fingers wont stretch

ive just started playing at 60 so absolute beginner. Trying to use the spiderlegs warm up and cant even get close to stretching my left hand fingers to leave on all three frets together. Is there any other exercises or will this just come with practice

It will come with practice. Make sure your hands are warmed up and do a little light stretching of the hands. Something else you can do is capo at the second or third fret and start practicing from there. The frets are a bit closer together so the stretch isn't quite so long. Once you get comfortable with that you can remove the capo and work at the normal position.

Originally Posted by: m.norton1

ive just started playing at 60 so absolute beginner. Trying to use the spiderlegs warm up and cant even get close to stretching my left hand fingers to leave on all three frets together. Is there any other exercises or will this just come with practice

Part of the reason for spider legs is to help get you there. You my not now but like anything where you're drilling on a skill, it improves. I'm about to hit the ripe old age of 55 in a few weeks but I've been paying since 1981. At one point I could play things that the old fingers now can't quite muster. Then again, even at my 'shreddie-est', I had limitations. We all do. Getting older and the ravages of time, there are a few things that I could totally nail that now are not nearly as easy.

The point is; keep at it and build that physical skill but don't be dejected that you will have some limitations. Even the best guitarists have them, they just figured out a way around them. That is what guitar players do; negotiate with that pesky guitar to get it to cooperate with our limitations. After time you leanr that it ain't a big deal.

Keep working at it and you will get to a good place and much further than you probably think you'd be capable of.

I am the same age as Jeff but I have only been playing for a few months. Davem has a good suggestion with playing a few frets higher at first. You don't really need to use a capo to do it. You might start on the 3rd or even 5th fret at first, then after a week or two move back towards the nut and keep doing it that way until you are all the way back to the 1st fret. [br][br]

The other thought I have is a piece of advice that applies to almost every situation for us beginners: go slow! One finger at a time, very deliberately at first. [br][br]

Stick with it and your fingers will learn to do this.

Dave...

Thank you all for the advice and encouragement.