Sweep Picking Exercises
Unless you own or have played a guitar at some point in your life, you probably don't know what sweep picking is. It is a technique used by guitarists that involves the fluid movement of both the picking hand and the fret hand simultaneously. As the pick is swept along each string, the other hand moves at exactly to same time to form the notes required. This technique takes time to develop, but when it is mastered it allows the artist to perform more classical sounding music. It is not as difficult as it sounds, and is considered to be an intermediate technique.
There are many famous guitar players that are known for their sweep-picking abilities. Michael Angelo Batio, Jason Becker, Rusty Cooley, and Steve Vai are only a few of them. The action of sweeping is not limited to a down and up stroke, and can be altered to include all strings or only a few strings at at time. Finding sound variations of the technique just takes some practice.