Finger Strengthening

[schaadrack]

Any of you players ever try these finger strengtheners? Supposed to increase strength, speed and dexterity. I never tried the various brands, but, rather curious as to if they work.

[merciful-evans]

I havnt so I dont really know, but I dont see how it can improve dexterity & speed.

 

What I do know is that there is an awful lot of BS that is adopted because of 'trigger' words such speed

 

Practice is the best form of finger exercise. I know you cant always have your guitar with everywhere but beware of overusing any part of you with skeletal joints. Both my thumbs are affected by Osteoarthritis which now limits my playing.

 

Even young people can overdo things. My dr told me that Post Mortems of US marines (after Gulf war) showed a high percentage of them had the joints of people twice their age because of all that intensive training.

[schaadrack]

Thanks Merc. I agree with you and remain skeptical about items that use buzz words like 'faster' 'stronger' increased 'dexterity.' I would think if finger strengtheners worked, someone who played trumpet would be a whiz on guitar A quick aside. These new ideas are not so new. The classical composer Tchaikovsky the pianist, wanted to lengthen his reach on the piano, so he hung light weights to his' fingers when he slept. It nearly ruined his playing. True story.

[kidblast]

I can't see how they would. The only way through this is drill your scales and use the guitar not the gimmicks. Just mho been playing for 50 years, and yes. I can shred when the time is right.

[Pin]

I agree with all that is said above.

 

There is just no substitute for practice.

 

Merc's advice is particularly apposite about over-doing it. I have to be careful with my left hand (fretboard hand) because of a badly broken thumb years ago which limits certain positions (no thumb hooked over Hendrix chords) and my right wrist because of arthritis. There are traces of arthritis in the fingers of my left hand but not a problem...yet.

[sg50]

I don't know how your guitar is set up, but strength isn't a factor for me. It takes little strength to depress and bend the strings. Muscle memory is important, that reinforces the practice scales on real guitars argument.

 

You might fall into that category where playing a 5 minute barre chord progression is painful on your thumb. You may get a little better by playing the chords to the point of fatigue, resting and repeating, but what's probably happening is that your body just doesn't bend that way. Try a different neck profile, or hold your guitar at a different angle, or move your thumb to a more comfortable position, I bet you'll get more mileage out of ergonomics than straining your hands.

 

As far as speed goes, watch a shredder's hands. Their hands are not that fast, probably no faster than yours. The difference is that they're optimizing each hand's movements so that together, they make more notes with less movement and less effort. They've spent a lot of time coordinating movements and studying which patterns yield the best results. A shredder is unlikely to lift his finger off the fret board any higher than is required, but others might fully extend their fingers between notes. It takes more time to extend a finger, and that reduces speed.

 

Another example: you can hold down a few strings with your index finger and between notes from the other fingers, you can sneak in an extra note that your index finger is already holding, which gives your other fingers more time to get to a new position.

 

I've been undergoing hand therapy recently due to a finger injury, and the exercises for recovery generally require no props (search hand exercises to get an idea). Those that do require a prop are usually strength training for your grip and recommend clay or a stress ball, but not one of those strengthening things. I think those things are gimmicks.