[slaunchwise]

I've found this technique also helps when trying to learn challenging (for me) things on the guitar. The act of learning to play something new means inducing muscle memory as well as simply memorizing the tune. I work on it in the evening to the point where I don't feel like I'm making progress any more. When I come back to it the next day, I find I've made progress.

[brokenmachine]

I had the same experience when I played the guitar.

Another thing is, a study was done where one group practiced the piano, the other group just sat in front of the piano imagining practicing, and another group did no practice.

The group that just imagined practicing ended up playing almost as well as the group that was actually practicing, and both groups were obviously better than the group that did no practice.

The mind is crazy.

[the_cat_kittles]

totally. i always think of it as "letting the glue dry"... you put the pieces together by practicing, apply glue by repeating it, and then let it set by sleeping.