Finger Weights!

Karl Hungus

Yep, you read that right. Check 'em out!

Supposedly they work very well. No idea how much they are or where to buy them though.

Genghiz Cohen

but thats the people selling them saying that, and that guy was no noob, better off practicing scales and trying to get faster each time do that for 15 mins each day and you'll get better fast!

Karl Hungus

Meh, I wouldn't dismiss them. I think the Gripmaster helped me out a bit when I got it.

Genghiz Cohen

speed rather than stregenth, thats my opinion.

Giblet

You don't need any finger strength to play fast, just repetitiion and agility. I think you'd benefit more by actually playing the scale or whatever you wish to bring up to speed.

Voodu Child

Pretty stupid product IMO :rolleyes: Playing fast comes from economy of motion (plus sh*tloads of practice), and not by having big porky strong fingers.

pbsuxok1znja4r

^Definitely. Attempting to use strength in any way to play guitar will not help. All about economy. The only thing you could use it for would be building up opposable thumb strength for heavy barring. But that gets piss easy after a while anyways, so...Useless but probably lucrative product.

Shrimp

perfect. Now I can totally tone my already killer extensor digitorum.

Asiaprod

Scales, scales and more scales is the way to go. One thing my teacher taught me which really does help is to roll a Ping Pong ball around between your fingers, using it to force the fingers wider apart. Use it as a warm up excersise for aount 10 mins before playing, it really does work. Strength is not really required as a string held with 2 lbs of pressure will sound the same as a string held with 10 lbs. I have heard many a musician swear that the increased pressure only adds to damage the top surface of the fret, especially if you are also bending notes, and wears away the fretboard. Accuracy is the thing to aim for, speed will automatically follow.

Rustar

scouser.tommy wrote:

Attempting to use strength in any way to play guitar will not help.

You must be all metal players. Totally disagree on this one....if you do any sort of bending at all, you need finger strength. Jeff Beck, SRV, Angus, and hell, any good blues player has/had finger strength in spades.
Ever pick up an SRV sig Strat? Then you'd know he played 13's on a tree trunk, requiring massive digital strength. And that's how he got that TONE, more than any combination of amp and guitar.

Just pick up a tennis ball once an hour and squeeze it for a minute....or use my method....play bass first!
I rip on 6-string after playing bass for a while!

Giblet

I play a lot of blues, use to play 13's on my old acoustic and bend the crap out of it. That's where I practiced getting my strenght up. I use 10's on my Les Paul now and I don't think about bends, I just do them, however large.

fish-head

Yeah I just play on 11's the whole time and can bend the **** out of them no bother. Anything less just feels too slippy now.. I was thinking of going up again aswell, the higher gauges have fantastic tone.

Quattroste

Never played stronger than 10's on an electric. Does it really make that much difference?

Rustar

Yes it does. Plus the strings last longer and don't break as frequently.

Makes bends harder though, thus the finger-strength-buildup thing.

fish-head

Basically the higher up in the gauges you go, the jazzier the sound starts to become. From what I can hear anyway..