hey all, i am pretty new to the bass and have been looking for ways to get more from my practice time. i was looking through musicians friend magazine and saw an ad for finger wieghts. does anyone know if those are worth buying? thanks in advance
Well, they won't cut your practice time, if you practiec 2 hours a day and get finger weights, you should still practice 2 hours a day. finger weights can increase the muscle in your fingers, but should you need more muscle? unless you are having a serious problem holding down frets. agility and dexterity is what you should want. Oh and wrong forum bud, although labeled recording gear and EQUIPMENT, it is refering to recording equipment, this should probably go to general instruction, or misc. but that's not my call.
I've heard bad things about things such as those. I think they do more harm than good. Apparently some piano player from around the turn of the century built a machine to increase his strength while playing, he ended up destroying his hands and could no longer play. To strengthen your hands play more, dont resort to weights.
I can believe it. The thing is - with bass guitar, strength isn't really the issue. You don't need great strength to play - what you need is agility. Technique doesn't come from strength.
Exercising with a normal weight will do much more to your fingers if you do certain exercises, thant those tiny things. and Besides... All you should do to improve speed and strenght in your fingers, is practice. So forget buying those jokes and practice scales!
My wife got one of those "Grip Master" things for rehab after an arm injury. My kids and I tried it out for fun and I was the only one in the family that could depress all the buttons easily even one finger at a time. How did I get that strength? FROM PLAYING THE BASS. You don't need finger weights, you just need to log the hours playing.
They give you some unneeded muscle, and it really cuts into your flexibliity and dexterity, I used them for about a week, then said **** this ****. Stay AWAY!! lolz, _-soto-_