Guitar sweeps?

Question

can someone please explain to me or point me to a decent website that explains the easiest way to 'sweep' on a guitar.

by sweep , if you don't already know, i mean the lick that sounds like extreme speed picking across multiple strings that you hear in eruption by vanhalen and 'canon rock' by jerry c

i've seen some help articles on it but i couldnt quite grasp what they said.

any help is appreciated.
thanx

(i'm more concerned with canon rock, i'm aware that most of eruption is tremelo picking and hammers, those i can do, there are a at the beginning i believe there are sweeps.)

Answer 1

You asked a pretty hard question.There isnt an easy way to sweep, it takes lots of time to master it and let the notes sound clean at higher speeds. Ill tell you some pointers, but I make no promises as to how fast you will learn this technique!

First of all, you need to know arpeggios, which are the notes of a chord broken up into single notes across the string, and some of them have more then one note per string so you can actually do neat variations, but thats later.You could also use scales, but you need a decent knowledge of either to do this.So first go look up some arpeggios online.Stay away from diminished sevenths, just trust me on that.

heres a example in tablature, hope you can read this
------------------------2-
--------------------3-----
---------------2----------
--------4-----------------
---5----------------------
--------------------------

Now this looks like a chord that your simply strumming slowly.Imagine that, but as you strum past each note you should raise your finger and mute the sound, therefore producing single notes at a time.You have to start slowly, and dont make the chord with your fingers right away, do it as you are going up the chord, if not once you start doing multiple sweeps in a row you will have an extremly hard time changing positions and keeping it clean.The goal here is cleanliness, it is very easy to make swees bleed into each other and sound horrid.

once you have that at a good speed, go up and then down with the same pattern. If you do a pattern like this

--------------------2-
----------------4-----
---------4------------
----2-----------------

where the frets are the same, you have to "roll" your finger across the two strings to mute it.This can be tricky so take time on this as well.

While doing any of this, hold your pick on a slight angle away from the direction your sweeping in so you dont get "caught" on each string, and always drag the pick across the strings, dont try to hit individual notes, just strum smoothly and consistantly.

Now go do it.Seriously go do it.

Answer 2

Eruption is done with "hammer-ons" and "tapping" - if you are right-handed, these are played with 2 or 3 fingers from the left hand and one from the right hammering on a string.

Answer 3

Sweeping? I'm a classically trained guitarist and i've never heard sweeping. Do you mean an Extended scale? or finging tapping a horizontal scale like in eruption. first learn how to do horizontal, vertical, diaginal, and extended scales and then worry about adding ornimentation to your notes like hammer on and pull off and tapping and slides and vibrato and tremolo and bends. Get a guiatar teacher first off though becuase not many good guitarists are self taught. they are the exception to the rule.

Answer 4

you have to hammer the strings with both hands but with the picking fingers use two