul 13, 2009)

Scar Symmetry said:


> it's not about speed though it's about control, precision and application of technique which Vinnie does perfectly



Yes completely agree, but some people only care about speed. So they should look for other sweepers if the want the fastest, like the ones I mentioned earlier.

Vinnie Moore is probably my favourite sweeper. I mostly like sweep picking for that kind of music, I don't really like it in metal actually, Malmsteen, Bellas, Moore, Becker, Stump etc, I like sweeps for that kind of style. Gambale is great although I rather prefer stringskipping in that kind of music, like Holdsworth, Lane etc.


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 13, 2009)

the people that only care about speed are fail.

I used to only listen to stuff like Jeff Loomis because he was so fast but now I find myself preferring guitarists like Mikael Akerfeldt where he takes the time to say what he wants to say through his lead playing


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## TomParenteau (Jul 13, 2009)

People who say speed isn't important are usually just people who can't play fast.


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 13, 2009)

haha well I didn't say it wasn't important and I can in fact myself play 'fast'.

what I was saying is that people that focus on speed entirely are stupid as they think that being the fastest at something makes them the best.

I'm sure you were just playing devil's advocate, I was just clearing that up


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## TomParenteau (Jul 13, 2009)

And I wasn't directing that at you, just stating an old belief of mine.

I have said before that I can tell that the people on this site are killer players.


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 13, 2009)

I wasn't sure if you had directed it at me, but with the context of my post and yours coming only minutes later, I assumed that it was. s'all good


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## Maniacal (Jul 13, 2009)

I have never met someone who thinks if they are "the fastest" they will be "the best".

Thats total shit. I think some people focus on it too much maybe, but whatever they want to do...

Its not a crime to like speed more than something else.


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 13, 2009)

Maniacal said:


> Thats total shit.



oh really? so what about all those dudes on YouTube who post videos claiming it's the ZOMG FASTEST SHREDDING IN THE WORLD EVER X 1000?


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## Maniacal (Jul 14, 2009)

They are not musicians.


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 14, 2009)

then surely we're in agreement?

sure it's ok to prefer speed over other things, all I was saying is those dudes on YouTube who think fastest = best are complete failures in my book. there are people out there who only focus on being able to shred and sweep faster than everyone else which I think is pathetic as it's just an ego-feeding medium and is pretty pointless as there's always going to be someone faster. speed for speed's sake is definitely not my thing.

speed in context can be awesome, for example I find Per Nilsson's leads on the new Scar Symmetry album fucking awesome


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## distressed_romeo (Jul 14, 2009)

One of my favourite sweep-pickers (and economy pickers) is George Bellas, as the man has insane chops, and still manages to write some really cool, quirky music.


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## Nick1 (Jul 14, 2009)

distressed_romeo said:


> One of my favourite sweep-pickers (and economy pickers) is George Bellas, as the man has insane chops, and still manages to write some really cool, quirky music.




George has definitely got his sweeping down as good as it can get.


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## Unknown Doodl3.2 (Jul 14, 2009)

my personal favorite sweep picker is Jason Becker. He does some really hard/wierd positions that just sound so fluid and so nice!



Scar Symmetry said:


> actually Petrucci and Loomis are both sloppy sweepers.



where have you heard Loomis be sloppy with his sweeps?


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## TomParenteau (Jul 14, 2009)

I'm not afraid to admit that I love and am impressed by clean, accurate speed. I only listen to guitarists who make me say "Damn! I wish I could do that!"

The all-too-common "He could say so much with just one note..." means "Blah-blah-blah" to me!


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## Cheesebuiscut (Jul 14, 2009)

TomPerverteau said:


> I'm not afraid to admit that I love and am impressed by clean, accurate speed. I only listen to guitarists who make me say "Damn! I wish I could do that!"
> 
> The all-too-common "He could say so much with just one note..." means "Blah-blah-blah" to me!



That's a shame, that tells me you think of music more like a sport than an art. Not that I don't like my fair share of "Daaaaaaayum" playing but I appreciate a piece of music that says something to me over people just doing runs as fast as they can. 

Eh to each his own.


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## TomParenteau (Jul 14, 2009)

Yup. I don't want to consider it a sport, either. But my favorite music is shred-for-the-sake-of-shred, "I don't know what the song is about and I don't care, I will blow the roof off this place with my lead," look-what-I-can-do playing.


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## onefingersweep (Jul 14, 2009)

Unknown Doodl3.2 said:


> my personal favorite sweep picker is Jason Becker. He does some really hard/wierd positions that just sound so fluid and so nice!
> 
> 
> 
> where have you heard Loomis be sloppy with his sweeps?



He's kinda sloppy in most of his live performances. Although he's still clean enough IMO. But not really comparable to the greatest sweepers.


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 14, 2009)

Unknown Doodl3.2 said:


> where have you heard Loomis be sloppy with his sweeps?



well he's not that bad, he's tighter at sweeps than Petrucci but if you listen to This Godless Endeavor, he's not hitting half the notes in that uber fast sweep part. one should play below one's ability!



onefingersweep said:


> He's kinda sloppy in most of his live performances. Although he's still clean enough IMO. But not really comparable to the greatest sweepers.


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## TomParenteau (Jul 14, 2009)

You guys have turned me on to some great shredders I didn't know about before. I really like this site!


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## Xiphos68 (Jul 14, 2009)

Would anybody go to say that Rusty Cooley is the Best Sweeper?


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## IDLE (Jul 14, 2009)

ugh... That sounded awful. He really needs to work on that.


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## liamh (Jul 14, 2009)

IDLE said:


> ugh... That sounded awful. He really needs to work on that.



Technically a ridiculous player, but I hate his songwriting and phrasing.


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## Xiphos68 (Jul 14, 2009)

Chris Broderick an amazing sweep picker as well.


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## Excalibur (Jul 14, 2009)

Shawn Lane's the best sweeper, or Gambale.


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## TomParenteau (Jul 14, 2009)

liamh said:


> Technically a ridiculous player, but I hate his songwriting and phrasing.


 
I agree. Not-so-great tunes, but I listen through it to get to his impossible technique!

This thread is awesome.


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## onefingersweep (Jul 14, 2009)

Excalibur said:


> Shawn Lane's the best sweeper, or Gambale.



Lane as best sweeper, he rarely (if ever) used that technique 

I don't think he liked sweep picking.



Xiphos68 said:


> Would anybody go to say that Rusty Cooley is the Best Sweeper?




Rusty is very sloppy, worse than Petrucci (which is btw a good sweep picker, I don't want people think I'm bashing Petrucci in any way). Rusty can play really fast but he's incredibly sloppy at times, I wish he could calm down a bit since the guy can play slow or a little slower than he does. If he would play at around Malmsteen-speed he would be clean enough, but he's trying at Angelo-speed and even faster and he's not clean enough for me, sounds shit if you ask me. I like his tapping and legato, but sweeping and alternate I find his sound very horrible.


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## distressed_romeo (Jul 14, 2009)

Most of the stuff Lane did that sounded like sweeping was actually a mix of hybrid picking and hammer-ons-from-nowhere. There was an interview he did with Young Guitar where he mentioned that he didn't really like the sweeping technique, as he felt it was too locked into a certain sound.


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## kmanick (Jul 14, 2009)

the Vinman is still one of my favorite players.
Both of his instructional Tapes are really good sources for drills to practice
and technique fine tuning.
Plus he writes amazingly good instrumentals.
someone else to check out for sweep picking is Joe Stump.
His Sweep picking CD helped me out a lot when I first got my sweeping going.
I'm not much of a fan of his songwriting but he is a very good teacher (and a pretty cool guy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phZS3scQ8WU&feature=channel




Scar Symmetry said:


> tell you who I think has the cleanest sweeps/everything else: Vinnie Moore from UFO.
> 
> 
> 
> not only is that amazing playing, but it's also a really good lesson


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## Excalibur (Jul 15, 2009)

onefingersweep said:


> Lane as best sweeper, he rarely (if ever) used that technique
> 
> I don't think he liked sweep picking.
> 
> ...


Economy picking = Sweeping.

His fastest licks were eco picked.


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## onefingersweep (Jul 15, 2009)

Excalibur said:


> Economy picking = Sweeping.
> 
> His fastest licks were eco picked.



No I do not agree, not even the sligthest. Economy Picking and sweep picking is different things. Sweep picking is when you play same stroke more than twice in a row. Economy picking is only the same stroke twice.


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## Excalibur (Jul 15, 2009)

onefingersweep said:


> No I do not agree, not even the sligthest. Economy Picking and sweep picking is different things. Sweep picking is when you play same stroke more than twice in a row. Economy picking is only the same stroke twice.


Prove it.


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## distressed_romeo (Jul 15, 2009)

Even then he wasn't a pure economy picker like Gambale or Shaun Baxter. It was actually closer to what John McLaughlin does; alternate picking with occasional parrellel strokes to accomodate the odd note groupings.


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## ShadyDavey (Jul 15, 2009)

Excalibur said:


> Prove it.



I don't think it even matters to be honest - I've heard various people use sweep picking as an all-encompasing term regardless of how many consecutive pickstrokes flow in the same direction (i.e. when applied to scales or arpeggios) but equally I've heard people strictly refer to scalar use as economy, and arpeggio/interval use as sweep picking. 

Personally, there was no differentiation made on Frank's first video, or in his first instructional books so I use "Sweep Picking" as a collective term for both. Doesn't make the slightest difference when you're playing as to what the hell you call it......


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## distressed_romeo (Jul 15, 2009)

ShadyDavey said:


> I don't think it even matters to be honest - I've heard various people use sweep picking as an all-encompasing term regardless of how many consecutive pickstrokes flow in the same direction (i.e. when applied to scales or arpeggios) but equally I've heard people strictly refer to scalar use as economy, and arpeggio/interval use as sweep picking.
> 
> Personally, there was no differentiation made on Frank's first video, or in his first instructional books so I use "Sweep Picking" as a collective term for both. Doesn't make the slightest difference when you're playing as to what the hell you call it......



This. Speaking personally, I've always thought of economy picking as being where you use whatever pickstrokes will lead to the least right hand movement, and never pick across the strings, and sweeping as when you organise things so you can do the largest possible sweeps with the pick, by incorporating slurs or occasionally crossing over strings.
To demonstrate...

e-----15--12--------------12----
b-------------13------13--------
G-----------------12------------
D-------------------------------
A-------------------------------
E--------------------------------

The sweeping version of this arpeggio would be up, pull-off, up, down, down, down, repeat ad infinatum...
The economy picking version would go down, up, up, up, down, down the first time round, and then up, down, up, up, down, down on the rest (assuming you don't incorporate and slurs on the top string).


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## Excalibur (Jul 15, 2009)

ShadyDavey said:


> I don't think it even matters to be honest - I've heard various people use sweep picking as an all-encompasing term regardless of how many consecutive pickstrokes flow in the same direction (i.e. when applied to scales or arpeggios) but equally I've heard people strictly refer to scalar use as economy, and arpeggio/interval use as sweep picking.
> 
> Personally, there was no differentiation made on Frank's first video, or in his first instructional books so I use "Sweep Picking" as a collective term for both. Doesn't make the slightest difference when you're playing as to what the hell you call it......


Good point


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## ShadyDavey (Jul 15, 2009)

distressed_romeo said:


> This. Speaking personally, I've always thought of economy picking as being where you use whatever pickstrokes will lead to the least right hand movement, and never pick across the strings, and sweeping as when you organise things so you can do the largest possible sweeps with the pick, by incorporating slurs or occasionally crossing over strings.
> To demonstrate...
> 
> e-----15--12--------------12----
> ...





I know exactly where you're coming from dude, its just somantics. I really got into arpeggios via Frank so I picked every note from the get-go and then incorporated slurs later so to me its all sweep picking if I pick every note a la the "economy" version (because Frank never referred to Economy) and then sweeping and legato or whatever. 

Interestingly, I first heard the term Economy Picking at GIT from Shaun and he used to differentiate between scalar (economy) and arpeggio (sweeping) as well. I just learnt the technique and went on my merry way calling everything sweeping so I didn't confuse myself (but it so doing succeeded in confusing others ofc ).


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 15, 2009)

ShadyDavey said:


> I know exactly where you're coming from dude, its just somantics.



I think you mean *semantics*


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## ShadyDavey (Jul 15, 2009)

Scar Symmetry said:


> I think you mean *semantics*



I was reading some D&D literature and didn't notice the slip 

Yes yes, SEMANTICS


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## cycloptopus (Jul 15, 2009)

And how is this a secret technique?

Allow me to weigh in on the classic fastest is best discussion. One word, David Gilmour...ok two words, or, ok its really just a name.

Not a fan of Rusty Cooley over here. The dude is fast no doubt, but I don't get much emotion out of it. There is shock value in speed. So there is emotion to speed, but methinks it gets boring pretty quickly unless something meaninful happens with it. What is meaningful is subjective and whatnot, but I think listening to Mozart is a deeper experience because the speed is used to develop musical intensity.

Balance is king. Techniques are tools that can be used for good or evil. They are not inherintly good or evil unto themselves but in the wrong hands...

Gambale wrote the book on sweeping. 

I never get tired of this discussion.


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## distressed_romeo (Jul 15, 2009)

ShadyDavey said:


> I know exactly where you're coming from dude, its just somantics. I really got into arpeggios via Frank so I picked every note from the get-go and then incorporated slurs later so to me its all sweep picking if I pick every note a la the "economy" version (because Frank never referred to Economy) and then sweeping and legato or whatever.
> 
> Interestingly, I first heard the term Economy Picking at GIT from Shaun and he used to differentiate between scalar (economy) and arpeggio (sweeping) as well. I just learnt the technique and went on my merry way calling everything sweeping so I didn't confuse myself (but it so doing succeeded in confusing others ofc ).



I actually learnt economy picking from Shaun as well, via his Guitar Gym stuff and didn't actually get Gamabale's stuff until years later.


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## Anthony (Jul 15, 2009)

Unknown Doodl3.2 said:


> where have you heard Loomis be sloppy with his sweeps?



Listen to the sweeps in the middle of Devil Theory off of his solo album.


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## onefingersweep (Jul 15, 2009)

Excalibur said:


> Prove it.


 
Prove what? It's a simple fact. Economy Picking and sweeping are not the same, what is there to prove?

d, u, d, d, u

or 

u, d, u, u, d

Thats economy picking.

d, d, d, d, u, d, u, u, u

Thats sweep picking.

There's the proof.


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## ShadyDavey (Jul 15, 2009)

distressed_romeo said:


> I actually learnt economy picking from Shaun as well, via his Guitar Gym stuff and didn't actually get Gamabale's stuff until years later.





He's a great player, deserves to be better known. To paraphrase him somewhat (if I can recall exactly what he said to me) "Economy Picking or Sweeping is all the same theoretical basis, fuck what you actually call it and go practice some chords"

Wisdom


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## Excalibur (Jul 15, 2009)

onefingersweep said:


> Prove what? It's a simple fact. Economy Picking and sweeping are not the same, what is there to prove?
> 
> d, u, d, d, u
> 
> ...


I don't see any proof, apart from the proof provided by Distressed and Dave.


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## onefingersweep (Jul 15, 2009)

Excalibur said:


> I don't see any proof, apart from the proof provided by Distressed and Dave.



Then you're either blind or stupid.


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## Excalibur (Jul 15, 2009)

onefingersweep said:


> Then you're either blind or stupid.


If I'm blind, how would I be able to read your text in the first place?

Seems we've found the stupid one here


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## ShadyDavey (Jul 15, 2009)

onefingersweep said:


> Then you're either blind or stupid.



With respect you weren't providing proof that either application should be referred to in a rigid manner, just illustrating why some people choose to do so.

Frank calls it *all* Sweep Picking, I've seen arpeggio sweeping referred to as "glide strokes" in mid 80's guitar magazines, some people refer to Scalar Sweep Picking, or Economy picking.....the bottom line is that the name _is completely irrelevant _as both terms refer to the same practice and the notes are produced in the same manner. If I pick D U D D U D D U whilst playing a scale it doesn't matter if what I call it (Consecutive Stroke String Traverse picking? ) is Economy or Sweeping unless you want to argue about complete irrelevancies....I can't believe people would be confused in either case...

Its just another tool in the bag to produce music - _thats _the important part.


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 15, 2009)

this really is a pointless debate


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## distressed_romeo (Jul 15, 2009)

ShadyDavey said:


> With respect you weren't providing proof that either application should be referred to in a rigid manner, just illustrating why some people choose to do so.
> 
> Frank calls it *all* Sweep Picking, I've seen arpeggio sweeping referred to as "glide strokes" in mid 80's guitar magazines, some people refer to Scalar Sweep Picking, or Economy picking.....the bottom line is that the name _is completely irrelevant _as both terms refer to the same practice and the notes are produced in the same manner. If I pick D U D D U D D U whilst playing a scale it doesn't matter if what I call it (Consecutive Stroke String Traverse picking? ) is Economy or Sweeping unless you want to argue about complete irrelevancies....I can't believe people would be confused in either case...
> 
> Its just another tool in the bag to produce music - _thats _the important part.



I think Excalibur's tone is the main problem...and yes, this is a pointless debate.


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## ShadyDavey (Jul 15, 2009)

Indeed!



Scar Symmetry said:


> this really is a pointless debate



You has a new avatar/title - I will get around to ordering that EP as soon as I sort my life out. If not, my descendants will come to collect one in a few years....honest


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## Excalibur (Jul 16, 2009)

I wonder who neg repped me?

One of the messages is awful angry, seems like somebody takes the internet a bit too seriously 

In reply to the internet tough guy who negrepped me, I wasn't even banned for being obnoxious.


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## onefingersweep (Jul 16, 2009)

ShadyDavey said:


> With respect you weren't providing proof that either application should be referred to in a rigid manner, just illustrating why some people choose to do so.
> 
> Frank calls it *all* Sweep Picking, I've seen arpeggio sweeping referred to as "glide strokes" in mid 80's guitar magazines, some people refer to Scalar Sweep Picking, or Economy picking.....the bottom line is that the name _is completely irrelevant _as both terms refer to the same practice and the notes are produced in the same manner. If I pick D U D D U D D U whilst playing a scale it doesn't matter if what I call it (Consecutive Stroke String Traverse picking? ) is Economy or Sweeping unless you want to argue about complete irrelevancies....I can't believe people would be confused in either case...
> 
> Its just another tool in the bag to produce music - _thats _the important part.



Yeyeyeye heard it before, Frank and his terms, he's probably the only one (and of course his fanboys takes after him) who calls it scale sweeping 

I don't need to argue about irrelevancies, because it's never an issue for me because I can clearly see the difference between economy and sweep picking from the start


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## Excalibur (Jul 16, 2009)

onefingersweep said:


> Yeyeyeye heard it before, Frank and his terms, he's probably the only one (and of course his fanboys takes after him) who calls it scale sweeping
> 
> I don't need to argue about irrelevancies, because it's never an issue for me because I can clearly see the difference between economy and sweep picking from the start


Well, most people aren't aware that scales can be sweeped, they seem to think it's just arps.

Frankly, Frank's a great player, but he's an arrogant cunt.


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## onefingersweep (Jul 16, 2009)

Excalibur said:


> Well, most people aren't aware that scales can be sweeped, they seem to think it's just arps.
> 
> Frankly, Frank's a great player, but he's an arrogant cunt.


 
I am aware of that, I do it almost everytime I play guitar, but I'm not using sweeping, I use economy picking  

Although, I do see scales as arpeggios but that has nothing to do with the the technical way of playing.

I completely agree with you about Gambale.


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## Excalibur (Jul 16, 2009)

onefingersweep said:


> I am aware of that, I do it almost everytime I play guitar, but I'm not using sweeping, I use economy picking
> 
> Although, I do see scales as arpeggios but that has nothing to do with the the technical way of playing.
> 
> I completely agree with you about Gambale.


Glad we're in agreement for once


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## yingmin (Jul 16, 2009)

I see sweep picking as an extension of the idea of economy picking. Sweeping entered the popular consciousness as referring to arpeggiations across several strings at a time, especially in repeated patterns, and I have no problem sticking with that definition. I play the solo to The River Dragon Has Come by Nevermore using economy picking, and even though I sometimes play three strings consecutively using all upstrokes, I don't think it's necessary to distinguish that as a "sweep" as opposed to the two-string "economy picking" I'm doing throughout the rest of it. It's largely a distinction without a difference.


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## 7deadlysins666 (Jul 16, 2009)

Here's the secret.


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## willybman (Jul 17, 2009)

^ yes


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