Anyone ever bother sweep picking?

Have any of you guys ever tried sweep picking on bass? I think it would be a cool concept to learn on bass. I have the general idea down but dont entirely know how to do a successful sweep... any sugestions?

It does seem like a sweet concept, but imho... tapping is much more effective on the bass.

I mean when I try... it just doesn't feel right. I don't know how to explain it really

I have no problem with tapping really I just kinda wanted to learn how to sweep pick. Is it akward as in like harder to do on bass then guitar or just akward because it is haha? If that makes any sence...

I would like to learn..

Idea! To the suggestion part!

Well I mean just try and sweep on a guitar then on your bass. I can't really sweep, but I can see how it's done, and just trying on a guitar is much easier then the bass. I think it's just cause the gap between the strings is much larger and the strings themselves are much thicker.

You can easily try this by going really slowly... sweeping up and down again and just try on both a guitar and bass. Make up w/e, just meant to get the feel xD

I'll give sweep picking a try on guitar first. I dunno if its weird or anything but its seems that before I learn anything on guitar I tune my bass to dgbe (weird but...) and learn the higher pitched parts of the song there then tune it back to eadg (or dadg if the song is drop d) and laern the lower notes there so i guess this gives me some new way to practice as well. Thanks for the help! now i just have to figure out how to play it correctly slow as for moving this post to suggestions... I have absolutly no clue how to do that I'm kind of new to the forums... I made an account a while ago I just havnt bothered using it

Not moving the whole thing, only mods can do that

I posted in suggestions, though

Oh ok I gotcha. I will go check that out right now then. Its not like I'm doing anything anyways... I'm stuck in a collage buildings basement for a few hours...

Sweep picking on a guitar is difficult to learn. The fluidity is everything. With a bass, you're probably better off normally picking it due to the gaps between the strings.

I dunno, I think the main reason I wanted to learn was because I saw Chickenfoot live and during the outro to their rendition of Highway Star by Deep Purple Michael Anthony started going crazy sweep picking on his bass, I just kinda wanted to hear what others thought of it.

IGotYourDoughnut wrote:I dunno, I think the main reason I wanted to learn was because I saw Chickenfoot live and during the outro to their rendition of Highway Star by Deep Purple Michael Anthony started going crazy sweep picking on his bass, I just kinda wanted to hear what others thought of it.

I'm actually listening to Chickenfoot right now! How good were they live?

They are the best band I can remember seeing live (I saw Van Halen in like 1994 but I was born in 1991 so I obviously don't remember it) But I mean, I've seen alot of cool bands live. When I saw Chickenfoot the show seemed fairly centered around Chad Smith. Sammy Hagar still has the Red Rocker "R" microphone stand. The celing was lighted the Chickenfoot emblem. Michael Anthony all of a sudden got rediculously good at bass. Like amazing. Hagar Sounds like gold still. And Joe Satriani looked chill like he and Chad could just play all night not moving a muscle. Chad broke about 300 drum sticks, a tamborine, one of the lighting fixtures, a cymbal, and blew a hole in his bass drum. Him and Satriani had a solo where Satch played drums and Chad played guitar. and Sammy Hagar smashed a guitar. It was amazing. I was drunk on their music. They sounded soo good. Like seriously Hagar sounds just as good on his recordings.

I'd love to see them live, I'm loving the album at the moment. It's great to hear Chad breaking out a big Bonham like drum sound.

In regards to sweep picking, it might be easier on a piccolo bass?
Or maybe on a bass whith the strings closer together, like six strings tend to have?

I think the general problem with sweep picking being difficult on bass is that the instrument doesn't really lend itself to strumming, which is kind of part of sweep picking (unless I completely misunderstand the technique). That said, bass doesn't really lend itself to shredding but people have managed to do that.

stjimmee wrote:In regards to sweep picking, it might be easier on a piccolo bass?
Or maybe on a bass whith the strings closer together, like six strings tend to have?

I think the general problem with sweep picking being difficult on bass is that the instrument doesn't really lend itself to strumming, which is kind of part of sweep picking (unless I completely misunderstand the technique). That said, bass doesn't really lend itself to shredding but people have managed to do that.

What exactly is a piccoo bass? I've played 6 strings they are pretty sick but I dont like the feel of the necks generally.

It's generally tuned like a regular bass but one octave higher.
So it'll have thinner strings or a shorter neck.
Jeff Schmidt plays one in this video (albeit left handed and strung backwards ):

I reckon it'd be easier to sweep pick on one of those.
I'm not certain whether it's a special type of bass or just a regular one with piccolo strings though.
EDIT: It's also a five string, but you get the idea

Pastichio wrote:I'd love to see them live, I'm loving the album at the moment. It's great to hear Chad breaking out a big Bonham like drum sound.

I guess the London show he threw all of his drum set in the croud.

I strum on bass, when I feel like it
Just use a pick, it's not that hard.

Sweeping, on the other hand, is a whole different story xD

ThreeLetterSyndrom wrote:I strum on bass, when I feel like it
Just use a pick, it's not that hard.

Sweeping, on the other hand, is a whole different story xD

Yah I occasionally strum on a bass to. Unless I feel like playing minor chords...