Ive been practicing sweep picking for the last 3 weeks or so ,giving it about an hour every night, but getting absolutely nowhere. My exercise regime is as follows:

I walk up and down through a C maj and C min arpeggio doing 4 bars of each.
I start at the 6 fret and work up to the 14th.

I then do the same with an E maj and minor arpeggio from 6th to 14th fret.

I use a metronome most of the time, and the rest of the time (when im watching tv) i do the exercise without the metronome.

My exercises are based on this youtube lesson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pE3jjxGqhg

My questions are:
1. is 3 weeks too short to expect results?
2. are there better exercises i could be doing to get more proficient at sweep picking.

Go down to your local Guitar Center and watch, seems like thats the only thing kids in there can do!

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"Wait a minute, somethings wrong here!"

S-L-O-W-L-Y... until you get each and every technical hurdle mastered.
Three weeks is too soon to wish for mastery.
Turn the TV OFF !!!! because of it's selfish nature, the Boob Tube does not like sharing your attention span...
Seriously, technical playing requires undivided attention to practice and most importantly... play it clean, no distortion, no effects.
You have to hear the mistakes and work on correcting them, the only way is to play clean. If it sounds bad clean then there is still a lot of work ahead.

I'm in my early 50's and still always learning. " That's the Fun Part"

Good Luck !

Keep at it and eventually it will click. Try playing it in the context of a song and not just scales.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

It took me about a year to sweep pick at all. Now I can sort of do it, but I don't really work on it like I used to.

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As Homer Simpson would say it's funny because it's true.

Yeah, keep at it man, it's a difficult skill, that is going to take a lot longer than 3 weeks to master but practice and lots of it, is the answer. Provided you have got the basic movement right, each note singularly and a nice round pick, that rolls over the strings, close to the bridge where they are tighter.
Slowly on a clean sound and gradually building up the speed.
Have fun.

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You might want to try the Shred Academy.


http://www.shredacademy.com/

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I tried sweep picking for the first time after reading this thread and watching the video.

Ummm... it seemed easier to try with a heavier pick, but yes, it's difficult!

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You're only as strong as
the drinks you pour,
the tables you dance on,
and the friends you roll with.

If you think three weeks will show big results you are terribly mistaken.lol It could be over a year and you probably will not be up to speed. I would suggest #1 that you use a pick like VT Black Strat had stated that is at least 1.mm thick and also go get a few DVDs like Essential Guitar Practice Routines-Sweep Picking-by Andy James and Shredding with Arpeggios by Danny Gill off www.licklibrary.com. You might be able to find both of these DVDs on any ebay store that sells music DVDs so you do not have to osrder from the UK but these will give you all the ammo you need. You will learn your arpeggio shapes and also how to sweep on 2,3,4,5, and 6 strings.

You really cant wait to see results you just have to keep practicing at a slow speed, if you cant play it slow and clean there is no way you can play it fast. Also it is much more easy to practice a musical piece that makes sense than just random arpeggios up and down the neck.

Check out players like Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert=great for string skipping arpeggios that sound great/ Frank Gambale and Yngwie though I would advise getting any DVD by Yngwie because he plays everything at full speed.lol

Just keep practicing and sooner or later it will come. I can sweep pretty decent but no way near the speed of the players mentioned above but it is a great technique that really sounds good at even moderate tempos. Good Luck.