what do you guys do other than play the guitar to get your picking hand better and your fingering?

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I use a gripmaster for fingerstrength. and I train my forearms for more stamina. just rest your arm on your leg while sitting. grap a weight and move your hand towards you and back without moving your arm. It's a very small motion. sorry for sucky explanation being dutch and all

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I used to do that(using wieghts to train my forearms) before i ever played guitar. I also used to put my hand palm down on a flat surface and lift each finger up and down about 100 times each to build up my finger strength. But really the best way is to keep playing guitar. Try to do trills with each finger too to build up strength.

i just play guitar. I find that working out really fucks with my stamina and so I usually don't play much during the week. One weekends though when my forearms have recovered from working out I can play quite long. To build up finger strength just force yourself to use fingers (I'm presuming the pinky) more than usual. I also do air guitar while driving and play on my steering wheel. I just keep playing and pick and shit like I'm actually playing and I can feel a burn if it is a long drive. Also learn to do power chords with pinky and middle finger...that can help build up strength. You'll probably notice that you suck at it at first like doing slides, but it will build up just like your ring and index finger did when you first started.

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I used to have one of these suckers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynabee
Sometimes when it wasn't convienient to drag out the guitar in the car on the way to practice I'd use this to warm-up and strengthen my forearms and wrists. I hear it's especially good for drummers. They're impossible to break unless you drop one really, really hard. I don't know if they sell them or not, but I bought mine from a sports store.

I agree with Thorns though - there's nothing like the guitar.
As I mentioned before, I use a Stylus Pick when I practice alternate picking lines not really to develop strength, but accuracy [and speed = accuracy] for my picking hand.
Something for developing right hand strength on the guitar would be like practicing the 'Master Of Puppets' riff all downstroked for a couple of hours or, if you're a maniac, the Berzerker's 'Massacre' riff.
In my experience doing trills with each finger/finger pairs for building strength is the best way to go about developing them. You gotta check out Rusty Cooley's Legato Workout to know what I'm talking about.

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Im a mechanic so my hands are working 9 hours a day 5 days a week, then i go home after each day of work and lift weights for one hour, eat supper then play guitar for 2+ hours, and on weekends i play guitar for 4-6 hours per day.So basically all my strength comes from my daily activities. It has made a HUGE difference in my guitar playing since i started all of this about 2 years ago. Check out the band in my sig.... Your Envy

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i wish i had the discipline to play 4-6 hours and day or 2+ hours a day...i'm lucky if i play even a minute a day...or even over 30 minutes...

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You can get Dynabees here in Sweden but they're called Powerballs now.

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Yeah powerballs are killer!

Try practicing on a badly made and heavy handed acoustic guitar. If nothing else, it'll make you appreciate a nice necked electric guitar and give you the impression your arms have undergone miracles

True. My first guitar - still used frequently - has a neck so badly warped, that when I'm fretting the 3d, 12th still easily has a centimeter left to the board.

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I usually play, to build fingering and picking speed

I dont know man, its always worked for me

personally for me, i will tryout different kinds of patterns in my guitar playing.i will search the pattern that will make my hand get the 'burning sensation' haha fuck i dont know what's the real word.keep on practice until the sensation is gone then you will realise your finger strength had strengthen a bit.

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That reminds me when some people show me their guitar, its usually some old ratty no-name warped peice of shit thats been sitting under their bed for 15 years, and their like "can you show me a few things on it".... im like fuck, what do i say hahaha "Your shit guitar does not meet my standards"???! Really though, how do you play a guitar that you cant even tune?

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Or show them a few things, perhaps? But I see what you mean.
For all the good it might do, I'll join the ones who say that playing is the best way to improve your finger/hand strength. For the very simple reason that in the end you will not only be stronger in the hands, you'll be a better guitar player!

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