Strumming is obviously a smooth and uniform
motion of the pick. But a sweep can be done as a series of rest strokes or as something like slow-motion strumming. For sweeping, which of these options is preferable, and why?
Do the sweep fast enough and there are no rests.
My approach is to have the motion as smooth as possible, helps to keep it fluid.
However, if you go slower, there will naturally be some rests, but I donāt think you should be paying too much attention to it. The pick itself will sort of slow down and bump due to the tension of strings.
I believe that it should just be as natural to as you can get.
I think it depends weather you want it to sound legato or not. For the Legato sound it must be a fluid motion ( slow strum as you say). I think a series of rest strokes is more in common with economy picking which is fine as long as thatās the sound you are looking for - in other words if you canāt alternate pick arpeggios as fast as you want/need, the āeconomy sweepā is worth experimenting with and is probably easier than full on Legato sweeping (well it is as far as Iām concerned).
well if your doing one note per string sweeps then it kind of flows together and muting the fret hand or lifting off slightly after each notes help keep them separate but if you got more then one note on a string usually at the turnarounds doing the 2 1 2 sequence or in the middle 1 2 1 type sequence then you will have to have pauses (rests) in the sweep somewhat.
It can, and at 190bpm no less. Check the slow motion:
I would say that to keep sweeping truly tight and in time, I personally need to do rest strokes.
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Real nice that, I was thinking much more simple 1NPS arpeggios across say 4+ strings, in either legato or staccato sound.
For me the legato sound is much more difficult as it it requires much more fretting hand control, and a smoother pick motion across the strings.
I donāt understand how can you achieve such a clean sound without even trying to mute. My guitar does not works like that 
If/when the low e start to move even a little, it create such a big noise that it cover all other strings
One way to fight it is to adjust the pickups height so that they are lower on the bass side and higher at the treble.
While it may compensate for low end covering everything else, it is not really desired way to handle clarity in sweep picking.
My approach is to mute lower notes while ascending with my right hand, and high notes while descending with my left hand.
Thereās definitely noise, you just canāt hear it because the notes Iām playing are louder. If I stop without muting, youāll hear the noise come back. As long as I donāt hit the strings or lift off really aggressively, the noise isnāt that big of a deal.
You can test this. Just set the amp to high gain, create some moderate string noise, and then play a loud note on the top string. The noise should almost disappear.
You can limit lift-off noise with some left hand muting, which is what I do. Just keep the left hand finger tips in contact with the next lower string. It wonāt kill it entirely but it will keep it from building up to levels where you start to hear it over the amp compression.
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Thatās interesting. Iāve always tried to do it as a single fluid motion. Iāve also never been any good at it. Food for thought, hereā¦
I think a rest stroke makes more sense to me because it is an excellent mute, it is self-aligning and tolerant of errors, and one doesnāt suddenly switch between regular (impulsive) picking and a different āslow strumā motion, but as always I am excited to see what others think.
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It made me thinkā¦ that Iāve gotta rewatch some Marshall Harrison and Frank Gambale to see how they do it in both directions. Itās going to be good food for thought.
Iāve always understood what defines the sonic signature of a sweep is the rest stroke- which is why itās so elusive because people assume the rest stroke must somehow disappear at high velocity/tempo, which both YJM and Troy show, is not the case.
Without the muted articulation resulting from this, this is basically a strum in my eyes, disregarding some clever 4 finger finger strumming from flamenco virtuosos (which is hardly utilized in genres that electric guitar is featured- the closest example off the top of my head is Joe Walshās outro in the live acoustic version of hotel california)