Betcha Can't Play This: Glenn Proudfoot's Over-the-Neck Challenge

Playing through this series of E diminished seven arpeggios [E G Bb C#] at breakneck speed is dependent on a pick-hand technique known as sweep picking.

Sweep picking involves dragging the pick down or up across the strings and raking through the arpeggios without allowing any notes to ring together.

This is accomplished by applying fret-hand pressure to each string at the precise moment it’s picked, and then releasing your finger pressure off of it immediately after.

A good way to perform this quick fret-release action is to "roll" your fret-hand wrist back as the pick moves across the strings. You can also apply a light pick-hand palm mute as you sweep to help insure against string noise or errant notes.

On beat three of bar 2, I flip my fret hand over the neck and perform the arpeggios on top of the fretboard. Here, I use my thumb [indicated by the t in the finger prompts below the tab] to fret the low E [sixth string, 12th fret] so I can make the fret-hand transition over the neck without skipping a beat.

Note that from this point up to beat two of bar 5, all fret-hand finger numbers below the tablature are from the perspective of an "over-the-neck" performance.