66 Chromatic & Sweeping Exercises
These technical exercises will sort out any problems you have with synchronizing your left and right hand as you play with a pick.
Practiced daily, they will improve your accuracy, build speed, as well as train you in reading rhythms better, something anyone who plays guitar can always get better at!
Two bad side effects you must be aware of are:
- RSI – If it hurts, you must stop!
- Unmusical – they all sound horrible. Don’t forget to play songs as well!
Chromatic & sweeping basics – Step 1
These six chromatic & sweeping exercises are played in the beginner course, where they are also modified.
You can move on when you can play them all at a reasonable tempo. Don’t stick around for too long, there are many more exercises to get your teeth into!
Speed basics – Step 2
Let’s be honest, we all want to play fast! These twelve exercises will certainly improve your accuracy by focusing on speed basics.
Speed is simply a side effect of accuracy so start slowly and aim for perfection. You can move on when you stop making mistakes.
Clusters – Step 3
There are four 16th-note clusters available. You find these everywhere in music so let’s practice them using our chromatic and sweeping concepts.
Although you can move on when you can play all eight exercises at a reasonable tempo, you may want to use these as a daily warm-up.
Combining rhythms – Step 4
These eight chromatic exercises combine rhythms like 8th-notes, 16th-notes, triplets, and 16th-notes clusters.
Pair these rhythms with the concept of playing chromatically to improve your ability to recognize and read rhythms.
Combining rhythms when sweeping – Step 5
Identical to step 4, the only difference is that now we combine rhythms when sweeping 8th-notes, 16th-notes, triplets, and 16th-notes clusters.
Saying this, it’s definitely more difficult to sweep and keep track of your development by taking note of your tempo.
Combining complex rhythms – Step 6
Similar to steps 4 & 5, we now combine complex rhythms. This is great for your ability to read rhythms.
First, we play chromatically, then we sweep. Make sure you always practice to a click and keep track of your development. Move on when all feels easy.
Advanced chromatic speed – Step 7
You want to play fast, right? Practice these eight advanced chromatic speed exercises daily and you will get there!
For best results, you can’t just start slowly and then increase the tempo in small increments, you must also go from fast to slow in big jumps.
Advanced sweeping speed – Step 8
Your final eight exercises are identical to what you practiced in step 7 with one important difference, try these advanced sweeping speed exercises.
Although this is genuinely extremely difficult, if it seems impossible, you’ve rushed to get to this step and must start from the beginning again.