Spider Legs Warm Up Exercise Help?

So I'm working on my spider legs exercise, but I'm not sure if I should be paying attention to the fret board (where I'm placing my fingers) or if I should pay attention to which strings I'm strumming. Should I try to play without looking at the fret board to build my "muscle memory" for specific notes or should I play without looking where I'm strumming to build a memory when it comes to playing open strings/ignoring muted ones?

Hey, there! Those are great exercises for building manual dexterity! :)

Originally Posted by: janyatonwuSo I'm working on my spider legs exercise, but I'm not sure if I should be paying attention to the fret board (where I'm placing my fingers) or if I should pay attention to which strings I'm strumming.[/quote]
When you fist start playing it's perfectly okay to look at everything you need to look at in order to make sure your fingers are doing what they should be doing.

Sometimes it can help to just do one hand at a time. Just go through the motions of the exercise with your fretting hand & watch it carefully to make sure you are doing everything right. Don't worry about picking at all.

If it helps, do the same with the picking hand, just watch & pick the strings without worrying about fretting the notes.

After you do those separate tasks for a while, then try to put them together.

You can look at either hand while you are building your skills! Obviously it's tricky to look at both hands at once, so you might need to focus on one, then the other.
[QUOTE=janyatonwu]
Should I try to play without looking at the fret board to build my "muscle memory" for specific notes or should I play without looking where I'm strumming to build a memory when it comes to playing open strings/ignoring muted ones?

In the long run, yes. You should gradually work toward the goal of not having to look at what you are doing 100% of the time. But you need to be patient with yourself & realize that is a long term goal! As long as you are seriously, consistently, diligently practicing that muscle memory will come with time logged on the guitar. So, don't make "not looking" a specific goal. It's not necessary going to help you play better faster. Although it might make a beginner guitarists more frustrated faster. :D

And you should never worry about if it's okay to look at your hands! Yes, it's perfectly acceptable to watch what you are doing to make sure it's going okay. That's what your eyes are for. :)

Hope this helps! Best of success!

I am 50 years old and have tried learning to play the guitar many times and have only ended up giving up. Part of my issue has been to try to do everything right at the same time...not look...not miss the string...etc., in the end I have gotten frustrated; so the advise is very encouraging.

In the tutorial people were encouraged to start the exercise and only use the 4th finger (pinky) if one was "not scared" or one wanted to take the practice to another level. Is it a good idea to leave out the 4th finger now and pursue it later, after the first three fingers are good to go? or should I try and make it work with my 4th finger as well??

At this point...it's impossible for me to use my 4th finger without taking the other fingers off the frets :(

Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegelHey, there! Those are great exercises for building manual dexterity! :)
When you fist start playing it's perfectly okay to look at everything you need to look at in order to make sure your fingers are doing what they should be doing.

Sometimes it can help to just do one hand at a time. Just go through the motions of the exercise with your fretting hand & watch it carefully to make sure you are doing everything right. Don't worry about picking at all.

If it helps, do the same with the picking hand, just watch & pick the strings without worrying about fretting the notes.

After you do those separate tasks for a while, then try to put them together.

You can look at either hand while you are building your skills! Obviously it's tricky to look at both hands at once, so you might need to focus on one, then the other.

In the long run, yes. You should gradually work toward the goal of not having to look at what you are doing 100% of the time. But you need to be patient with yourself & realize that is a long term goal! As long as you are seriously, consistently, diligently practicing that muscle memory will come with time logged on the guitar. So, don't make "not looking" a specific goal. It's not necessary going to help you play better faster. Although it might make a beginner guitarists more frustrated faster. :D

And you should never worry about if it's okay to look at your hands! Yes, it's perfectly acceptable to watch what you are doing to make sure it's going okay. That's what your eyes are for. :)

Hope this helps! Best of success!

Really helpful advice, thank you!

Originally Posted by: jys2020I am 50 years old and have tried learning to play the guitar many times and have only ended up giving up. Part of my issue has been to try to do everything right at the same time...not look...not miss the string...etc., in the end I have gotten frustrated; so the advise is very encouraging.

In the tutorial people were encouraged to start the exercise and only use the 4th finger pinky if one was not scared or one wanted to take the practice to another level. Is it a good idea to leave out the 4th finger now and pursue it later, after the first three fingers are good to go? or should I try and make it work with my 4th finger as well??

At this point...its impossible for me to use my 4th finger without taking the other fingers off the frets

Yeah, I was wondering about this too. Im still in the Fundamentals stage and I remember LisaMcC saying we could throw in the 4th finger into our spider exercises if we dared to, but she never made it a point to use it so I figured it mustve not been that important at the time at least. Ill just wait until she suggests it. You should go to her subforum and ask her just to make sure.