Holy shit, a spider!
In this exercise you play the 1-2-3-4 pattern on each string. What makes it difficult is that when you change strings the finger should be placed on the string while the others are still resting in a row on the previous string! This exercise should be played very slowly to train your fingers to make tiny movements on the fretboard which really pays off at higher speeds.
Let's say you're playing the regular spider (playing the 1-2-3-4 pattern on each string), these photos show how your fretting hand should look:
The regular spider
Perform this exercise by starting on the lowest string on the 5th fret and play the 1-2-3-4 pattern (using alternate picking!) as shown in the fretboard diagram. Use all four fingers to fret the notes and when changing strings only move one finger, while the others are still resting in a row on the previous string! This way your hand will kinda look like a spider crawling on the fretboard moving one leg at a time.
And here are the tabs just to make sure no one is confused:
- This is not a speed exercise - the slower you play this, the better! Micro-movements will get into your muscle memory and it will really pay off when playing other stuff at higher speeds.
- If the spider is too fast for you, play quarter notes instead of 8ths.