Can anyone offer a proper explanation for what sweeping is?

[The LUE volta]

I have seen it done a few times in videos and had it explained several times but i still dont really get how it is done and how it is fundamentally different from strumming a chord.

People say you play individual notes going either up or down in one stroke but how is that different from strumming a chord?, do you mute the strings after you hit each of them succesively or what?

[Diatonic Dissonance™]

Typically when you strum a chord you let the notes ring out.

[The LUE volta]

The only thing i have trouble understanding is how you stop notes ringing out, i have a feeling it is going to be fiendishly hard.

[El_Capitan]

you need to fret the notes one at a time. once you finish playing a note tak your finger off it, it takes some practise to make sure the notes are silent just by taking your finger off, i still c0ck it up a lot so i tend to couple it with muting the strings with my right hand immediately after playing them.
Start REALLY slow so you can figure out the best way. it might also be worth trying some different plecs. i find soft ones flop around everywhere and make it impossible (but a freind of mine can only do it using .44's). it's pretty easy once you learn how. sorry i couldnt be more help, its a kind of a feel thing, you know?

[Hutch306]

Alright, the best explanation I can give is this.

It is the same way as a chord, but when you are going down, you let each string make the individual note.

For example, if you were playing

--3-----
--3-----
--4-----
--5-----
--3-----
--3-----
than obviously, the notes are going to be all at one time, making a chord, right? What you want, though, is to look at a chord as one whole piece of many different parts. When you play a chord, you are striking the strings at once to make one whole piece of music.

When you are sweeping, you want to let each and every note play to make 6 different sounds, not one big one (like a chord).

If that isn't what you are looking for, then I don't know what to tell you. Sorry. Also, the way I learned is to just play ever string open, and run the pick through the strings in one motion, just straight down, but slowly. VERY SLOWLY. That, in turn, is sweeping open notes. Read Capitan's post about not letting the notes ring out.