Sweeping Up With Arpeggios.

A lot of you out there are probably looking to increase your speed as a guitarist. You can go right into playing songs by Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, and so on. But what good is learning a song when you can't play that fast yet? Well here are some arpeggio scales that may help you in a technique called sweep picking. My style may be unlike many people since I have learned it on my own but I hope that it'll help you in playing. When you play these be sure you follow the pick directions.

Important! Be sure to start off slow and then speed up to warp speed. You will learn better this way. It would also help if you use a metronome. Start at around 50 or 60 bpm and move up to as high as you can go. Some of you may recognize that this is the piece that Ralph Macchio plays in the end of the duel between him and Steve Vai in the movie "Crossroads," the best movie in the world. I have a clip of the entire duel on my website separated into many different real audio files. Come check it out if you'd like

e |-----------------8-12-8----------------|
b |-------------10----------10------------|
g |---------5-9----------------9-5--------|
d |-------7------------------------7------|
a |-----7----------------------------5----|
e |-5-8--------------------------------8--|

e |-----------------7------------------|
b |---------------9---9----------------|
g |-----------7-9-------9-7------------|
d |-------6-9---------------9-6--------|
a |---5-7-----------------------7-5----|
e |-7-------------------------------8--|

e |-----------------7----------------|
b |-------------5-8---8-5------------|
g |-----------6-----------6----------|
d |-------5-7---------------7-5------|
a |-----7-----------------------7----|
e |-5-9---------------------------9--|

e |-----------------10-12-10-----------------|
b |--------------10----------10--------------|
g |---------7-10----------------10-7---------|
d |-------7--------------------------7-------|
a |---5-8------------------------------------|
e |-5----------------------------------10-8--|

e |----------------------------------------|
b |-------------------9-12-9---------------|
g |----------------10--------10-7----------|
d |-----------9-12----------------9-6------|
a |------8-11-------------------------8----|
e |-7-10--------------------------------7--|

e |-------------------5----8-5--12--8--16--|
b |---------------5-----5------------------|
g |-----------5-----5----------------------|
d |-------7-----7--------------------------|
a |---7-----7------------------------------|
e |-5---8-------------------------------0--|