Any bassists that sweep here?

[Kylethelobo]

I don't really play metal, but I have recently become quite enamored with the idea of doing sweeps on the bass guitar, just for fun and challenge mostly. This is complicated by the fact that I play exclusively fingerstyle, though.

Basically, I want to know two things: 1) What is a good right hand technique (fingernails? thumb?) to use for sweeping, and 2) how do I develop fast enough/proper left hand technique to do this without choking up?

Does anyone have any exercises or songs that would be good to learn this technique with? Just some overall tips or tricks would be nice.

[Kobaia]

I can fake a sweep by using thumb through ring finger and use 1 finger per note then using hammer ons and pull offs and index back down, you can here it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej_ie0X2WCQ
but I'd look into adam nitti's sweeping technique thumb up index down for true sweeps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wxurZAFJWA

[johnboy65]

Check out Adam Nitti he does online lessons too. I think it's called music dojo.

[Jim Nazium]

Sweep, mop, clean toilets, I do it all. Jazz don't pay much.

[Morkolo]

I tried learning to for a while but then gave up because of the practicality of it. How many times are you going to do sweeps on bass and they'll actually be audible in a live setting.

[Ian the bassist]

Originally Posted by Kobaia

I can fake a sweep by using thumb through ring finger and use 1 finger per note then using hammer ons and pull offs and index back down, you can here it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej_ie0X2WCQ
but I'd look into adam nitti's sweeping technique thumb up index down for true sweeps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wxurZAFJWA

I'd use the first thing you have down here sometimes. But what I do and it is quite affective. Just use double hand tapping to get the arrpegios that are used in the sweep. It's much easier but it doesn't get the 'sweep' sound. I'm not a massive fan of the sweep sound though

[peekypoo]

HE'S NOT OF THIS WORLD......

[bommer]

i have tried it.
i can do a basic sweep, but i cant see too muhc use for it

[Gawd]

It can't hurt to learn one of the thumb/index, or four finger sweeping approaches. Personally I just use two fingers and I get very fast sweeps with it, it's just about getting a rhythm between strikes, hammer-ons, and rakes. Really once you get the feel for large arpeggios down they become very very easy to throw in to anything at any time.

The best way to get better is just practice. Just take them slow.
The two main patterns are major and minor. Here's an example, I'll throw in my right hand approach just for the sake of things.

I = Index
M = Middle
H = Hammer-On
P = Pull Off
R = Rake

Major

G|-------------11-14-11-------------||
D|----------12----------12----------||
A|-------12----------------12-------||
E|-10-14----------------------14-10-||
    I  H  I  M  I  H  P  R  R  R  P

Minor

G|-------------10-14-10-------------||
D|----------12----------12----------||
A|-------12----------------12-------||
E|-10-13----------------------13-10-||
    I  H  I  M  I  H  P  R  R  R  P

From there you can experiment with adding extensions, 7ths/6ths, and covering more octaves.
Remember that they don't always need to be played in full. Getting this approach to arpeggios down is just another way of moving around the neck. I find working through the arpeggios for different modes and scales is a great way to find interesting colours to add to your music.

[TOOL460002]

i guess its not technically sweeping, but i can pull off the same sequence of notes using my index, ring, and pinky, plus some taping with my index finger.

heres what i do:

if i want to hit all four strings i will play the e with my ring finger, index on the a, middle on the d, and then index on the g, and maybe you need to tap on the g for a hammer on pul off or something. this works perfectly for arpegios; you can run them really, really fast.

going from g to e is much easier, as you just need to rake to that string. i would practice simple chords, like a root, fifth, octave thing. you want to play one root (index), one fifth (middle), one octave (ring). then rake back to the root.

[Trauts]

I can sweep using Adam Nitti's technique. Whilst I can do rapid arpeggios I haven't yet figured out many more musical uses for it. In order to get as much out of it as possible you need to be able to add a tap to the sweep in most cases (at least on a 4-string) in order to get the right range.

A few years ago I wrote a lesson on Activebass.com using their line builder which has proved helpful to some people. It's: ActiveBass Lesson #22849: Bass Sweeping (you can access the lessons without signing up).

In the last few years I've not been playing in any bands that require flashy technique so I'm a bit rusty but if you've got any questions I can probably give you some pointers. Good luck!

[zagralin_arf]

I play in a metal band with a guitarist that sweeps constantly...and since we lost our other guitar player I had to pick up some of the slack and needed to learn how to do something sweep-esque.

The super easy way to do it is tap out arpeggio's and barr Chords. I just tap up a barr chord and add an extra 5th up on the G string...I use heavyish flatwounds so it makes a pianoish/harpish sound...

Thats how I tackled that problem.