Sweep Picking Guitar Lessons

In this lesson I’m going to give you a full breakdown of all of the mechanics and movements involved in sweep picking so that you can learn everything you need to nail this awesome technique.

I start with the basics, including the best methods for holding the pick correctly so that you can sweep through the strings like a warm knife through butter! As you progress through the lesson you’ll learn multiple sweeping patterns and how to put everything together so you can use this technique in the real world to deliver some awesome solo action!

In this lesson, I’ve teamed up with Hutch to bring you a selection of each of our favourite exercises covering things like legato, finger strength and dexterity, alternate picking, sweep picking and more!

Most of these exercises are very quick and easy to learn, you can do most of them in just 20-40 seconds and with a few repetitions and they’ll have a massive impact on your strength, dexterity and ultimately your playing.

In this lesson, I’m going to show you how a variety of ways you can introduce melody and movement into chord progressions to make even simple chords sound really interesting.

We’re going to jam around with some of my favourite concepts in real-time so that in addition to picking up some new techniques you can also gain valuable insights into how to apply them to your own playing.

If you feel like you get stuck playing vertically up and down in the same position, then you’ll love this lesson! It’s packed full of insights into how I approach playing the guitar and how you can combine multiple techniques and sounds together to open up the entire fretboard.

We’re going to cover things like transitioning between alternate picking into sweeping, moving from chromatics into arpeggios and how to use ‘baby’ sweeps to enable licks and phrases that wouldn’t be possible otherwise and will keep your playing sounding fresh and interesting.

In this lesson I’m going to break down the chorus section from my track Clear Skies. This solo is jam-packed with lots of different techniques and flourishes which makes it a lot of fun to play.

I’m going to guide you through this note-for-note, covering these techniques in detail as well as all of the little details, expression and delivery that will help you get this solo completely locked down. Let’s do this!

In this lesson I’ve got two licks to break down that combine alternate and sweep picking. Both use simple, familiar patterns so that we can focus on how to transition between these techniques and nail the mechanics involved.

Being able to transition seamlessly between different techniques like this makes such a huge difference to your playing, because in the real world you’re never going to do 4 bars of sweeping followed by 4 bars of tapping and so on. Instead, you should be able pick and choose techniques from your arsenal to effortlessly drop into a performance when needed – so I’ll show you exactly how I do this.

This lick combines a number of different sounds from pentatonic to minor to diminished, as well as transitioning between alternate and sweep picking in a fast and frantic way.

In this lesson, I’m going to break down the full lick and explain all of the different approaches I use to make it happen, as well as exactly how I’m able to transition so quickly between sweep and alternate picking at high speeds.

In this lesson, I’m going to break down a really cool riff that combines two of my favourite techniques back to back – sweep picking and alternate picking.

I actually really struggled to perfect this lick, which is a common thing that can happen depending on how you approach it – so I’m going to walk you through all of the pitfalls you need to avoid so that you can nail this technique!

In this lesson, you’re going to learn not one but two solos from the track Italian Disco by my band McRocklin and Hutch. These are a pair of fun and challenging solos which I’m sure you’ll have a blast with.

The first solo works on your phrasing and melodic delivery whilst the second solo ups the ante and introduces some shorter staccato notes – and then we go all out with some sweeping, tapping and legato. It’s gonna require everything you’ve got to nail both of these, but the results are definitely going to be worth it!

The Inspiration Toolbox is absolutely packed full of quick and easy licks, techniques and approaches that you just have to try. No matter what level you’re at – if you feel like you’re playing the same licks and making the same sounds on your guitar you’re going to get something from this lesson.

In this 10 part mini-series, we’re going to cover everything from diminished sweeping licks, to working with limited intervals, to adding a cool new spin to your bending. I also show you how to introduce outside and passing notes into your playing, this alone separates your sound from many other guitarists!