Major Sweeps (with What the World Will Never Take)

'Sweeping' is a technique which allows guitarists to run through several notes - often the notes of a chord - very quickly by raking the pick up and down the strings, like strumming a chord. The use of sweeps is largely limited to fast guitar solos, hence you don't see it much in Christian music, but more in shredding kinda playing.

I've applied it to the end of the first half of the What the World Will Never Take instrumental (God He Reigns version). This is especially useful if you're doing the song in a different key, and can't do the harmonics. Here, I've swept through the notes of the B major chord at the end.



Sweeps are rather difficult to execute, because you not only have to press notes on different strings quickly, you also have to ensure that only one note sounds out at a time, because it is easy to leave the other strings vibrating as you rake through them. Sweeps also use hammer-ons and pull-offs, so you have to be comfortable at that too. I've been practicing this particular sweep for years, so don't fret if you don't get it right immediately!

Tabs
The first part of the instrumental:
-12----12----12----------
-12b14-12b14-12b14r12-10-
-------------------------
-------------------------
-------------------------
-------------------------

------------------------------12-------12-
-----10-12-12b14b12-10--12b14----12b14----
-10---------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------

--------------
-14r12-10-12--
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------

End of with a B major sweep:
-------11h14p11-------------
----12----------12----------
-11----------------11-------
----------------------13----
-------------------------14-
----------------------------

For a more challenging sweep, try adding notes in front:
-------------11h14p11-------------
----------12----------12----------
-------11----------------11-------
----13----------------------13----
-14----------------------------14-
----------------------------------
This sweep uses notes of the B major chord, hence play it when the chord is a B major. To do the sweep in other chords, transpose accordingly - e.g. to do it in C shift the fingering up by one fret.