If you are reading this piece then I am assuming that you have been practicing some sweep picking techniques and are struggling to improve it. If this is the case then read on, as I explain how you can avoid the four most common technical errors that many guitar players come across when they attempt to improve on their sweep picking technique.
Normally if you a problem in anyone of the four areas as described below you will have problems in all four areas to some degree. The good news is that as you improve in one area the others tend improve. Read on and you will understand why this is.
Separating the notes:
Many guitar players have troubles separating the individual notes of an arpeggio because they do not release their fingers from the notes that have been previously played, the results are that all of the notes ring together. Though keeping your fingers on the fret board goes along with the theory of minimum motion of the fingers, it goes against the rules of clean sweep picking: all notes have to sound individually and clearly! It is very tempting to want to reduce the motion of your fretting hand as much as possible, but you also have to make certain that the notes sound cleanly.
The secret is to find a balance between raising your fingers off of the fretted note after you have picked it, while being careful not to let your fingers come up so far from the strings of your guitar that it makes it hard to bring them back down to play the next series of notes. You need to learn how to lift your fingers slightly off of the strings after it has been struck to stop it from sounding, You will also have to learn how to mute that string with your picking hand.
Even though releasing your fingers from the fretted notes that you have just played is not an application of “minimum of motion”, it is required that you do this in order to play the technique clearly and cleanly. Although this makes perfectly good sense when reading about it, a lot of guitar players have a hard time with finding the correct relationship between the economy of motion and playing notes cleanly, not only when it comes to sweep picking, but all other techniques as well.
