The Spider

An exercise for guitar players that promotes finger independence. The simplest form is shown below in tablature; once you become somewhat proficient at playing it, start skipping strings, ie bounce back and forth between the E and D strings, then E and G, etc. The most effective way to play it is using alternate picking, and of course you should always use a metronome when doing any repetitive guitar exercise so you can work at getting faster.

E|--------------------------------------------
B|--------------------------------------------
G|--------------------------------------------
D|--------------------------------------------
A|---3---4---1---2---3---4---1---2---3---4---1
E|-1---2---3---4---1---2---3---4---1---2---3--
                                                etc...

Pulp crimefighter in the 1930s and 1940s - the world knew him as man-about-town Richard Wentworth, but the underworld knew and feared him as THE SPIDER! Aided by the lovely Nita Van Sloan, his Hindu aide Ram Singh, and his chauffeur Jackson, he waged a relentless and bloody war against evil.

In his first few adventures The Spider was just another millionaire playboy who threw on a mask and went after bad guys, but when a new team of rotating authors took the helm under the pen name Grant Stockbridge, the character changed markedly. In this new incarnation, Wentworth was one of the most obsessed and violent mystery men of the period. The Spider shot first and...well, never really got around to the "questions" part. The motives behind his brutal siege on gangland were never explained.

His costume was also highly bizarre; he disguised his identity with a hideous mask, a wild fright wig, a hunchback, fangs for God's sake, and a cape. In the movie serials based on his adventures the studios decided instead to give him a cool black cloak embroidered with white spiderwebs and a simple black mask and hat.

Also notable is the degree in which Nita Van Sloan was capable of handling herself in a fight, unusual for pulp heroines of the day. When Wentworth was incapacitated, Nita was perfectly capable of strapping on a gun belt and dispatching thugs on her own.

A few sample titles will give you an idea of the tone of the writing:

City of Flaming Shadows
Dragon Lord of the Underworld
Legions of the Accursed Light
King of the Fleshless Legion
Satan's Murder Machines
Master of the Night-Demons

...and perhaps the best of all:

Hell's Sales Manager