What about it?

I’m constantly surprised at the amount of discussion I read and the number of questions I receive about the technique of sweep picking. I’ve been under the impression that sweeping was an idea that reached its apex of popularity sometime in the ’90s during the reign of hairspray and egregious outfits. But then again, maybe that was just the apex of its abuse. Sweep picking, after all, is just a technique—a method of making the fingers play notes. And good technique never goes out of style—even if it’s driven into the ground by  grown men in spandex pants and cowboy boots.

Arpeggio Exchange 23 is made up of a series of … arpeggios. An arpeggio, of course, is the notes of a chord played one after another as opposed to all at once. Since AE23 is a sequence of chords, then, it is somewhat more melodic than other Black Ops entries. The progression goes Am - Bb - Am - D - Bb (#11) - Am - E7 if you’d like to have someone accompany you on Hammond organ or cittern.

The first key to executing sweep picking is, you guessed it, proper picking technique. As I pointed out in Black Ops No. 1,  the picking motion should be one continuous gesture across the strings, versus the idea of a series of single pickings. For consistency of tone and tempo, keep the same pick angle on the ascending and descending passages. Though the name refers to only picking, both hands must function together in a finely tuned fashion in order for the method to work. The fretting fingers should roll through the chord shapes permitting only the note being picked to ring. The point is not to form chords as for strumming, but to imply the chords via the succession of notes. Yeah, kinda like an arpeggio. As I’ve warned, exhorted, and bitched about many times, keep a close eye on the picking and fingering instructions; they’re not just there for decoration.

Why bother?

Can you think of anything wrong with having as many skills as possible in your arsenal? I can’t. Just because you devote some time and effort to sweeping doesn’t mean you are striving to be the next Frank Gambale—it’s ok, I promise. The ability to play across the strings evenly and cleanly has nothing to do with shredding excess—it’s just part of being good. And if you do want to cover a lot of territory very quickly, this is the move for you.

So, are there really 23 (or more) Arpeggio Exchanges? Not sure. But I do know that I’ve long been interested in stringing together these forms as a means of exercise for students and myself, but also toward the end of composing and arranging. Being able to visualize such shapes and how they connect and having the ability to apply them are excellent skills to develop.

Black Ops Guitar is a nasty little series of exercises. Use them to your advantage, then deny they ever existed.