NSD Powerball

nah, just play.

I haven't used that product, but I have had good luck with a foam "squeeze toy":

It's a stress-relief ball from a mental-health clinic. It helps relieve pain from chronic tendinitis and arthritis, and I'm sure there is some strengthening going on as well.

Never used one myself. But I think having the ability to crush your guitar with you pinky may be a bit overkill. I would say, just keep practicing you scales if you want to build up finger strength and speed.

I purchased a book some time ago called Guitar Aerobics. by NELSON TROY It has some great exercises in it. It actually contains an exercise for each day. So you end up with 365 really good licks! I would lean more towards something like that!

I've got one, it fun to play with for a bit - but I'm dubious about its exercise potential...I think there's a limit to how much strength you can gain with it. A limit I exceeded by Bouldering( indoor Rock climbing without ropes), and some simple hand grip type exercisers.

Your hand will get a little stronger, but you will learn no technique. The Powerballs are noisy too, so you cant do it while watching tv, or other down time.

( Also the fact that their official site's 'medical' claims come from Chiropractors puts its 'medical' claims into the land of make believe)

A tennis ball or a dense sponge ball that offers some resistance wwould work pretty the same. Just squeeze it for several minutes at a time with each hand.

Also could be used to warm up before practicing, help loosen and stretch the muscles. But unless you are really weak your hands will develop enough strength by playing.

All these Powerball stuff is just media hype in my opinion. They want a reason to charge you $20 for something worth $1

My girlfriend gave me a "gripmaster", the red one, for my birthday some years ago. I made some exercises with it until I injured my pinky... Be careful. I always read the best solution is just playing the guitar.

Thanks everyone, my hand was hurting after about 5 mins of barre chords, so I was hoping for a quick fix!

I'll forget that idea and focus on playing and try a much cheaper tennis ball instead :D

i've been playing for 15 years, and even when i rock climbed daily, 5 minutes straight of barre chords would leave my wrist burning. that's just how it is.

LOL - thanks, hopefully it will get easier in time...

I have troubles barre chording entire songs. Had a sleep pressure point issue and still rocovering. I'm searching for the right combination of finger placement and easy pressure. It's slowly getting better. My inspiration is that some of the songs I struggle with are the open chord to barre chord changes. On top of that, if I do the whole thing on barre chords, it sounds better.

My other issue is faster paced songs that require otherwise easy chord changes, but ones done fast. I tender to over-squeeze.

By all means, just keep on practicing them. Thats how you get strong.

I have two Powerballs, used them for quite a while, but didn't notice it help my guitar playing much. It works your wrists/forearms much more than your fingers. And you can get a pretty good grip on it without using all your fingers equally, so it won't make your pinky stronger/more dexterous.

I did use it a lot when studying for my final exams, just spinning it constantly at a low speed. Well, when I went to write the exams, I was able to write pages and pages; I noticed in one brutally long exam that I was stopping to stretch my neck, and that half of the class was rubbing their wrists, forearms, etc, from writer's cramp.

It also helped with my golf swing a bit, but then again, my golf game had no where to go but up!

Thanks everyone, I'll just keep practicing... :D