other than practising (which i do religiousley) is there any other way to increase dexterity and strength in the fingers. Been playing for a few years and when i try anything remotely like a lead riff my fingers get sore very quickly. My fingers are quite short so reach is a bit of a problem too.

Playing a Squier Strat if it makes any difference

And as payment for your sage advice – have some Sabbath

I am cursed with big hands and little fingers.. its a nightmare I can barely handle, but anyway…

Lots of finger exercise, carry on playing even when it hurts, play less lead? these are all reasonable suggestions. however, in exchange for the sabbath I shall shaer my secret with you;

Get your guitar set up with as low action as you can get away with and don’t push as hard! Most of the cramp in fingers come from pushing as hard as possible, relax, and things get better. or get a kazoo.

Train, rest, eat, recover then train again.

Also there are few gadgets out there to train the hand from music shops.

Alter your angle?

is it the tips that are sore ? If so I think you can use some sloution to harden the skin … will check my books when i get home but not an issue with nylon strings …which have high action though.

Scales arpegios(spell?) may also be a good idea to practice
Otherwise relax a bit an dit will come…to some degree all difficult sections will involve some level of discomfort/pain as will all hill climbing you just get used to it.

check your hand angle – not suppoerting the neck with the left hand are you?
are your fingers bleeding? no? not training enough then. seriously there are specific excercises to develop your fingering muscles. i did have a book with some neat exercises in it, but then found that scales, scales and a few more scales worked.

all of this from someone who has ‘lapsed’ on the guitar, but there you go.

unless you have a medical condition you should find that endurance training makes any muscle group less painful, so it seems to me that although you are practicing, you are not practicing in the same way that you want to perform.

lowering the action might help, as would focusing on being ‘light’ on the strings with left hand no matter how fast or heavy you want to be with your pick hand. you often find that you can be really light when playing slow and quiet, but end up trying to squeeze the neck when playing fast or loud.

you cold also try lighter string. Is the back of the neck varnished? if it is then you might want to try a guitar with a sanded neck instead, less friction for moving the fret hand.

join a band

I found learning the drums helped playing Guitar and other instruments.