Finger Strength

[desmauler]

Hey guys! Just going through and seeing what finger exercises everyone is using to build up muscle in their hands, anyone got some really good ones?

[atomic charvel guy]

Re: Finger Strength

i have a headache way that works.
bend notes at the 1st and 2nd frets with each of the fingers on your fret hand by themselves. lots of them. try and shake 'em too.
it's no fun but it works.

[Miffy rules]

Re: Finger Strength

Use heavy gauge.

[No Use]

Re: Finger Strength

randy's trick- Go up the neck hammering up 1 string at a time each fret. do that everyday with all fingers, (like each string of the 1st fret with the index, then acorss the 2nd fret with the middle fnger and so on).

i hope that made sense! if not, you can pick up your local Guitar World!

[desmauler]

Re: Finger Strength

Originally posted by Miffy rules:
Use heavy gauge.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I am guessing 11's would be fine?

[Miffy rules]

Re: Finger Strength

I think so. I used .10 before and for me it's quite heavy. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Immortal]

Re: Finger Strength

Originally posted by atomic charvel guy:
i have a headache way that works.
bend notes at the 1st and 2nd frets with each of the fingers on your fret hand by themselves. lots of them. try and shake 'em too.
it's no fun but it works.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, bending the lowest string on first fret is similiar to suicide. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Immortal]

Re: Finger Strength

Originally posted by Miffy rules:
I think so. I used .10 before and for me it's quite heavy. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Pussy. [img]graemlins/evilimages/icons/tongue.gif[/img] (J/K) [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I use 11-52 and they feel so soft and floppy to me. I am looking to get some 60's or above for D tuning.

I think I am the the only one that has this problem. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[desmauler]

Re: Finger Strength

didnt SRV use 13's or something, I remember reading that his strings were incredibly hard to bend, which made his solo's even that more amazing

[skidd]

Re: Finger Strength

He used 13's tuned down a 1/2 step. I use 10's in a440 11's in Eb and 12's with a 70 for a low e in Eb with a drop Db (low e string)on my Les Paul.


Use 10s tune to A440. Work as many finger exercises as know up and down the neck with a metronome. Simple 1-2-3-4 stuff is great until you get going. Do all pull offs, then all hammer ons ,then combos etc. Spend at least a ½ hour a day and you will see major improvements in a few weeks.

[fuel0707]

Re: Finger Strength

Steve Morse had a very good exercise for strength and independence in one of his videos. What you do is put all of your fingers on one strings, one finger per fret. Then, one at a time, reach up and do hammer-ons and pull-offs with one finger while keep the other three fingers anchored on the higher string.

Put another way, put your fingers on the B string, say from the 3rd fret to the 6th fret. Then take your index finger which was at the 3rd fret/B string and start doing hammers and pulls on the 3rd fret/G string while keeping your other fret hand fingers on the B string. Then do a series of hammers and pulls with your middle finger on the 4th fret/G string, while keep all of your other fingers on the B string. Repeat with all four fingers. It's a real killer for the third and fourth fingers, I found. But it does build strength and independence.

[delt]

Re: Finger Strength

part of Rusty Cooley's "legato workout" from his CD "Shred guitar manifesto" - this is a simple but amazingly effective one, you'll discover new muscles in your left hand i swear!

Start with a half-step shape, ie. using fingers 1 and 2, play this:
( a ^ between notes means legato: hammer-on, pull-off)

----------------------1^2^1----------------------
------------------1^2-------2^1------------------
--------------1^2---------------2^1--------------
----------1^2-----------------------2^1----------
------1^2-------------------------------2^1------
--1^2---------------------------------------2^1--

Then move it up the fretboard to frets 2 and 3, then 3 and 4, then 4 and 5, etc. until you go all the way up the fretboard, then back down. After you played it on all the frets and back, do the same with fingers 2 and 3. and then with fingers 3 and 4.

After that you can do the same thing with whole-step patterns. say, begin on frets 1-3, play this with fingers 1 and 3, then with 2 and 4, then with 1 and 2, then with 2 and 3, etc....

Next, minor thirds (3 frets apart) with fingers 1 and 4, then 1 and 3, then 2 and 4.

Then, major thirds (4 frets apart), then another fret apart (starts to stretch!!) as far as you can go

... that's it for 2 notes per string.

now the first pattern for 3 notes per string is frets 1, 2, 4. Do this one with fingers 1-2-4, then with 1-2-3 and 2-3-4.

Then pattern 1-3-4, with the same fingerings as previous.

Then some stretch patterns like 1-2-5, 1-3-5, 1-4-5

and after that, the 4 notes per string stuff, i won't write all the combinations here cause there's tons of them.... !!

Remember to play each fingering of each pattern starting from the 1st fret, on all the strings and back, then same thing starting on the 2nd fret, etc. all the way up the fretboard, and then back down.

[delt]

Re: Finger Strength

oh - forgot to mention, for the stretches that you can't do fast because they're too wide, just start higher on the fretboard, like 5th fret, or even 10th fret for really extreme stretches. Hardest for me is gaps between fingers 2 and 3.

[me wise majic]

Re: Finger Strength

One I got off Metal Method is 0 2 1 3 2 4 2. Starting on either E string go up the neck to the twelveth(sp)fret open, middle finger, index finger, ring finger, middle finger, pinky, middle finger. As I said up to the 12th fret, when your middle finger hits the 12th fret go back down the neck then move from one string to the next.

Lynch's 4 5 9 stretch is impossible for me.

[Ace]

Re: Finger Strength

I grab a piece of shit guitar with rusty, thick strings and an action that's like .012" and I fight with it and fight with it until I can force death metal out of it. Then I pick up one of my metal machines and my fingers fucking FLY.