Sweep Picking Arpeggios on Guitar

Sweep picking is a technique on guitar that essentially means picking notes from chords. Instead of strumming the entire chord as one note, all of the notes within the chord are strummed individually. The set of notes that is sweep picked is called an "arpeggio" or "broken chord" in Italian.

To perform sweep picking or to play an arpeggio, the player must train both hands. This is why sometimes the title "sweep picking" can be misleading. The technique does not only involve using your picking hand but your fret hand as well. The player must learn how to move down (or up) the chord with his fret hand and how to pick the notes out with his other hand.

Some sweep pickers even start by picking out notes from the middle of a chord and moving either way. In every case, sweep pickers move from string to string after each note (rather than staying on the same string for multiple notes) because chords never have two notes on the same string.

Sweep picking is commonly used by modern rock musicians such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Dan Donegan to create powerful metal licks. In modern metal, sweep picking utilizes more repetition at quicker speeds which gives it a screaming sound.

Many guitarists who learn how to pick out notes from chords have the ability to create licks from virtually and chord they know. Melodies from arpeggios come easier because the brain has already learned the type of fingering required to form the progression. After all, it is easier to learn how to run if you first know how to walk.

Playing arpeggios from learned chords is easy for advanced guitar players but may require some directed teaching for beginners and intermediates. Check out the guitar chord parser method which is an online guide for learning arpeggios to learn more about the wonderful world of sweep picking and arpeggios.

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