JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Bass and Drum Forum Finger Exercises and Warm Up Tips

Hey Vondelle, for strength, I lift weights, three times a week. I'll take a 20 pound dumbell, sit down and rest my forearm on my leg, parallel to my leg and the ground so my leg supports the forearm, then I lift the weight with my wrist. I do 15 reps with my palm side up and 15 with my palm side down, then move to the other arm. I don't, though, recommend starting like this. Start with a light weight, maybe 2 or 3 pounds with ten reps.

Another good exercise is standing up, you hold a single sheet of newspaper by it's corner in your hand, knuckle side up, with your arm straight out in front of you. Then crumple the newspaper sheet until it's just a ball of paper in your hand. Do it with both arms. You'll be surprised what a good exercise this is.

The advanced forearm excercise is done with a broomstick. You drill a hole in the broomstick and thread a rope through, tying it in a knot to keep it attached. Tie the other end of the rope to a weight...traditionally it's a bucket of water, but you could tie it to a barbell weight. Then hold the broomstick in both hands, knuckles up, arms straight out in front of you, and "wind" the rope on the broomstick raising the weight up, then slowly unwind it, lowering the weight.

These are great forearm exercises for increasing the grip.

Diet's important too. Unfortunately, I have two competing medical conditions which cause me to have to eat only lettuce, rice krispies and water.

Tom, I had a dog bite my right hand and still don't have the feeling in all of my right index finger. A dead dog bit my hand...well...it's dead now, anyway.

Herbie. I've worked for years at keeping my hands in good shape, so what do I get? Arthritis in my shoulders.

Steve, great info. I'm a big Carol Kaye fan. Learning the upright bass brought me to the index, middle, little finger technique (the traditional technique for upright) and I use it almost exclusively on the electric. One thing they do on the doghouse is use the upper fingers to support the lowers, if you use your pinky, you have the index, middle and ring down on the string too, helping press that sucker down. Carol Kaye RULES.