First attempt at looping through (not full) matrix led strip...

"just plain for() loop and if() conditional checking..right?"

Pretty much.

//going up:

for (group = 0; group <7; group = group+1){   // first 7 rows
  for (byte led 1; led  != 0; led = led<<1){
      digitalWrite (SS,LOW);
      SPI.transfer (registerAddress[group]);  // register to write to
      SPI.transfer (ledIn[led]);  // and value       
      digitalWrite (SS,HIGH);
      delay(pause);
}
}
group = 7;  // 8th row
  for (byte led = walking 1 as above){  0000001 to 00001000, 4 LEDs only
      digitalWrite (SS,LOW);
      SPI.transfer (registerAddress[group]);  // register to write to
      SPI.transfer (ledIn[led]);  // and value       
      digitalWrite (SS,HIGH);
      delay(pause);
}
// now backwards, starting with 8th row
  for (byte led = B00001000; led = 0; led=led>>1){ // walk the other way until clear
      digitalWrite (SS,LOW);
      SPI.transfer (registerAddress[group]);  // register to write to
      SPI.transfer (ledIn[led]);  // and value       
      digitalWrite (SS,HIGH);
      delay(pause);
}
for (group = 6; group = 0; group = group -1){
  for (byte led = B10000000; led = 0; led=led>>1){ // walk the other way until clear
      digitalWrite (SS,LOW);
      SPI.transfer (registerAddress[group]);  // register to write to
      SPI.transfer (ledIn[led]);  // and value       
      digitalWrite (SS,HIGH);
      delay(pause);
}
}