Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmaster?

[nonamemx]

Hello. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I use 10's because I really like the sound. They have great tone, and they are as loose feeling as I can get without going into 9's. (Which seems like a huge gap for some reason, like there should be several guages between 10's and 9's.

I feel restrained by the 10's, and I tried 9's the other day, but they didnt last more than an hour before I couldnt stand the thin tone any longer, and I ran directly back to the store for 10's.

I guess I have 2 questions:

A.) Handstrength. How can I get lots of it, primarily in my lazy ring and pinky fingers? I use them all the time when playing, to give them a good workout, but they dont seem to get any braver. Is the Gripmaster thing a good tool? or is it just a gimmick?

What techniques or tools or exercises can I use to get my ring and pinky fingers up to the level my middle and index fingers are at? In both strength and speed/agility.

B.) How do professionals get away with using 9's? Yngwie even uses 8's! How do they keep from having a paper thin tone? Or do they just cover it up with gobs of overdrive?

Thanks.

[LesPaulCustom]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmaster?

<font color="yellow">A good way to gain finger strength/independence is to do chromatic exercises across the neck, meaning just use your third and 4th finger to do say 5th fret/6th fret on the low E and go through all the strings and come back on 7th fret High E and 6th fret and back down the strings across the neck.

Also, bend strings for 1/2 step, full step, and 1 1/2 step bends using just your 3rd and 4th fingers.

3-note per string scales also help as there is a lot of 3rd/4th finger notes to grab.

Exercises don't always have to be musical, just mechanical....

</font>

[KevinDguitar]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmaster?

Have you tried using a hybrid guage set like 9-46,which kind of splits the difference between 9's and 10's?
The third and fourth fingers can be a little trick as far as indepence goes because they share some musclature and connective tissue. IMO, and only my opinion, lol...strength isn't nearly as important as accuracy in terms of developing speed. Trying to stay loose and relaxed will usually result in a speedier hand...take notice of any tensing of your hand, forearm, shoulder, even tensing your jaw/gritting your teeth...its a sign that you aren't fuly relaxed. If the muscles are already tense with no give..they have no where to go...then add a little nerves/stagefright or stress/frustration from not being able to play exactly what you want, how you want and it can seem like you're just practicing yourself into circles fast. I've never recommended that a student use any of those exercisers...I always worry about that stuff aggravating any tendonitis or CT problems..not to mention ulnar nerve problems. As far as the accuracy thing goes, try and make sure that you're fretting the notes just on or to the back side of the fret wire and let it do the work for you. I also always get my students into the habit of easily stretching their hands in a sink full of warm water before they practice intense stuff (especially on cold days or before performing in cold rooms)..it increases bloodflow and helps you warmup a little faster...also saves you some money on strings in the long run..I also see students try to rush through warming up to get to the good stuff..just go slow and stay loose and fluid..just like in martial arts..technique and speed will result in power. The more relaxed you can stay..you can play twice as fast and only work half as hard. Hope this helps.
God Bless,
Kevin

[Ace]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmast

I totally agree with what Kevin said. I play fast as hell, some songs I trem pick at 240 bpm for over a minute at a time. On cold days as soon as I get to the jam room I set up my gear and turn on my power amp to standby. Then I jam my hands in my pockets for about 15 minutes, wiggling my fingers. If I wiggle ten or eleven is up to me.

Then I pick up my guitar and do a little noodling around in a relaxed style. I also stretch my fingers a bit every now and then. When my blood is flowing decently, we start the set. The set starts right now with a feedback/droning intro, and I use that time to psyche myself up to get ready to play what follows. The funky-time blast beat riff, straight into the lightning hammer-on to two-handed tapping riff, and it goes off from there. At home it takes me about 20 minutes of playing to reach the point where I can play my songs "right".

I also endorse the relaxed muscle part. I throw my hands around the fretboard like I'm convulsing, and any stiffness would kill me. I think of my hands as being relaxed, yet firm. You have to relax them or they'll tense up, but too relaxed and you'll get sloppy.

I play 12's in E and I don't have any problems with them. I just practice, practice, practice.

As for building up your ring and middle fingers, my ring finger has always worked well as part of the "team". For several years I didn't really use my pinky at all, but I just slowly started working it into the fold. If you look at your hand(or mine anyways) you'll see that the thre biggest fingers are within 1/2" of each other in length, where the pinky is a full 3/4" shorter than the ring finger next to it. It simply isn't up there with the other ones. I play mostly my own music, so I just started writing riffs that used my pinky and practiced them. Now I can play with my pinky at about 85% of the ability of my other fingers. It's fast enough, but there's just a shade less strength there.

And as for string gauges, they make 9.5, and you can get more tone out of thinner strings with EQ.

[thetroy]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmast

Practice 3 note per string scales WITHOUT using your first finger. So your fingering pattern will be 2 3 4 on every string, regardless of the shape. That has done wonders for me. Also the suggestion to play 2 notes per string using the 3rd and 4th finger is a good one. Play something like this:

--------------------4-5-6-5-
----------------4-5---------6-5-
------------4-5-----------------6-5-
--------4-5-------------------------6-5-
----4-5---------------------------------6-5-
4-5-----------------------------------------6-5-6-7-etc
fingering
3-4-3-4-3-4 then 4-3-4-3-4-3 on the way down

[nonamemx]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmast

alright, good stuff.

Im going to try this stuff. I do relax though, Im one of the most relaxed people I know. It gets me in trouble sometimes [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

My ring finger is pretty strong, I guess its really just my pinky thats lazy. It doesnt really have any power.

Ill work on this stuff, thanks guys! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[SeventhSon]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmast

+1 regarding relaxing.

In that regards I always like exercises that sound like licks that also help you work on your phrasing. Why? because phrasing a lick to a beat, for some reason, helps you relax. I think the more musical it sounds, the more you relax. With that said, here's an 11-note per beat (yes, I have to do it at a slow bpm [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img])lick that I invented for myself to increase the accuracy of my pinky...in particular when it is required to land on the correct note on the next string of the pattern. The odd 11-notes per beat pattern helps me practice "feeling" how to fit the phrase into the beat rather than try to "count" it out with 1-e-and-uh type counting.

It's all hammer ons and pull offs except for the very 1st note and the 6th note in each pattern which are picked.

14-15-14-12----12----------------|
------------15----15-14-15-14-12-|
---------------------------------|
---------------------------------|
---------------------------------|
---------------------------------|

---------------------------------|
14-15-14-12----12----------------|
------------15----15-14-15-14-12-|
---------------------------------|
---------------------------------|
---------------------------------|

---------------------------------|
---------------------------------|
14-15-14-12----12----------------|
------------15----15-14-15-14-12-|
---------------------------------|
---------------------------------|

---------------------------------|
---------------------------------|
---------------------------------|
14-15-14-12----12----------------|
------------15----15-14-15-14-12-|
---------------------------------|

---------------------------------|--
---------------------------------|--
---------------------------------|--
---------------------------------|--
14-15-14-12----12----------------|--
------------15----15-14-15-14-12-|14(hold with vibrato)

[axeman81]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmast

start working out at a gym. I did (not because of lack of playing strength though) but I feel very strong when playing now.
Also ALWAYS REMEMBER warm up and stretch lightly before and after playing. (same goes for being in the gym of course)

good luck,
- Rune

[SeventhSon]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmast

Rune angry! Rune go to gym! Rune smash! Then Rune shred like a mofo and score with hot Norwegian chicks! [img]/images/graemlins/band.gif[/img]

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmast

just practice scales with a metronome in every conceivable picking sequence you can think of. Start slow and build up speed and accuracy over time. If you do this every day you increase your speed and strength. I use 10's too and use the 3 notes per string rule most of the time.

[1trussell]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmast

Start playing with 11's. Play everything as you normally do for a little while, then switch back to 10's. You'll be amazed at how much easier bending the crap out of 10's are.

Personally, I use 11's tuned to E and E flat myself. I've been thinking about trying out some 12's just for the hell of it.

[jgcable]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmast

1. relax
2. warm up
3. rip your guitar to shreds. The more you practice the stronger your fingers will be. I teach advanced students and I can always tell who is practicing and who isn't because 20 minutes into the lesson the non-practicing students cramp up and crap out.
The ultimate in hand and finger strength building for guitar is playing a 12 or 6 string acoustic.
I practice on a nylon acoustic and a 12 string acoustic almost exclusively. Try ripping solos on a 12 string, bends and all. Seriously, practice alot but make sure you relax and warm up first.

[Ace]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmast

They crap out after 20 minutes? Shit, I play for 20 minutes before I even hit the standby switch sometimes. I've been known to put in 5-8 hour days. THAT'S how you build finger strength. You have to work up to that though, just practice as long as you can until you get tired, then the next time you will be able to do it longer, and so on...

[axeman81]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmast

[ QUOTE ]
Rune angry! Rune go to gym! Rune smash! Then Rune shred like a mofo and score with hot Norwegian chicks! [img]/images/graemlins/band.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]
[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[tyrant21]

Re: Hand Strengh problems (fretting hand) Gripmast

I would highly suggest picking up a nylon string and start practicing some classical guitar, even if it's just some of the exercises. Some things to get your weak fingers in shape quick:
on electric:
the steve vai trills, just trill(constant pull-off/hammer ons) one finger for a minute straight, then switch to a different finger combination.

on acoustic:
do pulloffs while picking in between each pull-off, and do a rest stroke with your left hand. What I mean is, if you are doing a pull-off on, say, the b string, pull your finger down off of it and rest it on the e. Repeat this over and over, it helps get a strong clean pull-off sound unamplified and without any distortion.