Now then, have you been doing your Spider Excercises? More Stuff Added!

[Muttley]

Nice one Johnny.

Just seen these and had a quick go.  I'm finding exercise 2 a bit easier than exercise 1.  With exercise 1 I seem pretty incapable of moving my ring finger without lifting my pinky.  :)

[38thBeatle]

I found a slightly unnerving experience at one point of staring at my hand and willing my ring finger to move and it just wouldn't.Those either side did but the ring finger wasn't going to budge. I found that if I backed off in the brain department it worked a whole lot better.

[Johnny Mac]

Exercise 2 is easier descending than ascending and the ring finger not budging is very normal at first. It still feels stubborn even when you get the hang of it.

[Johnny Mac]

Now then, hands up who's given up!  :lol:

[Will]

Still been going through it, about three times in the last month though. It gets easier

[Philly Q]

Now then, hands up who's given up!  :lol:

Pretty much.  :oops:

I still have the occasional run-through, but it never really got any easier.

[CJ]

i'm working these into my daily practice routine now. even the first one was very difficult the first time i tried it, but its all getting easier now... i've only done them twice though... today will be my third day. we'll see if i run into your guy's problems where all of a sudden things get harder.

[Roobubba]

Think it's about time I started having a go at this, after this weekend's royal visit (in-law family with very high standards of cleanliness - eek!), especially as now most of the DIY is done in the house. Should I PM you to get hold of them, Johnny? Or am I being a dimwit and missing them attached further up?

Roo

[Johnny Mac]

Think it's about time I started having a go at this, after this weekend's royal visit (in-law family with very high standards of cleanliness - eek!), especially as now most of the DIY is done in the house. Should I PM you to get hold of them, Johnny? Or am I being a dimwit and missing them attached further up?

Roo

Yes its on the first post. Once you memorise the sequence you shouldn't have to refer back to it.
They are a right bar-steward to start with but its like riding a bike after a while. Very effective i think. Beats housework or DIY. Those 3 note per string major legato things are worth getting into as well.

[Dr. Vic]

As another exercice for fingers independance it might be interesting, in addition, to pratice some spider chords : This video here from Mustaine / Navarro explains what a spider (5) chord is and how to play them.  8)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-twpY_XQyg&NR=1

The fingering is quite simple, and you'll find here after 4 basic exercices you can combine to practice on that if you wish. To be efficient, during the exercices your fingers need to release the pressure on the unplayed strings.

First exercice : ascending the fretboard
the fingers playing the (5) chords on the A and D strings are fingers 2 and 4 and the finger playing the (5) chords on the E and A string are fingers 1 and 3.


1.A /
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-4-----5------6-----7------8------9----10----11-------12-----13-----------etc|
|-2--3--3--4--4--5--5--6--6--7--7--8--8--9--9--10--10--11-11-12-----etc|
|----1------2-----3------4------5-----6------7------8--------9------10-------etc|


1.B/ same started with the chord on E & A strings
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ----4-----5------6-----7-----8------9-----10-----11-------12------13-----etc|
|-3--2--4--3--5--4--6--5--7--6--8--7--9--8--10--9--11--10--12--11---etc|
|-1-----2------3------4-----5------6-----7-------8-------9-------10---------etc|



Second exercice : descending the fretboard
the fingers playing the (5) chords on the A and D strings are fingers 1 and 3 and the finger playing the (5) chords on the E and A string are fingers 2 and 4

2.A / the closest to the video
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-12------11------10------9-------8----- 7-----6------5-----4------3--------|
|-10--13--9--12--8--11--7--10--6--9--5--8--4--7--3--6--2--5--1--4----|
|------11------10------9-------8------7----- 6-----5----- 4----- 3-----2-----|


2.B/ same started with the chord on E & A strings
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------12------11------10------9-----8----- 7-----6------5------4-----3----|
|-13--10--12--9--11--8--10--7--9--6--8--5--7--4--6--3--5--2--4--1---|
|-11-------10------9-------8-------7---- 6----- 5----- 4----- 3-----2-------|




You can try picking each chord or picking one up and hammering the other as shown at the end of the video (at 1'40s), which makes it a little tricky to sound well. 

[JDC]

here's something I've been meaning to learn, got it off jeff waters, aka that bloke out annihilator