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Hand exercisers?

Christian Schulze

Hot Topic Tourer
Rockstar Student
Nov 11, 2019
715
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2,356
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Spain
5
  • #1
    Happy holidays Syn Fam!

    So I have noticed that my hand needs to be stronger. It fatigues way to easily. Been using 10 gage strings, so nothing too fancy.

    I saw that D'Addario sells this hand exerciser for stronger hands. Anybody have any experience with them? Any exercises for hand strenght?
     

    idssdi

    Sold-out Crowd Surfer
    Nov 11, 2019
    5,336
    6,754
    Groningen
    11
  • #2
    Never used one, I really just practice a lot and after a while it comes naturally for me. Try bending a string a halve step up hold it, Bend it further to a full step and hold it, Bend it further to one a halve step and release. This will do roughly the same but doesn't require you to buy one of those things and is a cool lick too!
     
    Reactions: Kai C and Christian Schulze

    Lucas Weiman

    Free Bird Player
    Nov 11, 2019
    59
    157
  • #4
    Never had to use one. Usually if your hand gets tired that just means you need to put in consistent practice on your guitar for a few weeks and your hand will get stronger... BUT there are a few minor technique improvements that must be used if you want to avoid creating that excess tension. what types of notes are you playing that creates the fatigue? ... example: Barre Chords, Power chrods, single notes, etc?
     

    Donovan Etue

    Campfire Attention Holder
  •
    • Nov 11, 2019
    437
    682
    Washington State
    2
  • #6
    I own one but I really don't use it much. Playing guitar regularly has helped me more than the exerciser has. Doing warmups before hand will help as well as doing long stretches to get things stretched out and used to toughen up the hands. The day I picked up guitar I could just barely reach the 5th fret from the first. After playing for 9 months I can easily do 5 and with a little bit of effort cleanly play the 1st and 6th fret. Just takes time and a bit of effort to work up finger/hand stamina man! You'll get there though! Also might I suggest if you aren't using the classical position to try that out for a week or two and see how you like it? I've noticed a tremendous difference in how comfortable it is to play when swapping from standard to classical position especially on the fingers and wrist!
     
    Reactions: Christian Schulze and Lindsey

    Adin Shepherd

    Music Theory Bragger
    Nov 11, 2019
    480
    2
    927
    Melbourne, Australia
  • #7
    Don't waste your time and money. As others have said stretch and warm up, then do some excercises on the guitar. A couple of good ones are trills (see HERE for some great excercises) and 'push ups', essentially bends, start around the middle of the fretboard where the string tension is less, moving further up/down the fretboard to increase string resistance. Try and hit target notes while doing these also.

    Doing this will not only improve strength and stamina it has the added bonus of improving technique!
     
    Reactions: Christian Schulze and Kai C

    Jesse Salmons

    Stairway to Heaven Tab Studier
    Nov 11, 2019
    501
    1,292
    26
    Indiana
    8
  • #8
    What everyone else said, stretch, warm up your fingers. What i used to do was similar to what Ids said. I would do all sorts of bends ( a la “another brick in the wall pt. 2” solo.) and pre bends, and trills. Hell, learn how to play the intro to thunderstruck without picking any notes! You can do the same with the lead verse licks in “hail to the king. Even though in all reality these are all alt. Picked, its a good way to build up hand strength!
     

    Firsty Lasty

    New Student
    Nov 11, 2019
    278
    284
  • #9
    Hand strength means basically two possible things. #1 getting efficient at specific motions, which you develop by relaxing and focusing on playing correctly and #2 actual strength, which should be primarily developed with actual weights. There is nothing you can possibly do with a guitar which will develop your grip the way raw deadlifts or 'fat gripz' on dumbbells can. You wont get even 1% of the results.
     
    Reactions: Christian Schulze

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