The spider walk

[Mid Taylor Swift]

any of you guitarists out there ever do this exercise? Just learned about it today and trying to do this (without moving any of the fingers except the one you’re moving) is making me want to throw my guitar out the window lol 

[Patient #48273]

Yeah, I remember doing that one years ago. I think I had more trouble in the reverse direction (pinky, ring, middle, index) than forward, which felt fairly natural.

[Mid Taylor Swift]

1 minute ago, Patient #48273 said:

Yeah, I remember doing that one years ago. I think I had more trouble in the reverse direction (pinky, ring, middle, index) than forward, which felt fairly natural.

Yea my new guitar teacher busted it out because I told him I want to get better dexterity and use of my pinky. As you all know, I can barley use that thing 😂. I’m gonna keep trying to chip away at this every day and hopefully figure it out eventually. Feels so unnatural to me. 

[thongrider]

I'm not into 12 tone music or practicing. Spiders are cool though.

[Mid Taylor Swift]

3 minutes ago, thongrider said:

I'm not into 12 tone music or practicing. Spiders are cool though.

Yea I’m not out to shred or anything I just am very limited at what I can do with the size of my fingers and stretching across the board. Figured trying to learn some things would be good for the brain as well. Otherwise I could have still lived happily ever after playing power chords in my bedroom lol 

[twelve]

Yes, I sometimes use that as a warm-up exercise.
You can also try the most basic warm-up exercise I do, which is using one finger per fret (index, middle, ring, and pinky = 1, 2, 3, 4). Start on the low E string and work your way across all strings, then back down. Once you finish, move up one fret and repeat the exercise.
Make sure to keep your fingers close to the fretboard.

You can also play frets 5 (index), 7 (ring), and 8 (pinky). Focus on stretching and keeping your pinky under control.

You can also try playing fret 5 with your index finger, then hammer-on and pull-off fret 8. But before jumping straight to the pinky, warm up by doing the same with the middle finger (fret 6) and ring finger (fret 7).

Finish your practice by playing the M&M's riff for fun. 😉

[thongrider]

I Usually just play on the 5th and 7th on the strings and hammer and pull them when I pick up a guitar.

[Mid Taylor Swift]

6 hours ago, twelve said:

Yes, I sometimes use that as a warm-up exercise.
You can also try the most basic warm-up exercise I do, which is using one finger per fret (index, middle, ring, and pinky = 1, 2, 3, 4). Start on the low E string and work your way across all strings, then back down. Once you finish, move up one fret and repeat the exercise.
Make sure to keep your fingers close to the fretboard.

You can also play frets 5 (index), 7 (ring), and 8 (pinky). Focus on stretching and keeping your pinky under control.

You can also try playing fret 5 with your index finger, then hammer-on and pull-off fret 8. But before jumping straight to the pinky, warm up by doing the same with the middle finger (fret 6) and ring finger (fret 7).

Finish your practice by playing the M&M's riff for fun. 😉

I never learned it but the the M&Ms riff doesn’t sound too hard to me. I can do hammer ons and pull offs just fine, my problem is stretching my fingers and specifically my pinky across the fretboard. It was pointed out if I lower my thumb a little bit that can help, which I am trying to get accustomed to doing. Been playing how I taught myself with bad technique for years so gonna take a bit to correct it. I’ll def try the exercise you mentioned tho!

[Patient #48273]

The M+M's riff is only hard because it's so fast. Playing it accurately at the correct tempo takes a lot of practice in my experience.

[twelve]

51 minutes ago, D P said:

I never learned it but the the M&Ms riff doesn’t sound too hard to me. I can do hammer ons and pull offs just fine, my problem is stretching my fingers and specifically my pinky across the fretboard. It was pointed out if I lower my thumb a little bit that can help, which I am trying to get accustomed to doing. Been playing how I taught myself with bad technique for years so gonna take a bit to correct it. I’ll def try the exercise you mentioned tho!

It’s not that hard to play. I don’t think Tom uses his pinky for it, though… Now I’m not so sure. But you can definitely play it that way.

[Patient #48273]

My hands aren't big enough to play it without using my pinky. 😂

[Mid Taylor Swift]

3 minutes ago, Patient #48273 said:

My hands aren't big enough to play it without using my pinky. 😂

Yea so what I’ve always done (and I think you may have even pointed it out at one time) is move my hand around to use my other fingers to play something whereas someone with longer fingers would have kept their hand in place and used their pinky. I can make it work but I’m just trying to get more efficient. We will see if it sticks though, I’m going to give it a fair try to change my ways lol. Even just changing my thumb placement is making it feel really awkward right now. 

[Patient #48273]

23 minutes ago, D P said:

Yea so what I’ve always done (and I think you may have even pointed it out at one time) is move my hand around to use my other fingers to play something whereas someone with longer fingers would have kept their hand in place and used their pinky. I can make it work but I’m just trying to get more efficient. We will see if it sticks though, I’m going to give it a fair try to change my ways lol. Even just changing my thumb placement is making it feel really awkward right now. 

Yeah, I think we talked about it re: the STFTK intro because it sounds choppy if you don't let the first note of the arpeggio ring out. And in general, the less you have to move your hand, the quicker you can play something.

[Mid Taylor Swift]

13 minutes ago, Patient #48273 said:

Yeah, I think we talked about it re: the STFTK intro because it sounds choppy if you don't let the first note of the arpeggio ring out. And in general, the less you have to move your hand, the quicker you can play something.

Yup! That’s what started my whole being insecure about the use of my pinky and put me on to this journey. I appreciate the feedback lol. 

[Kay]

As another tiny handed person, I use my little finger all the time 😂

[Mid Taylor Swift]

14 minutes ago, Kay said:

As another tiny handed person, I use my little finger all the time 😂

You’ll be happy to know that I told my teacher I want to utilize the metronome for practicing as well. Jan could never. 

[Kay]

10 minutes ago, D P said:

You’ll be happy to know that I told my teacher I want to utilize the metronome for practicing as well. Jan could never. 

You love to see it