the caterpillar
The Caterpillar is a foundational exercise, useful both for day one beginners and as a warm up for advanced players.
Make sure to use all four fingers on your fretting hand!
Once you've got it down, try performing it to a metronome. It's okay to treat the notes as quarter notes at first (one note per click).
The goal with this exercise is to get every note ringing out clearly, and to find a pace where you can evenly space out each note.
Many make the mistake of rushing through the first notes, and then pausing when it’s time to change strings. Go slow enough that you have time to change strings without falling off the beat!
Once you’ve found a comfortable tempo and you can play along with a click, you’re ready to try increasing the tempo gradually.
We will use this basic exercise as a framework for more advanced exercises later on, so get comfortable with it now!
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