Economy/Sweep Picking questions

Playing Technique
#1

Hey there, another stupid question or two in regards to Economy picking/sweep picking…

I notice that rhythmic control is kind of tough, anyone else have any observations on this? By tough I mean for instance, a 3 nps ascending scale going DUD DUD DUD (ie Frank Gambale) is a challenge to not play as triplets. Any tricks beyond beating your head against a wall with a metronome for getting a bit more rhythmic control with sweep type stuff a la Frank or Marshall? Also any kind of, ummm barred or straight across sort of thing is easy to make it sound like “bloop!” but not so easy to make conform to an exact duck-ducka-ducka-ducka type groove.

I mean, to watch Frank play it’s like “yeah, I want that in the toolkit…” and then to put it into practice it feels like the rhythmic control aspect is lost on certain things, so then the approach feels like it’s incomplete, or only good for some things… (Looks and sounds to me like Marshall and Frank can play anything they want…) So does one just accept it, and arrange licks around it (insert hammerons, change fingerings, etc), or is there a “thing” you can do to bend the notes to your rhythmic will…

I do know that changing my picking motion to a wrist mechanic as opposed to just an elbow one has definitely opened up some doors in regards to finesse, and certainly increased tempos on a bunch of things. So yeah…

Asking for a friend…

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#2

As far as I know, im more confident with economy than full alternate and I feel more unconsistent strict alternate… Thought that is more important where you started… I player naturally with economy motion since I remember I’ve started in the shred world… So… It’s reasonable that it’s more natural to me at any time… Does it help?

#3

Rhythm is the challenge. Many great sweepers work with this tendency rather than against it. Frank, for example, very often doesn’t even get into sweeping until he gets to sextuplet speeds. Here’s a great example of how he does this:

When you’re looking for a straight eighths or a straight sixteenths type of feel, especially at faster speeds, and especially if you’re doing a swing type rhythm or shuffle feel like you find in country or jazz, alternate gives that to you in a little more straightforward fashion than sweeping.

No question there is overlap, and not every player who sweeps only sweeps for triplets. But there is an in-built tendency to rush the sweep part of an economy phrase, just thanks to the mechanics of it. And going with that flow rather than fighting it is one approach great players take.