Need help playing sweep scales...

[miketrondson]

I'm a good guitar player and I'm trying to learn new things. I absolutely can not sweep though.

Does anyone know of a tutorial anywhere or does anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

[lew_1987]

Patience is most of what you'll need.

[miketrondson]

I've been playing for about 9 years, so I've definitely got patience. I can do two patterns on their down stroke but can't bring it back up.

I'm just trying to learn new tricks.

[The Boathouse]

Check youtube. Arpeggio techniques from any stringed instrument will give you a pretty good clue of how to go about it. There are some great instructional videos up there. I learned how to do the technical aspect of it in about an hour with the help of youtube. They're cool, but I'll say this much: Outside of jazz and metal, you're going to have a hard time applying them without looking like a deuchebag. Sure, it's fun to bust a few out in a warm up jam with some other cats, but it ends up, I've found, making people stare and be like "whoa, that was sick," when really, it's just regurgitated muscle memory. I admire well phrased, melodic solos way more than sweeping shit. I don't know. Just where I stand.

[patrickhowell]

It's way easier to come back up on a sweep if you have two notes in a row on the same string... Then you hit the first one going down, and the second one coming up. Also, for the upstroke on sweeps you have to hold the pick at a different angle to make it flow better, if that makes any sense...