What is Sweep picking?
Sweeping is a picking technique on guitar which has been around about as long as guitar has been around like a sleeping giant or like silicon, which has been a part of the Earth forever but, who would have thought that silicon would become the foundation of the chip industry driving the world's computers. That is a fair analogy of where Sweep Picking was until Frank Gambale came along. He proved to the world that this was a viable and wonderful new approach to playing the guitar. An approach that gave a liberty, fluidity and ease of playing to create high speeds and previosly impossible arpeggios and much more on the fretboard.
He believed the popular thought, until he came along, was that this technique was not possible and couldn't be played in time or consistently. Lots of guitarists played one or two small sweep licks but that was it ( the sleeping giant ). He believed in it and has developed it diligently since 1975 ( after 10 years of alternate picking prior to that ).
He is considered the first guitarist to expose Sweep Picking Technique's full potential to the guitar world. Full potential meaning not just a simple minor or a major arpeggio, but playing through complex changes and utilizing the technique with advanced harmony. Also Gambale's huge development of smaller internal 2,3 and 4 string uses of the Sweep Picking Technique. In other words, the thought of using it ALL the time as opposed to a lick here or there and making it a style.
He was also the first to publish a full account of the Sweep Picking Technique in the book "Speed Picking" on Hal Leonard publications written in 1983 while he was still a student at GIT and first published in 1985. He wanted to call the book "Sweep Picking" but the publisher refused because they thought that no one would know what it meant because there was no known precedent. He soon followed with book with the video/dvd "Monster Licks and Speed Picking", now published by Alfred Publishing. Again in the late 80's the orginal publishers DCI, didn't want to use Sweep Picking in the title for the same reasons. The fact remains however, that the subject matter IS Sweep Picking and Gambale outlined the basic principles that he had developed which are used in every instruction of the subject in all other publications to date.
Great guitarists such as George Benson and Pat Metheny, Alan Holdsworth and Jerry Garcia, to name a few, have openly credited Frank Gambale as being the Grand Master of Sweep Picking.
The Sweep Picking Technique now is an accepted and commonly known part of the guitar's historic development. It wasn't so before his work. It is also true that people say,"wow, it's so obvious, why didn't anyone think of this before?"...this is very true of ALL inventions. Now the flood gates are open guitar players all over the world have incorporated the work he has done into their playing and are also mixing tapping and other techniques taking it to other places.
What is it?
Basically, most guitarists learn alternate picking ( picking up and down all the time regardless of what you’re playing ). While this a good and standard technique, it is certainly not the most practical or efficient in all circumstances.
Sweeping means using a single picking stroke up or down across two or more strings. It means that when playing, one must make sure that the last note on a string, the pick is poised in the direction of the next string containing the next notes.
Sweeping is a combination of alternate and sweeping techniques. The reason is simple. It is impossible to sweep on one string!!! So, on a single string, one still need to alternate pick.
The above explanation is accurate for when one picks every note. Of course guitarists nowadays are combining sweeping, tapping, hammer-ons and pull-offs all at the same time. Sweeping is incredibly efficient and doesn’t waste any picking-hand motion. It enables different kinds of phrases to be played on the guitar. Two-octave arpeggios are a breeze once sweeping is mastered.
Guitar players would be wise to develop a good Sweep Picking Technique and incorporate it into their playing. It is as important as alternate picking and tapping and should be part of any good guitarists playing arsenal.
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What guitars do you use?
Currently I use mostly a custom built prototype by John Goudesi from Yamaha of an adaptation of an SG-2000 which will eventually become my next guitar model. I also use a semi-acoustic AES-1500 which I like very much...I still use my Yamaha AES-FG models. That guitar was the result of one and a half years of hard work with Dave Cervantes, who used to work at Yamaha Custom Shop.
I also have 2 beautiful Yamaha SA-2200s. It's a semi-hollow electric. I have one set up with flat wound strings and the other with light stainless steel D'Addarios. The one with flat wounds is perfect for jazz and I have used it on many recordings
I lashed out recently and bought some vintage guitars. One is a 1968 Johnny Smith with 2 pickups. It is absolutely mint. Even the case is in mint condition due to the fact that the previous owner had a zip-up case cover. The guitar is perfect except for one slight nick.
I love an acoustic guitar from Yamaha which is one of the best sounding acoustics I ever heard. I tend to prefer the smaller body acoustics. They usually sound bigger and fuller than larger bodied acoustics. It's called an FPX-300. It's awesome. I'm also enjoying their Compass series of acoustics.
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What amps do you use?
I currently use the Carvin Tone Navigator preamp which I helped develop. It's an amazingly versatile preamp and incredibly cheap...I really don't know how Carvin can make it for the price!!!. Also a Carvin DCM1000 power amp and the magnificent TC Electronic G-Force multi fx. These go thru a 4x12 Marshall JCM-900 cab with Celestion speakers or two 2x12 open-back Carvin speaker cabs with Carvin T-12 speakers. I use 2 Ernie Ball Volume pedals and a Rolls Midi Buddy switcher. The way it is plugged in is as follows; From one side of the Tone Navigator preamp outputs I connect to a Volume pedal. From there back to the input of the G-Force. The stereo L & R outs from the G-Force go to the input of the power amp. Then stereo speaker outs to the box. The other volume pedal output connects to the G-Force expression connection. This is a remarkably small and simple setup, but I am very satisfied with my tone.
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What kind of picks do you use?
I use 1mm ( regular heavy ) triangle picks similar to the Fender bass pick. All three sides are the same so you get three picks for the price of one!!! And, because it’s big, you have a better chance of hitting the string!! ( sorry folks, I’ve answered that question too many times!! ).
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What are your top 10 favourite and influential albums of all time?
Only 10 eh!! Well here goes. These aren’t in order of preference OK.
1. Spectrum - Billy Cobham.
2. Romantic Warrior - Return to Forever.
3. Aurora - Jean-luc Ponty.
4. All the Steely Dan albums.
5. One Size Fits All - Frank Zappa.
6. From Me To You - George Duke
7. I Am - Earth,Wind & Fire.
8. Live-Dead - Grateful Dead
9. Crosby, Stills and Nash.
10. Bluesbreaker - John Mayall
11. Blues from Laurel Canyon - John Mayall
12. Dingly Dell - Lindisfarne
13. Aqualung - Jethro Tull
14. Benefit - Jethro Tull
15. Where Have I Known You Before - Return To Forever.
16. Birds Of Fire - John McLaughlin
17. Desperado - The Eagles.
18. Super Session Live - Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper.
19. Are You Experienced - Jimi Hendrix.
20. Blind Faith - Blind Faith.
21. East-West - Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
22. Breakin’ Away - Al Jarreau
23. Fog On The Tyne - Lindisfarne.
24. Sgt.Pepper - The Beatles
25. Straphangin’ - The Brecker Bros.
26. Detente - Brecker Bros.
27. Hearts and Numbers - Don Grolnick.
28. Cityscape - Claus Ogerman.
29. The Nightfly - Donald Fagan.
30. Friends - Chick Corea
31. Mecca For Moderns - Manhattan Transfer.
32. to be continued.................
( I never did learn how to count to 10!!! )
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What do you think are the most important things to practice?
I’ve met guitarists who tell me they’ve been playing for 20 years, and when I listen to them play, I think they suck. Other players I listen to and they tell me they’ve been playing on 7 years and they sound amazing. This leads me to believe that how well you play has nothing to do with how long you have owned a guitar! It has a lot more to do with what you’ve actually done with it. What is needed is quality time over quantity time.
Nowadays I don’t have a lot of time to practice so if I do have a 3-hour piece of time, I will spend ten minutes deciding what I need to learn in that time. It might be learning to play a new tune, or soloing over some chord sequence from a new song I’ve written. It could also be learning to use a new scale or mode or whatever. The point is focusing in on something that I don’t know. There’s no point learning E minor Dorian if you already know it. Move on! E Dorian will still be there when you get back!! Learn something new every time you sit down to practice.
I remember a time when I couldn’t play in the key of Eb. That’s because it was in-between the dots on the neck!! The way I resolved that was, for one month, everytime I picked up the guitar to practice I would only play in Eb. I soon realized it was the same as E, only it was one fret down! Or the same as D but one fret up!!
I think it’s very important to know all you can about Harmony and Theory, and also to have a good reading ability. It’s also critical to have good time. Always practice with a drum machine or a sequencer and feel the pulse and synchronize yourself with it.
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What strings do you use?
I’ve been using the same gauge on electric guitar now for about 25 years. The last 10 years or so I’ve been using D’Addario EXLS520 Stainless Steel. The gauges are a standard 9 set ( 9,11,16,24,32,42, ). I love stainless steel strings. They outlast nickel and they retain their brightness for ages. On my new Yamaha signature series guitar I have gone to a standard 10, 13, 17, 26, 36, 46 set. The 9s felt too slinky on this new guitar.
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What was it like playing with Chick Corea in the Elektric Band?
I was a huge fan of Chick when I was 15. Most people don’t know it but, when I was 17 years old, I gave up guitar altogether for the keyboards ( I wanted to be the next Chick Corea!! ) for a whole 2 years.
My brother Nunzio, who was a great bass player at the time and we had worked together in many group settings, said “ listen Frank, you know, I think it’s great that you want to learn the piano, but, you can already play the guitar, do you want to throw away 10 years of guitar??!!. And besides, you suck on the piano ( at the moment ) and even more importantly, if you want to eat, you’d better pick up that guitar ‘cause we have a gig on Saturday night!”
It turned out to be an encounter for which I am eternally grateful to Nunz. If it’s one thing Chick didn’t need, it was another keyboard player in the Elektric Band!!!
Nevertheless I continued playing keyboards and guitar more or less simultaneously.
So, I’d better answer this question huh! Working with Chick for me was like a dream come true. It was an experience akin to learning and being in the influence of a great master. What I learned was all I needed to know about music, performance, positive attitude, being true to the art of music etc. etc.
I auditioned on Labour Day in October 1986. I had two days to learn the music. The vague instructions were “ just learn a couple of Corea standards and listen to the new Elektric Band album and learn the solo sections, there’s no need to learn the melodies, Chick just wants to hear if you improvise well’.
I learned the melody for Rumble, I didn’t need to learn the solo section, it was Cmin7 or something easy like that. I was as ready as I would ever be.
When I auditioned, I played like there was no tomorrow. I blasted. Chick jumped up off the keyboard and said “Frank, your amp will be pointing at this angle across the stage......”. It was then that I knew my life would change forever.
It’s one thing being elated about passing the audition and being hired. It was then that I realized, “ oh my goodness, I have to learn to play the rest of these unbelievably hard tunes too!!” I was definitely up for the challenge.
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How long did you work with Chick?
I was with the band from October 1986 until January 1992. Roughly 6 years. That's longer than most marriages last!!. Then we reformed in 2002 for the album "ToThe Stars" and have been touring off and on since then.
We won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Performance By A Duo or Group in the Instrumental R&B category!!! It was for live version of the song Lightyears; from the GRP Super Live album recorded in Tokyo. And we also had two Grammy nominations.
We have toured the world over consistently for years on mammoth tours. These days the tours are easier with less dates. You could throw a dart at a map of the globe and I've probably been there 3 times at least!! I've earned some serious frequent flyer miles!!
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How many albums did you do with the Elektric Band?
I did Lightyears, GRP Super Live, Eye Of The Beholder, Inside Out, and Beneath The Mask all on GRP records, and ToThe Stars on the Concord label.
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What do you look for in a drummer?
I prefer drummers that play the music first and think about the chops second. I don't like playing with a drummer whose audience is only sitting there waiting for the next "amazing fill" and aren't listening to the music as a whole. I think Joel Taylor, Tom Brechtlein are good examples of what I'm talking about. Don't get me wrong, both these guys have amazing chops, but they know when to use them, that's the difference.
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