Finger and hand strength is essential in the process of learning the guitar. You need strength in your fingers and hands in order to play the guitar for extended periods of time.
For a beginner guitar player this can be a put off because the new player often gets frustrated when their hands and fingers quickly become tired. This is especially evident when playing bar chords or learning scales.
One of the best ways to develop hand and finger strength is to play basic guitar chords until you start feeling the muscles in your hands and fingers tire and become strained. When you reach this point, take a break for a few minutes and then do it again. Keep up this type of schedule and you will gradually get more comfortable playing and you will soon be able to play for longer periods of time without straining your hands.
Once you get comfortable with playing basic chords, you can then move on to play scales. Learning guitar scales is the best way to develop actual finger strength. The best method is to play the scale all the way through and then backwards. Here is a simple pentatonic scale in A that you can practice:
