When developing new skills of a physical nature, there comes a point where the use stops being constructive and starts to become destructive as the over-use becomes mis-use and leads to under performance, reduced performance and injury.
As said in a few posts, regular repetition is the answer, ten minutes every day is better than just playing hour after hour at the weekend.
The trouble with repetition, is that it is repetition, and RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) needs you to do this to create the injury you may suffer for the rest of your life.
So practice is important, but it needs certain conditions in place to help make it useful.
Warn up, muscle like heat and gentle use before playing warms them up for the task to come.
Stretching them is good, stretches help warm them and take out tension, un-wanted tension in muscles is not desirable.
So be hydrated, water or use a sports drink to help fuel your muscles, muscles are over 70% water based.
You have two distinct muscle fibre types you need to fuel, fast twitch and slow twitch.
Fast twitch response, as the name suggests, is for speed and dexterity, slow twitch is for stamina and strength.
Over use of practice may target slow twitch response, so not intact helping with any dexterity, but create stamina and a sluggish, but powerful hand, ideal for say mountain climbing, but not for playing guitar.
You also need fuel for these muscles as the are anaerobic, the get there fuel from food, not oxygen by increased heart rate pumping rich red blood cells to the muscles, but by foods. Carbohydrates are good, as are energy bars and fruit with natural sugars.
Bananas are a great fuel source. It only needs a few bites of any of the foods as you practice, take a drink as well.
For me i practice 20mins, rest twenty mins, then practice twenty mins. In the rest period i do some reading, some stretches, have bite to eat and a drink.
My practice starts when i wake up with stretches to the body and hands, i have some breakfast then start my first practice session hour, with stretches and my warm up.
i then get freshened up, changed, have a bite to eating drink then start a second hour.
Now i am a professional player, so i practice when i am fresh and alert.
My day job is playing, as is my evening job, so for me i have to measure my use, on busy work day i just stretch and warm up only...through out the day, warm ups and stretches act as warm downs as well, so i may warm up and down many times a day.
Many players have a different day job, so they practice in the evening, normally after a hard days work, so they practice with tired hands, or hands that have done more than there fair share of use for a day. Those hands are normally not warmed up, fuelled or hydrated, so the results are variable, sometimes the practice moves the hands into over-use and mis-use...not practice.
So any player needs to work out their hand use and maximise their practice times when the hands are fresh and healthy.
One regular issue i hear about is no time in the evening to practice, or too tired to practice.
Well get up half an hour earlier in the morning and use that time, it will be more productive than playing with tired hands in the evening.
You can still do evenings, but the need to play longer is not needed, the daily practice needed to develop skills is being done in the morning.
In such matters there are considered 'Four stages Of Competence" that you go through...rather than me explain it, Google it.....you may recognise yourself in the explanations.
'Muscle Memory' is a buzz word used to describe the whole Four Stages idea, muscles do not have memory, but you can train reaction from conscious to un-concious thought, in other words deep learn your skills to be re-active and develop in a cognitive way that becomes instinct.
Practice is good, but constructive practice is the key, its not the time spent practicing but what and how you practice that will bring results.
If I have to play something that I feel "hey this is getting me cramped up from lactic acid with a couple of seconds" I'd rather not try to play it. Like trying to play at 105 percent of my capacity. My fingers just lasts longer if I try not to please someone else with impressive chops.
