Spider walk: a guitar finger exercise, with tab
Two fingers on one string and two on the next, walking across the neck while every finger keeps its own fret. It trains the fingers to stay over their frets and move one at a time, and builds the reach and accuracy that chord changes and wide scale shapes need. Harder than it looks: go slowly and listen for every note ringing clearly.
Opens in the player looped and counted in, with the metronome on, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 90 bpm. No account or microphone needed.
- Goal tempo
- 90 bpm
- Starts at
- 54 bpm
- Length
- 2 bars, looped
- Tuning
- E standard
How to play it
Each finger keeps its own fret: the 1st on the 5th, the 2nd on the 6th, the 3rd on the 7th, the 4th on the 8th.
The pattern pairs two strings: the 1st finger plays the 5th fret on one, the 2nd finger the 6th fret on the next, then the 3rd finger the 7th fret back on the first string and the 4th finger the 8th on the second. Walk the pairs across the neck from the low E to the B, then come back from the high E with 4, 3, 2, 1.
The hard part is that a finger has to stay put on its fret while its neighbour crosses to another string. Keep the fingers curved and the thumb low behind the neck so they can reach without the hand twisting.
Mistakes to watch for
- Lifting every finger at once when the pattern changes string, instead of moving one finger at a time.
- A finger landing on the wrong fret after crossing strings: the hand slides along the neck without you noticing.
- Notes buzzing because the finger touches the next string: keep the fingertips on their tips.
A speed plan
The player starts at 60 % of the goal and plays each tempo twice before stepping up:
- 54
- 59
- 63
- 68
- 72
- 77
- 81
- 86
- 90
That's 16 loops and about 2 minutes before you're playing at 90 bpm. If it stops being clean on the way, stop the ramp there and loop that tempo until it is. With a microphone or an audio interface you can record while you play instead: Demiurg checks every loop and steps up only after two clean ones in a row, and back down after a poor one.
Questions
How fast should I play Spider walk?
The goal is 90 bpm in 16th notes, which is 6 notes a second. Start wherever every note is clean: the player begins at 54 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.
Why is it called the spider walk?
Four fingers each keep their own fret and step from string to string one at a time, a bit like a spider's legs walking across the neck.
Is the spider walk good for beginners?
Yes, at a slow tempo. Start well below the player's 54 bpm if you need to, and only use the speed ramp once every note rings clearly.