Sweep picking is a guitar playing technique. When sweep picking, the guitarist plays single notes on consecutive strings with a 'sweeping' motion of the pick, while using the fretting hand to produce a specific series of notes that are fast and fluid in sound. Both hands essentially perform an integral motion in unison to achieve the desired effect.

History

The technique was first used and developed by jazz guitarists Les Paul, Tal Farlow and Barney Kessel in the 1950s, as well as rock guitarists Ritchie Blackmore and Steve Hackett in the 1970s. In the 1980s, sweep picking became widely known for its use by shred guitarists including Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker, Tony MacAlpine and Marty Friedman. Jazz fusion guitarist Frank Gambale released several books and instructional videos about the technique, of which the most well-known is Monster Licks & Speed Picking in 1988.

Application

Guitarists often use the technique to play arpeggios at high speed. A common fretting shape is the one- or two-octave stacked triad. In scalar terms, this is the first (tonic), third (mediant) and fifth (dominant) of a scale, played twice, with an additional tonic added at the high end. For example, an A minor stacked triad is A-C-E-A-E-C-A. When the guitarist plays such a series of notes quickly up and down as an arpeggio, the phrasing sounds typical of pianos and other instruments more associated with such arpeggios. Unlike pianos, woodwinds, and many other instruments, the guitarist can change key by moving the same arpeggio shape up and down the fretboard.