The Problems of Sweep Rhythm

[JohnStamos]

Hey guys,

I'm able to sweep arpeggios using downstrokes really fast and clean, with an aggressive rhythm. However sweeping back with upstrokes is a disaster. All the notes ring together and i cant find a way to mute the strings! When i sweep with downstrokes i use my palm for a nice muting effect, however how do i mute when going up? Just using hte fingers of my left hand isnt good enough!! i tried muting open strings and of course, using downstrokes was easy, but with upstrokes literally every string rings out. someone please help me? how do i get that beautiful rhythmic sweep sound like yngwie and what not get?

Thank you!http://daveweiner.com/dwforum/Themes/davestheme1/images/icons/modify_inline.gif

[StephenE]

It sounds like you're doing everything right.

You'll improve by simply taking a regular 3/4 string arpeggio and slowing it down, muting with your left hand should work fine, your first finger as a semi-barre/false barre helps for me.

If i'm playing something like a C shape arpeggio, when decsending and fretting with my first finger I'll lay it over slightly so that it mutes the strings I've just played.

Intead of concentrating on using a specific finger/technique to keep strings muted, just slow everything down and make sure you're moving your fingers as little as possible, the more aggressively you fret/un-fret your fingers the more noise you're going to get.

I know this is basically 'slow down and try again' advice but I really think this is what works 75% of the time! :)

[graypianoflying]

Check out The Muting Thread (http://www.ibreathemusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12557), it should probably tell you what you need.

I use my fretting hand fingers to mute the higher strings and that works fine for me, but you could also try using your picking hand fingers.