finger strength

[danish]

i'm working on learning some new chords, and i'm struggling on some of them because my smallest finger is weak. what are some excercises that i could do to strengthen it?

also, when you form calluses on your fingers, do you lose all the feeling in the tips of your fingers?

[disturbed_pyro]

I think just trying to play more and more with your pinky will strengthen it. I've tried doing trills (rapid hammers and pulls), dunno if that'll help ya that much though.
I kinda think you lose feeling in your fingers with calluses, cuz I can't feel a damn thing!! But that's probably better than them being painful when I play.

[danish]

yeah, well i still have quite a bit of feeling in my fingertips so i guess i haven't formed calluses yet

[ziggy]

Has anyone heard of using 'Tincture of Benzoin" to hasten the formation of callouses on the fingers?

[cyberfret]

Originally posted by ziggy
Has anyone heard of using 'Tincture of Benzoin" to hasten the formation of callouses on the fingers?

I don't know what that is, but the name alone makes me want to say stay away from it. Calluses are formed by the irritation of your finger tips. The way to develop calluses quicker is just to irritate your fingers more. After you are finished playing for the day, irritate the entire surface of your fingers by pressing down on the strings with different parts of your finger tip.

--Shawn