A Rake

[nickcoumbe]

I know with these things everyone says to start slow, but does anyone else find that there is a kind of critical speed, below which sweeping just doesn't really work? I know for practice you out to follow the maxim, but I am just curious.

Back on Topic:

I have always thought a rake was when you scratched your pick down (or up) the strings. As in to rake your fingernails acorss a blackboard.

[sniperfrommars1]

Originally Posted by nickcoumbe

Back on Topic:

I have always thought a rake was when you scratched your pick down (or up) the strings. As in to rake your fingernails acorss a blackboard.

Thats a pick scrape. completely different. Your rate their is a point where slowing sweeps down is to me pointless. I usually prefer to attempt picking them whenever I can anyways. Besides that the average person watching you has NO IDEAL WHATSOEVER what sweeppicking is or sounds like, most people think its tremolo picking when I ask them and even then im not sure they would care if they did know the difference. Whens the last time you heard someone sweep picking on top 40 radio?

[gmoneymcfly2k]

Originally Posted by sniperfrommars1

Thats a pick scrape. completely different. Your rate their is a point where slowing sweeps down is to me pointless. I usually prefer to attempt picking them whenever I can anyways. Besides that the average person watching you has NO IDEAL WHATSOEVER what sweeppicking is or sounds like, most people think its tremolo picking when I ask them and even then im not sure they would care if they did know the difference. Whens the last time you heard someone sweep picking on top 40 radio?

that's assuming that your target audience is the top 40 listeners. guitar dorks like us seem to know all too well the differences.

[nickcoumbe]

Yeah pick scrape sounds better. I was just caught up in the image of that guy scraping his nails down the blackboard in "Jaws".

If raking is just sweeping whilst muting, then that sounds like a logical to me.

I have to say that I probably sweep more than I initially intend to. There are some runs that you just seem to do that with naturally. I have always thought that sweeping was another good way to develop speed, and to be honest spent many of my formative developing that technique to avoid the hassle of learning to pick fast. I am left handed (and play right handed) so picking has always been comparitivley more difficult for me as I am using my weakest hand. I am now (and have been for a year or so) praciting very hard to rectify this.