Question:
Hey.. just rediscovered a simple but effective way to strengthen the fingers and add a little speed on guitar.. I used to play basketball alot and did alot of work on my forearms (I'm not a terribly muscular guy, but I play point guard so that's ok ), anyway, I've been out of the game for a little bit so I've kinda neglected it.. but I picked up some forearm grips tonight and soon remembered the guitaristic benefits they bring.. If you have a set of grips (those foam handled V-shaped springy things you get at walmart,) then follow along.. otherwise, they'll be the best $5 you ever spend (except, of course, for the $5 you put towards part of FBL SE...)
ok.. pretty simple.. play your guitar for a couple minutes. good job.
now.. pick up the grips.. do 50 grips on your left hand, 50 on your right, and then 50 combined hands. If you're already exceedingly strong.. do a second set of those. then pick up your guitar again.. if you're anything like me, you should notice a couple things.. first of all, your accuracy will be pretty much shot because you just blasted your poor forearms, but, second of all (and this one is good i promise,) you'll feel like your fingers are flying off the fretboard. Now, I'm not extremely fast, I'm just saying after doing that I'm a noticeable bit faster than normal. Also, your finger strength is better, so barres are tighter, among other things. Of course this is partially from the adrenaline (or whatever it is.. anybody who knows anatomy can help me out) of the exercise, and it wears off relatively quickly.. but if you do that every day you'll start to raise your forearm strength on a more permanent level, which should help with strength and accuray while playing.
I should stress that strengthening your forearm WILL NOT cure bad technique. If your barre/fingering techniques are wrong to begin with (and believe me, I'm still troubleshooting mine) then you may still gain speed and strength, but you aren't playing to your maximum potential.. so this is kinda a supplement to good technique, not necessarily a way to build it. Anyway, I'll try to report on how it goes for me since I'm only just starting again after awhile of being dormant with my workouts...
also.. be sure to stretch your forearms before and after doing any exercises to avoid injury...
the second forearm-ish tip i have (and I think I mentioned this before) is stretching your fingers. Now.. I have pretty small hands. They're a little bit bigger than when I started playing guitar 4 years ago at 16, but that's still not saying much.. anyway, this tip is from basketball too (amazing how different disciplines share common techniques..) When I was playing in high school (about a year before I started playing guitar) I had trouble with handling.. I could barely dribble properly, and my grip on the ball was really bad.. anyway, somebody showed me this stretching technique.. also really simple.. just put the fingertips of your left and right hands together.. then.. pair by pair, starting with thumbs and index fingers, keeping all fingertips together, stretch them apart..
so, you would hold your thumb and index finger stretched apart (stretching sideways) for 10 to 20 seconds, then move on to between your index and middle finger, then between middle and ring, finally between ring and pinky. that should cover both hands..
so. what does that do? well.. back then, i went from really bad handling to being able to palm a basketball (for those of you who don't play, that means to hold it up in the air from the top of the ball with your fingertips... not an easy feat for small hands.) in two weeks.. reeealy upped my stretching ability.. and it transferred over to guitar. I can play alot of really weird stretched out chords now without alot of strain, and I don't have giant Dave Matthews hands..
anyway, just a couple practical tips I hope y'all can use, I'd appreciate any feedback!
Answer:
Darn, this tip involves exercise. Definitely not going to do that.