What Are Sweep Arpeggios, Anyway?

Guitar Questions: What Are Sweep Arpeggios, and How Do You Play Them?

Sweep Arpeggios are one of the metal guitarist's secret weapons in their shredding arsenal. When executed well, these fast melodic runs help add flare to solos and guitar fills.

To explain what a sweep arpeggio is, and how to play one, we must first take a look at what an arpeggio is. Simply put, an arpeggio is a chord played one note at a time. A basic chord is made up of three notes, called a triad. These notes are the first, third and fifth notes of either a major or minor scale, with the third note determining the chord quality. If you play these three notes of the major scale, the result will be a major triad. The three notes from the minor scale would produce a minor triad. Most arpeggios are played in the proper scale order, which is to say the first note first, then the third, then the fifth, then the octave above the third and so on, or in reverse. It is also possible to start on a different note of the arpeggio, such as the third, but the notes would usually proceed to the next note in the arpeggio, without skipping. (eg. 1-3-5-1, or 3-5-1-3, or 5-1-3-5 etc.) Other notes can be added, as well as other chord types may be used, but to keep things simple, we will stick with the simple triad for the purpose of this article.

Now that we know what an arpeggio consists of, let's try to apply this to the guitar. We will start with a simple three-string major arpeggio. Play the following exercise using alternate picking at first, as this will help to keep your notes even, and will prevent lopsided arpeggios. Here is the exercise:

Play the twelfth fret of the third string with your first finger, followed by the thirteenth fret of the second string with your second finger, then the twelfth of the first string with your first finger again, then the fifteenth fret of the first string with your pinky.

You have just played a C Major arpeggio, starting on the fifth note of the C Major scale. In other words you played G-C-E-G, or 5-1-3-5. Now that you have your first arpeggio, let's learn to sweep!

Sweep arpeggios are not that difficult once you get used to them. We will use the C Major arpeggio you just learned to help you with this technique. The sweep arpeggio is achieved by consecutive striking the strings with a continuous motion in one direction. For example, if you were to play the C Major arpeggio above with a sweep, you would pluck the note on the third string, landing the pick on the second string, play it and land on the first string, play it and pick up on the last note. Try not to lift your pick when executing the sweep, but rather let the pick push through and land on the next string. Use just the tip of the pick to make it easier to move from string to string, and try not to apply too much pressure on the strings. To complete this sweep, use a pull off from the fifteenth fret to the twelfth on the first string, then an upstroke on the thirteenth fret of the second string. Here is a tab example of what this would look like:

Down.....%u2026%u2026. Up pull Up
--------------------12-----15------12------------------
-----------13---------------------------------13--------
---12---------------------------------------------------- Repeat
----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------

You can follow this same procedure with any triad, or even try using diminished, 7th, 9th or other chords and variations. Keep moving string to string, using hammer-ons wherever necessary, and you'll have yourself a sweep arpeggio. Practice this over and over, and soon you will be able to show off, shred-style!

The author is a full-time professional guitarist, teacher, and business owner. He has been actively learning and teaching the guitar for over 12 years, and has earned his degree in music on guitar. He currently teaches students how to shred in all styles!
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