D'Addario Varigrip Finger Strengthener with Fiddilink - Finger Exerciser and Guitar Trainer with Simulated Strings for Callus Building - Strengthening and Coordination Tool for Guitar Players

Delivered very quickly, well made and very good value for money.I have only used it for a few days and I am already feeling the difference in my grip strength!

This is a useful device for strengthening your grip. The pressure you have to exert on each finger is considerable, so I think that some people with weaker grips may find it difficult to push the pins down. The little finger in particular is difficult, as each pin has equal tension. Frequent use should help there, as that's the point of the exerciser.The moulded base that is supposed to simulate strings is not much use, as it doesn't simulate the feel of real guitar stings as you would press them on a guitar fretboard. You won't develop the toughness in the tips of your fingers, which you will get from real guitar practice, from using this item.Also, the adjustment cogs do not make any real difference to the tension in my experience.Overall, I recommend this product for the basic tension and comfort in using. However, I cannot give full marks to a product that doesn't deliver on all its stated claims.

This is AMAZING! I am a beginner bassist and this is really helping me to strengthen my ring and small fingers, also good for speed too. Not only that, you flip the rubber piece over to the other side and it really helps you to build the calluses. This is seriously one of the best items I have bought on Amazon. I have it on my desk so whilst working or in meetings I just exercise my fingers. I highly recommend the Varigrip hand exerciser !

I have to admit I do like this, in fact I love it. I think it's brilliant. It's well built, and it's clear D'Addario have put some real thought into it's practicality and how it'll benefit your guitar playing. This isn't a corporate fad designed to milk money out of novice guitar players who might think they need every single guitar accessory on the face of this planet. (The experienced ones I know who have been playing for over a decade also found this useful in their own way and considered getting one themselves.)The packaging it comes in (a card with the exerciser affixed to it) has a list on the back of all the different exercises you could essentially incorporate, ranging from building finger calluses to strengthening muscles and training them for bar chords.I started using this every day, playing around with it and giving the muscles a good flexing which I began to reap the benefits of. I could hold chords for longer and the fingers felt more agile when finger-picking. The callus builder (located underneath the grey strip seen in the picture) I was initially skeptical of, since it's "string simulator" is three lines that somewhat represent the thinner strings, but they're more raised groves in the plastic body as opposed to real guitar strings which I feel would have been better, or metal at the least.Nevertheless, they do show promise, and the fingertips feel toughened. The ability to change the tension on each finger press (via turning the small dials for each) allows me to slowly improve the strength in the little fingers while stepping it up for the main three which are much stronger (of course, as they said too, favouring certain fingers isn't ideal.)It fits into the pocket nicely and works great as a warm up before an intense session, or in your spare time when you know there's something you need to work on. It's versatile, strong and definitely serves me well. Highly recommended, espcially for a tenner.

As a guitarist I'm a bit cranky about things that might affect my ability to play and, helping an elderly friend with her gardening I used many 2-stroke power tools for a while until my hands began to ache and feel a bit seized up. When those danger signs came along I stopped using the equipment and broke out the elbow grease, but still needed to rehabilitate my hands from the RSI-inducing traumas of power tools.This has proven perfect to do just this. Physiotherapy is all about very subtle movements that bring back the use of hands, and any other limbs for that matter, and the D'Addario hand exerciser has really helped me to bring back the deterity that I need to continue with my guitars.It can be used in either hand, with the grey cushioned part against your palm and your fingers on the pressure pads in either orientation, a bit like ambidextrous trumpet keys. Exercising is something you can do while waiting for something else to happen, such as a kettle boiling or a WAV file to be rendered in your DAW! Just pick it up, spend a minute on each hand every day, and you should keep hand function going for a long time.It takes me all my strength to press some of the keys, but that;s not really what it's about so much as flexure of the joints and a building up of musculature that does so much to protect joints and even reverse the symptoms of arthritis (as happened several years ago with one of my knees - I managed to get back to walking miles from barely being able to walk at all).Used little and often, this is a great aid to hand function and deterity. This is one gadget that really needed an extra 6th star for the rating.

It looks and feels well made. It performs quite well in a number of configurations, and it all depends on what you expect from it.I was a bit disappointed that the tension was as strong as it is at it's weakest setting - this makes it difficult to use as a practise aid for finger co-ordination - for example for finger picking guitar or trumpet etc. Weaker springs would have made this much easier, and tension could be increased if desired. I bought the varigrip mainly to exercise my fingers at the onset of arthritis, and I'm not sure that it will actually help. This is mainly because it is difficult to use the grip to bend specific finger joints enough, and I now also have my doubts about strength exercises actually easing the symptoms of arthritis anyway. No doubt the grip will improve the strength of fingers, hand and wrist, if that's what you want.