First use of sweep picking

ICBM

Just listening to some old Deep Purple again and it occurred to me that Blackmore's sweep picking (I think that's what it is!) at the end of 'April' on the untitled 'Hieronymus Bosch' album might be the first use of it - it seems almost out of its time (1969) listening to it now.



Skip to the outro at 11'30" if you don't want to listen to it all.

Anyone got any earlier examples?

KKJale

This Chet vid is 1970s but I wonder if he did it much earlier. From1.12...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni8KBhnebwE&t=78s

hollywoodrox

Good ol Richie  he was quite an innovator 

JonnyBgoode

Les Paul, Chet, Tal Farlow and Barney Kessel in the 1950s, according to Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweep_picking#:~:text=The technique was first used,its use by shred guitarists.

Here's Les Paul, audio is from 1951: (Ascending muted sweeps @ 1.18)


Blackmore certainly was doing it late 60s, and there's a video on YT (blocked in the UK) of him doing it live ascending and descending (more modern shred style), very sloppily by all accounts.

ICBM

JonnyBgoode said:

Les Paul, Chet, Tal Farlow and Barney Kessel in the 1950s, according to Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweep_picking#:~:text=The technique was first used,its use by shred guitarists.

Here's Les Paul, audio is from 1951: (Ascending muted sweeps @ 1.18)

Interesting!

Probably not surprising - a lot of the things now associated with technical 'metal' guitarists (including tapping and 7-string guitars) were in fact first used by jazzers in the 1950s...