Home › Forums › Discuss Your Gear › Hand Excersiser
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March 3, 2013 at 5:56 am #4636
Hi,
I’m trying to build up my strength, dexterity, and, most importantly, speed. I was wondering if any of you have evr had any experience with the “hand exercisers” out there. Do they help? In what way?
Here’s the one I’m looking at:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/planet-waves-varigrip-hand-exerciserThanks.
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March 3, 2013 at 12:21 pm #10061
I havent used one,but the reviews on them say they dont last very long before they break
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March 3, 2013 at 6:01 pm #10063
I used to be a fitness geek, for about ten years. Always do exercises requiring preciseion first. If you use the exerciser BEFORE practice, you could fatigue the muscles prior to music practice then your accuracy will suffer. I would isolate exercisng and practicing. On different days if possible and don’t go at it too hard at first, you might wake up in the morning with a charlie horse in your forearm.
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March 3, 2013 at 9:27 pm #10064
If your sore or stiff its not because of lack of muscle. If it was, after 50 years of playing I’d look like Popeye. Most people use WAY TOO MUCH pressure to play guitar. It is better to spend some time learning to relax, it really takes very little pressure to play. I spent time learning to play while holding my thumb or hand away from the back of the neck. If you squeeze the neck you will have to relax every time you need to move your fingers and then regrip the neck. This will not only slow you down but is a recipie for tendonitus or other Repetitive strain injurys. If string bending is difficult try rotating the entire forarm.
Do exercises that develope finger independence and dexterity instead.Gordo
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March 3, 2013 at 9:53 pm #10065
I tried two hand exercises. The first was similar to the one you are asking about and the second was a foam ball with elasticated loops for the fingers to go through. The first was supposed to strengthen the pressing down motion and the foam ball exercised the lifting the finger up away from the ball.
To be honest I did not find either particularly useful. They may have added some hand strength but nothing very noticeable.
There are two exercises which don’t need any special equipment which I have found extremely useful.
The first are spider drills which teach your fingers to work independently of each other.
The second is the finger gym, which builds speed for hammer ons and pull offs.Both can be found on the net.
As with all exercises you have to keep doing them to notice the gains.
I hope this helps.
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March 3, 2013 at 10:41 pm #10066
@Alan Bennett wrote:
I tried two hand exercises. The first was similar to the one you are asking about and the second was a foam ball with elasticated loops for the fingers to go through. The first was supposed to strengthen the pressing down motion and the foam ball exercised the lifting the finger up away from the ball.
To be honest I did not find either particularly useful. They may have added some hand strength but nothing very noticeable.
There are two exercises which don’t need any special equipment which I have found extremely useful.
The first are spider drills which teach your fingers to work independently of each other.
The second is the finger gym, which builds speed for hammer ons and pull offs.Both can be found on the net.
As with all exercises you have to keep doing them to notice the gains.
I hope this helps.
Below is a link to pdf file of a book called Isometrics for Guitarists, its been around for several decades. You might find something useful in it. These exercises were designed specifically with guitar players in mind
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March 4, 2013 at 5:24 am #10068
Silly gadgets…dont need them! Just play aloft and your hands wi get stronger and I have more fin too. Save 12 bucks for strings!
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March 4, 2013 at 5:41 am #10069
@Neiles335 wrote:
Silly gadgets…dont need them! Just play aloft and your hands wi get stronger and I have more fin too. Save 12 bucks for strings!
Thanks for all your help. From what I gathered, they somewhat help with strength. Well I mostly need speed. I’ll try the exercises, and, of course, use the $12 for strings.
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March 4, 2013 at 5:12 pm #10070
@Neiles335 wrote:
Silly gadgets…dont need them! Just play aloft and your hands wi get stronger and I have more fin too. Save 12 bucks for strings!
I have to agree really. I used one many years ago when I was playing bass in bands – didn’t help one bit.
Playing a lot helps 🙂
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March 4, 2013 at 8:44 pm #10071
70s Strat;
I found an Exercise on-line (Tony Brucco I think on guitarjamz, YouTube) that I try to do every time I pick up the guitar… A chromatic walk-up of all 6 strings starting with low E. ie E 01234, A 2345. D 3456.etc. all the way up to High E then still climbing up the neck but back to B, G, D, A, E. Then I reverse the whole procedure right back down to Low E 1st fret. I try to do it accurately, smoothly and quickly…
I found this builds hand strength, dexterity and speed for the left and right hand. You can even sing/hum the notes as you go if you like…much better than a gadget and costs nothing! You can also practise this with all down picking, alternate picking, thumb alone, or finger-style. Try it out… Regards Neil -
March 6, 2013 at 1:31 am #10079
@70s Strat wrote:
Hi,
I’m trying to build up my strength, dexterity, and, most importantly, speed. I was wondering if any of you have evr had any experience with the “hand exercisers” out there. Do they help? In what way?
Here’s the one I’m looking at:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/planet-waves-varigrip-hand-exerciserThanks.
This might sound not so true, but if you go into your practice routine focusing on total relaxation, you’ll find your strength increasing over time with less strain. Dexterity can be achieve by using a technique by placing your fingers slightly about the frets, spread apart. Using one , two fingers set, then one , three fingers set and one , four finger set. Raising just slightly up and down throughout the whole fretboard. It seems tiresome but this also builds a natural feel for distance for the fingers. For speed, just think fast and speed will follow.
The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete
It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete
Pete
Active Melody
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March 9, 2013 at 6:56 am #10133
Hi, I should have posted sooner, but…
I found this – full of exercises.This is a Google search, click on the 6th result, the one labeled PDF, it’s pretty good.
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