Once the single-string rudiments are under your fingers, the next step is to get them moving across strings with real musical patterns. These scale exercises bring SWYBRYD technique into scale sequences you have probably been playing for years — showing you how much smoother and more efficient they become with the right combination of sweeping and hybrid picking.
What you’ll get out of this lesson: A set of scale sequences that put SWYBRYD technique to work immediately. The diagrams below show all the patterns — work through them in order, and then move them to different keys and scale types (Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Dorian, Lydian, etc.).
Exercise 1A: The Paul Gilbert lick with a hybrid pluck
Start with the four-note Paul Gilbert lick on the B string — frets 12, 13, 15 — then an upstroke on the 12 on the high E, and back down 15, 13, 12. The SWYBRYD version alternate-picks on the B string, plucks the high E with the middle finger, and returns to alternate picking on the B string. Work through middle finger, ring finger, and pinky for the plucked note. This is Exercise 1A.
Exercises 2–4: Sixes and 16th-note cycles
Exercise 2 runs six notes starting on an upstroke. Use the same four opening notes, but use the middle finger to help change strings and economy picking to return. The pattern goes: up, down, up, middle, down, up, up. Exercise 3 takes sixes ascending and descending — climbing six notes then coming back down. This has to be grouped in five counts. Exercise 4 is the common 16th-note cycle (groups of four), where the key principle is sweeping on the way back down. You can break out into a triplet burst from this exercise for added variety.
Exercises 5–8: Three-string patterns and full scale variation
Exercise 5 moves to a three-string 16th-note cycle, starting on the 9th fret region: frets 10, 12, 13 on the G string. Every string change leads with the middle finger of the right hand, which sets up the sweep back down. Exercise 6 climbs a full three-note-per-string E minor pattern; every string change uses middle, down, up. The goal is to get the accents so even that it sounds like smooth groups of four rather than displaced threes. Exercises 7 and 8 combine Exercise 1 (the Paul Gilbert lick) and Exercise 2 (the sixes lick) to climb the whole scale position — first staying in place, then ascending and changing strings each time, including ascending sweeps.
The key element of swiber picking is sweeping on the way back down.
Descending versions
The second half of the exercise set covers descending versions of the first few exercises. The descending Paul Gilbert lick goes up, down, up, up — frets 15, 14, 12 on the high E, then 15 on the B. The descending sixes use down, up, down, pluck, down, up, and a second pluck. The five-note descent goes 15, 14, 12, 15, 13, sweep, then you can pluck across 12, 14, 15 on the high E. Finally, the descending groups-of-three pattern descends in groups of three notes, plucking whenever the pattern needs to jump back up a string to restart. Leading with the middle finger on every string change — whether ascending or descending — is the consistent rule throughout.
Taking it further: Move every exercise to a different scale type once it feels consistent in E minor. Harmonic Minor changes the interval content and will immediately highlight any weak spots in the right-hand co-ordination. Also try varying the tempo rhythmically — playing some exercises in triplets and others in 16th notes to develop fluency in both feels.
Your homework: Choose two exercises from this lesson — one ascending and one descending — and practise each for five minutes daily this week. Use a metronome. Start slowly enough that the tone is even and the timing is accurate, then gradually increase the tempo. Move each exercise to at least two other scale types before the week is out.