What's the advantage of swiping instead of crosspicking?

Playing Technique
#1

Why not crosspick all the time? Since it prioritizes not hitting any strings.

#2

Long story short: speed limit. You are more apt to run into a speed limit with pure cross picking than you are with the subtle swipe. Plus swiping isn’t really anything to worry about avoiding. A lot of famous incredibly gifted guitar players do it whether they realize it or not, and it can be so subtle that you may not even notice it.

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#3

I think if you watch enough of the crosspicking stuff here with a keen eye, you’ll notice minor swiping happens all the time.

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#4

I think that you’re asking why somebody wouldn’t use a double-escaped technique (DBX) over swipes.

DBX is perfectly general and the most powerful way to pick, except that for most people it runs out of steam well before single-escaped techniques. So, if you want to go really fast, you’re stuck with singe-escape, and that uses swipes as an “escape hatch” to get out of certain situations that would otherwise be “impossible” to play.

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