– Resistance Training Bands For Guitar Bass Banjo Piano Finger Speed System - Premium Set of 3 Hand Strengthener Accessories

INTRO:Like most others, my left hand struggled going from "fast" to REALLY FAST when playing lead. It seemed to have good days and bad days. I spent months (well, years by now) practicing various legato exercises, spider riffs, doing stretches watching youtube videos, and so forth with painfully small improvements. Enter an individual named "John" from Mile High Shred Club who at one point was the fastest guitar player as per Guinness World Records. He played Flight of the Bumblebee as 620 BPM! His left hand was a blur, and he recommended these "Riff Bandz" (dreadfully awful name might I add) for left hand speed. I was initially bullish on this product because I had already tried twisting rubber bands around my fingers for months with zero improvement (and lots of strain). But I trusted John, so for $10 I just added them to my cart. When they arrived my initial thoughts were "gee, these things aren't that difficult" and indeed, the more proximal you put them on your fingers the easier they are, so be sure to put them closer to the ends of your fingers. They also seemed to vary in difficulty based on how many frets wide the exercise/riff you're practicing is.PROS:1. I noticed my practice session shrinking to thirty minutes before my forearm would grow tired. I see this as a plus because I used to take a long time (hours or more) practicing and warming up before my fingers felt free to fly around the fretboard. I don't have anymore time to center my life around guitar practice just so I can solo with some of my guitar gods (Dimebag, Zakk Wylde, Panos Arvanitis, Garry Moore, Satchel, Andy James). This product helped me squeeze my practice time in while watching a show with my spouse or before passing out from work.2. The first major performance improvement I saw was my pinky become a lot faster. In the past it was often the finger I dreaded using or I knew would slow me down when performing a fast lick (opting for my middle finger or index). Getting that pinky moving properly helped make certain licks better and helped the adjacent ring finger as well which leads me to my next point.3. Finger independence grew greatly. Pesky licks that focused between fingers 2 and 3 or 3 and 4 suddenly no longer were as rigid, mechanical, or forced.4. Fingers just moved a lot faster. I can't put it any more plainly. It made those key exercises like working on trills or muscle memory repetition of licks that much more impactful in my playing.CONS:1. Like most elastic products, they will wear out and eventually snap - so if you plan on incorporating this into your daily routine then you'll probably need to stock up on these puppies.2. They slightly cut off my circulation (as evidenced in the photo above). My fingers do not go numb or become painful - but they are slightly uncomfortable after extended periods of time.3. I do not feel this product will benefit beginners much in speed, finger independence or technique. A lot of ground can be covered through plain old daily practice and proper right hand exercises. These "riff bandz" are meant to take the individual who can already play with some degree of proficiency to the next level.4. If your right hand picking technique isn't on point then these bandz won't help much unless you're a huge legato player. I recommend Troy Grady as he is the authority on right hand technique.VERDICT:In closing, this is a simple and incredible product that can bust through speed plateaus and supercharge your practice sessions. Probably the best kept secret for weekend warriors that want to tango with those who dedicate their lives to this craft.

Simple.

Provides varying amounts of resistance, more bands, more resistance. Lost one literally within seconds. Very flimsy; but, you don't need strength; what you really need is something to store them in. The packaging doesn't hold them well, they fell out as soon as I opened them, lost one within seconds... So, open them over something like a table. Never found it. Still had enough to provide resistance; if I could only find them now; I would probably still use them. Not very comfortable; but, they do what was promised, and provide a somewhat ignorable resistance for training; I would just liked to have held onto them for a while... Packaging is the cheapest part; next to the item itself. So, if I can ever find them again; perhaps I might give them a better review.

Other reviews aside. I personally like the bands. I am older and suffer from arthritis in both hands. For me, this is a great tool. Keeps my pinky and ring finger from wandering off. When they first arrived I was only able to wear them whole playing for about five minutes. Still on a single band but not quite a full month late and I can wear them a full hour. My personal goal is to get up to two hours and I will use them while playing gigs. I personally feel that my hand shape and finger strength have improved. I have thrown away countless amounts of money over the past 46 years playing on so called tools and aides. Funny how the least expensive and simplest one in my tool box is the one that works.

I really appreciate the extra boost on finger training. it is not only for shredders but for all kind of guitar players. If you want to take yours guitar chops to the next level that's it.Though you wanna go gradually on that riff band, like five minutes at first with one on and release the fingers, wriggling them encourage the blood circulation what is always a good thing to do. then after two weeks of daily rehearsal add one more.By the time I am write this I play with three of them on at ease at my usual speed that's awesome!May be uncomfortable if your index fingers and middle fingers are thicker than 2.7 inches.

The idea of a finger strengthener is ok. But this design/implementation does not work -BAD DESIGN:The band HOLES are TOO SMALL and TIGHT and CUT OFF BLOOD CIRCULATION so my fingers are fat and purple in a matter of minutes.POOR IMPLEMENTATION; All three band sets are the same thickness so they provide the same tension for each one. By adding them together (Using one, two or all three bands) you get three different tension options. BUT if there were three bands in the set that were THREE DIFFERENT STRENGTHS (Controlled by thickness or rubber density) there could be SEVEN different tension combinations making it much MORE VERSATILE tool.VALUE: Come on; $10 for three fancy rubber bands !?! Now I use different rubber bands of different thicknesses by "figure 8ing" them at each finger. It allows for blood flow and there are more variable strengths.Waste of my money and my time...

Do they work? Well, the best I can say is I think they work. I used them for a couple months, every day as I practiced. I did see results to speed and accuracy. Saying that, I was practicing every day, so I should naturally see improvements in speed and accuracy. Now I did feel resistant while practicing and you can feel it in your fingers after you practice. Like they went through a workout.I put them away after a couple of months, because they are not very comfortable. I also feel at times, they get in your way while trying to play more complex passages. Trying to play chords sometimes they will touch or deaden the high B and E strings. They are so tight, they kind of hold your hand in an awkward position which makes it hard to keep the band up off the strings. It’s an interesting idea that I would like to see expanded upon, but in it’s current form it’s more of a gimmick than a useable product.

Thank you