There is a gold mine of info in this thread, some real valuable stuff.

One perspective that hasn't been dwelt on is the role that repetition, practice and sleep play in the process of learning.

It's all about establishing and strengthening neural pathways.

Two quick war stories. While playing songs on my bass that I want to learn, sometimes my mind would wander off on some non-music topic. This is nothing new and if I didn't catch myself my playing would just collapse and I'd have to stop and start over. But recently for the first time, my mind wandered while I was playing and I chose not to "come back". To my surprise my fingers kept on playing and I didn't skip a beat. This may not be news to established musicians but for me it was astounding. Of course, I had been practicing the song for weeks, so the pathways were established and strong. I think folks refer to this as muscle memory. I know fingers don't have memory, but it sure did feel as if they did.

The 2nd story involves what your brain does during sleep; it clears-out toxins, plaque and metabolic waste and also organizes/compartmentalizes info learned during the day. Just before dozing off, thinking about what you're trying to learn can help your brain learn the material faster; a pre-sleep review can speed this up. Some people have pushed this to an art-form. I haven't, but I have partially solved some tough engineering problems in my sleep by doing a pre-sleep review of the material. Just another tool in the toolbox.

I wonder to what extent the musical giants have exploited this kind of stuff.

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BiaB 2025 Windows
For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.