3 Easy and Unique Sweep Picking Patterns for your Sweep Arsenal

Hello my fellow Shredder! If you’re looking to learn some new and unique sweep picking patterns or simply take your sweep skills to the next level, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve got a few unique sweep picking patterns for you to try that I came up with a couple years ago to help me master the technique.

These proved very effective for me and I like how they sound so much, I still use them pretty regularly to this day.

Sweep picking can be a challenging technique to master, but with practice and dedication, you’ll be shredding like a pro in no time. In this article, we’ll go over some advanced patterns and exercises to help you improve your sweep picking skills.

But before we dive into the nitty gritty, let’s go over a quick refresher on sweep picking (you can find my sweep picking tips post here).

Sweep picking involves using either an up or down picking motion to play notes on a series of different adjacent strings (lending itself very well to playing arpeggios), with a smooth, sweeping motion. 

You can think of it as being similar to strumming chords, except the “strum” motion is replaced by a more precise down or upward picking motion that allows each string to ring out individually.

The importance of muting strings

Before you play through the sweep picking patterns that I’ve put together for you, there’s one more things you need to know.

To get a clean sweep, you have to avoid having more than one note ring out at the same time, such as in a chord. This can be achieved by only having one finger down at a time with a fretting hand and/or using your palm or other fingers to mute the strings that aren’t being played.

Ever seen a Shred virtuoso with something wrapped around the neck of their guitar near the nut or first fret? That’s a little device known as a string dampener, string mute or fret wrap. A string dampening device like these can mute or muffle the open strings to allow for a much more clear result when using techniques such as sweep picking or 2 hand tapping. 

Here is one of the most popular modern string dampening devices, the fret wrap:

Sweep Picking Pattern #1: D7 Arpeggio

This D7 arpeggio starts on the 10th fret of the 6th string and uses the legato techniques of hammer-ons, a slide, and a pull-off to add some extra flair. Check out the tab:

Sweep Picking Pattern #2: Em7add2 Arpeggio

This Em7add2 arpeggio starts on the 5th string and uses hammer-ons and pull-offs to add some extra flavor. Don’t worry about the complex name of the arpeggio. Just try it out slowly and work it out note for note. Here it is:

Sweep Picking Pattern #3: A Sus2/4 to A#11 Arpeggio

This A Sus2/4 to A#11 arpeggio starts on the 5th fret of the 6th string and, as the name suggests, switches from one arpeggio type to another. Again, don’t get hung up on the name. A more complicated name doesn’t mean that it’s more difficult to learn. Practice slowly before attempting to play it fast. Here are the tabs:

How I “mastered” sweep picking and learned to make my own Sweep Picking

Patterns

I remember when I first set out to master the art of sweep picking. It was a daunting task, to say the least. But, as with all things, a little bit of guidance can go a long way. That’s where Dan Mumm’s “Sweep Picking Mastery” course came in.

I first became enamored with sweep picking after watching one of Mumm’s videos for his song “A Glimpse Beyond.” The tapping parts were manageable, but the sweep arpeggios seemed impossible. Even on the slow sequenced part, I couldn’t wrap my head around how Mumm was able to play it so fast and cleanly. And the thought of memorizing so many different sweep picking patterns seemed like an insurmountable task.

  Dan Mumm's Instrumental Masterpiece "A Glimpse Beyond" (updated mix version which sounds so much better than the original)

But after working through Sweep Picking Mastery, everything started to click. It taught me how to start small and work your way up to more complex patterns, and it simplifies the process of learning advanced sweep patterns by learning how to think of them in smaller and more basic parts. I learned how those smaller and more basic arpeggio shapes repeat across the fretboard, which allowed me to learn and created my own more complex patterns much more easily.

Breaking down and expanding sweep picking patterns

Even if you haven’t worked through Sweep Picking Mastery, you can benefit from these same ideas by changing how you look at sweep patterns.

Pay attention to how certain sweep patterns are similar to others and try simplifying them first to playing just the first, last or middle 2 strings as a 2 string sweep pattern, 3 strings as a 3 string sweep pattern and so on before adding each additional string. 

Once you have that down, you can start expanding on them by adding additional hammer-ons, pull-offs or tapped notes either to extend the range or add other intervals to create more complex arpeggios. It sounds complicated when I try to explain it, but it’s actually really simple when you understand it.

The three patterns included as tabs in this article were developed thanks to my studies in “Sweep Picking Mastery.” It’s essentially a formula for building new patterns.

And while Mumm’s “The Sweep Picking Compendium” tab book includes hundreds of sweep arpeggio patterns, I found that “Sweep Picking Mastery” gave me everything I needed to know (although I’m sure the compendium is great and I’m sorry Dan if you ever read this!). 

And there you have it! Three intermediate level sweep picking patterns to add to your arsenal and hopefully some useful insight into how I learned to sweep pick and to make my own sweep picking patterns.

Remember, practice makes perfect, so don’t get discouraged if you struggle at first. With dedication and hard work, you’ll be sweep picking like a pro in no time.

Shred on!

-Anton