By Jim Basara
This is the sixth and final installment of my Winter NAMM Award series. In this article, the category is “Hmmmm, on Second Thought….” These are products that I originally thought were candidates for the “What Were They Thinking” category, but later felt there might actually be a market for it.
Only one product made enough of an impression on me that I reconsidered my initial judgement – the
Shred Neck, pictured to the right. The Shred Neck is about 1/3rd of a full guitar neck that with a flare on the bottom so that it rests comfortably on your leg. It is designed so that you can do finger exercises with one hand. When I first saw it, I thought “you must be kidding me.” But the next day, when I found out that I had to make an 8 hour drive for work the week after NAMM, I started to wonder if there might actually be something to the Shred Neck idea. I went back and picked one up, and took it with me on my trip last week. I have to say that this is the best finger strengthening tool I’ve ever tried, because your hand is in a natural position and you are working out on real strings. During my drive, I did strengthening exercises, practiced scales, and worked on pull-offs and hammer-ons. I admit that this is a really cool practice device.
Now, neither the company nor I recommend using this product while you are driving. Only a complete idiot would do that. It makes a great practice tool when you are sitting at a desk, sitting on an airplane, watching TV or whatever. If you’re an amateur player with limited practice time, this tool can make a significant difference in your playing by expanding the number of hours that your fingers are touching strings.
So, that’s it for the Winter NAMM awards. I hope you enjoyed them. See you next year.
I think you write good, that picture is also very cool, I like your article, see you next time a new article!
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