Sweep Picking 101

Straten Marshall helps turn sweep picking into one of your most useful skills.

The impressive yet elusive technique of sweep picking. To play it correctly, it takes a certain amount of skill, but also a certain amount of understanding of how the instrument works with your hands. Enter Straten Marshall. Straten is one of the foremost experts and masters of this technique found in the guitar world today. JamPlay welcomes him as he starts at the very beginning — from an understanding of the technique, proper hand placement, and proper muting to explaining and exploring a myriad of arpeggio configurations.

If this technique has eluded you, Straten will start from the very beginning, and help you build your sweep picking technique into one of the most useful tools in your arsenal. Learn more or start the course with membership, or get lifetime access with purchase.

Course Details
30 Lessons
3 Hour+ Runtime
Tabs (gpx, pdf)
Playalong Tracks
HD+ Video
90 day guarantee
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Solid Technique for Clean Results

Sweeping is difficult but definitely achievable. Build your foundation with stable technique and advance the right way.

Join Straten Marshall as we first tackle the optimal picking positions and muting techniques to perform clean sweeping patterns. From there, we will move to common arpeggio shapes (major, minor, diminished) to begin to perfect this style with play-along examples and tabs. Finally, we move to sweeping all 6 strings as we continue to build upon our base technique and understanding of this awesome style. This course offers 30 lessons covering 3+ hours of material in step-by-step, digestible presentation.

Lessons in this Course
1

Series Introduction

Join Straten as he gives us an overview of his course. Learn what to expect, from hand positioning and muting, to simple then complex arpeggio patterns.

1:41 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

View this Lesson
2

Sweep Picking Explained

Just what is sweep picking anyway?

17:02 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

3

Pick & Picking Position

The whole idea with sweeping is that it can eventually let you play really fast. But for that to happen we need to be holding the pick right first. So in this lesson we are going to talk about your pick and picking position.

5:24 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

4

Muting Technique

In order to play fast, you'll also need good muting technique, or the notes will run together. In this lesson we will discuss muting and where it is best used.

5:35 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

5

Raking Technique

Letting your pick rake across the strings is what sweep picking is all about! In this lesson you'll get some tips about how to better rake with your pick.

4:53 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

6

Common Major Two String Arpeggio Shapes

We'll start by exploring arpeggios on two strings, building fundamentals for sweeps to come!

6:18 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

7

Common Minor Two String Arpeggio Shapes

Wherever we do major, we can also do minor, so lets take minor Arpeggios in to two strings now.

4:45 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

8

Diminshed 7th Two String Arpeggios

Where we do major and minor, we can also try diminished. So let's check out some two string diminished arpeggio shapes.

4:51 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

9

Sweeping Sequence One

Now we are going to combine those first three two string sequences in to one exercise for you to practice.

7:20 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

10

Common Major Three String Arpeggios

Are you ready to move up to three strings? Let the sweeping begin!

6:27 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

11

Common Three String Minor Arpeggios

Now we adjust our fingers and our focus to the three string minor arpeggio shapes.

10:16 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

12

Three String Diminished Arpeggios

In this lesson, Straten introduces the 'famous' diminished 7 arpeggio across three strings that many metal guitarists use. Although there are some similarities to the two string shape, we need to pay special attention to the picking pattern.

8:03 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

13

Sweeping Sequence Two (Three String)

Let's look at a practice etude that will utilize the three string arpeggio shapes that we just learned. This sequence is designed for those of you who want to take those two string shapes to the next level!

5:24 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

14

Common Four String Major Arpeggios

As we continue to build, you may have already guessed what is next - four string arpeggios. First, let's take a look at some common major arpeggio shapes

9:28 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

15

Common Four String Minor Arpeggios

Let's lock that minor tonality into our ears and look at the four string minor arpeggios.

9:46 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

16

Four String Diminished Arpeggios

The more strings we add, the bigger the sound! Nowhere more evidenced than with the diminished arpeggio sound.

6:50 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

17

Four String Sweeping Sequence

This sweeping sequence will help you advance your knowledge and help you traverse more of the neck. It's a challenge, but Straten will explain it in a fun and easy way!

7:36 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

18

Common Five String Major Arpeggios

Now it starts to get real... five string arpeggio shapes are definitely entering advanced territory! Remember to take your time and build upon what you already know! Let's start with the major arpeggios first.

7:17 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

19

Common Five String Minor Arpeggios

Now let's look at the famously advanced five string minor arpeggios.

8:53 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

20

Five String Diminished Arpeggios

The five string diminished 7th arpeggio can be quite difficult, but Straten helps us see how it's built on the things we already know!

7:21 Runtime

4.0 Difficulty

21

Five String Sweeping Sequence

This five string sweeping sequence can take you from intermediate to advanced player - a real game changer. Join Straten as he gets us into the flow state of this challenging exercise.

7:52 Runtime

4.0 Difficulty

22

Common Six String Major Arpeggios

Now we enter the final stage of complete sweep picking mastery of your instrument - the six string sweep. We start with the major arpeggios. It's quite advance but super fun and cool to learn!

8:37 Runtime

4.0 Difficulty

23

Common Six String Minor Arpeggios

As you might expect, we now move to the minor arpeggios across six strings.

7:33 Runtime

4.0 Difficulty

24

Six String Sweeping Sequence

This six string sequence is nothing short of difficult to be sure! Have no fear - Straten shows us how to accomplish this feat note by note by building on what we've already learned.

12:00 Runtime

4.5 Difficulty

25

Major Seventh Arpeggios

Let's take a look at some other tonalities that we can learn to sweep. First up is the major 7th arpeggios.

7:05 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

26

Minor Seventh Arpeggios

Now let's add the minor 7th arpeggios to our repertoire. This gives us a slightly more jazzy tonality to play with!

6:28 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

27

Minor Seven Flat Five Arpeggios

The minor 7b5 tonality is definitely entering 'jazz' territory. Straten shows us a way to effectively add these shapes to our arsenal.

7:10 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

28

Dominant Seventh Arpeggios

While similar to the minor 7b5 tonality, the dominant 7th tonality is just different enough to give you even more creative sounds to play with!

6:11 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

29

Sweeping Pentatonics

In this lesson, Straten covers a rare techinque that will cover how to sweep pentatonics 2 notes per string.

5:21 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

30

How to Sweep Anything

Sweeping is not just relegated to impressive arpeggio sequences, it really can be used on just about anything. In this final lesson of the series, Straten discusses how sweeping can be used in 'non-typical' circumstances.

4:10 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

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