Is there any exercises I can do when I'm at school or somewhere else away from my axe to increase the strength and even accuracy of my fingers? I can't pick or fret nearly as fast as I'd like to, and if doing exercises throughout the day during class will help my dextarity (sp?) I'm all ears

I've got this little contraption called a Gripmaster which is intended to be used to increase finger strength. I never used it consistently enough to know if it makes much of a difference. I'll have to dig it out and give it another try.

Just Google Gripmaster and you should find it.

A guitar pupil of mine uses one of those and likes it (gripmaster). I think I've heard people on about squash balls too and how squeezing them can increase hand strength. You can purchase a thing called a shred neck which is a mini guitar neck, with strings, that you can carry about with you. No picking involved but it'll do wonders for your legato technique. Bear in mind though that it's important that you don't overdo it with any of these gadgets.

A tennis ball works, one of the classic ways to improve strength.

Or you could start card flourishing. That could interrupt lessons, though, as expectedly you'd drop your cards a lot in the beginning.

hmm, well, i've got a thing in the shape of a 'V' that has some resistance to it that you squeeze together to increase hand/forearm strength, but i was wondering about any exercises i could just do with my fingers without any gadget, just my fingers on a desk or bare hand that i can do in school while at my desk