Hey gang, thought I'd fill everyone in on a little mental trick I've used to help me with the ladder exercises.

Early on, I had a ton of trouble performing the 1/3-2/4 exercise. I just couldn't focus on moving the correct finger combinations together smoothly.

This morning, I had a bit of an epiphany. I found that if I concentrated on the maintaining the pressure of the stationary fingers first, just for a split second, I could release the travelling fingers fairly easily.

For example, starting with the 1/3-2/4 on the 6th string (as in exercise 5.23), right before I make my first movement with the 2/4, I focus a very slight bit of pressure on the 1/3. This allowed me to easily "release" with the 2/4 and make the movement to the 5th string in a fluid, simultaneous motion. Similarly, when I make the second movement (the 1/3 going from 6th to 4th string), I focus a slight bit of pressure on the 2/4 before making the movement.

After playing through the exercises, I've found that this helps with most of the difficult movements, particularly those involving moving the 3rd or 4th fingers independantly.

If you're having some difficulty with these, give this a try and see if it helps.

PB/Teachers - let me know your thoughts on this. If you see this being detrimental in any way, please explain.

Cheers,

PapaH

I think you mean Spiders?

Gah - correct, I meant spiders...