I just started playing Sunday, and have been learning out of a beginning book (Metallica). I've having trouble keeping my first and third fingers far enough apart to hit all 4 notes, any tips? Or is this something that you just learn over time?

BTW, the excersise looks like this:

|------------------|
|------------------|
|------------------|
|-9-------7--6--5--|
|-7-------5--4--3--|
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I see we have some puppets goin on, well ill i have to say is practice and practice, train yourself to be able to conquer a technique that you cant seem to get. If your fingers are unexpectidly just doin there own things try to control them, just concentrate more, it takes a lot but its probably the only thing thats gonna work. Hope this works for you.

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As you continue playing your fingers will become stronger. When you start out they're not used to what you're asking of them, making even simple songs difficult. Just keep at it and they'll get less and less inclined to come together.

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start off slow and be aware of everything you're doing.
just liek wat hax said, just gota put a lot more concentration on what you're doing. and what credit said it helps to train your fingers to be stronger so you can control them better.
be aware of where your fingers are. be attentive to wat note u're fretting.
if u're not fretting it right, look over it, wat can you adjust? and then try again with that adjustment to see if it worked better.
practice and repitition are key to helping but u also gota to know your mistakes and fix them. practice means nothing if you dont know what to fix. you juts keep doing the same mistakes over and over and sticking yourself into a loop. know wat the mistakes are and adjust to fix them. once u fix them its amatter of getting used to it by repititon and commiting it to your muscle memory.

- slow and steady. once u can play it fine slow. speed up a bit. keep doing this till u reach the actual song speed.
- be aware of wat your fingers are doing
- watch your fingers, actually look at them when you play
- know what mistakes your're makign and adjust to fix
- once fixed, repeat until you dont even have to think to plaly it anymore

i had a teacher once from highchool who told us that you cant play soemthing fast if u cant even play it slow. i find it really helpful if u start slow. then u can actually see wat's going on. u can see where you are screwing up. fix it, and replay it again with that fix.

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What i did when i first started to play i use to sit any time like school or work and steparate my fingers by streching them on my knee. Saparating them gives you better reach and you learn better control. for instance i have a 5 fret reach with my index and middle finger.

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yeah part of getting the technique down
you also got to build dexterity in your hands.
btw what do u mean when u said u cant keep ure first and third figners far enough to play all 4 notes?
how are u playign it exactly?

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