Dave Wirth
I learned a nifty word yesterday: "Deafferentation." This can be a trainable ability of the brain (and to be fair, also an unfortunate circumstance in the case of bad accidents). However, I see it to be a really good thing for guitar.
In a nutshell, if a task takes one part of the brain to complete, the brain trains itself to ignore information sent from other sides, perhaps in order to keep it's focus. For example, if a task requires the aural cortex, then perhaps the brain will learn to ignore what's happening in the amygdala in order to finish.
Deafferentation has got to be synonymous with many traditions of meditation. With many styles, it would seem that breath, a word, or chants are supposed to take the focus of the mind. Participants are often told that if their mind wanders during the meditation, it's no big deal--just come back to the object of attention. Interesting. I think this gives far more ammunition to the idea of practicing only five minutes per day.
If deafferentation is the ability of the mind to ignore other stimuli at the behest of finishing a task, then is it really wise to practice an hour a day? Is it really wise to push one's attention that far, especially when beginning guitar? I say no. I can very sincerely say that the quality of the attention one gives the guitar is directly proportional to the speed of learning. Five minutes of highly concentrated practice per day tends to give the brain an opportunity to wade into the world of music, to train it (so to speak) to learn to ignore other messages. Like messages from the amygdala?
Perhaps the goal of that five minutes of practice per day is more like training the brain to ignore other messages and focus on guitar. Perhaps it strengthens up the brain for more intense practicing, adding further and more interesting skills to the pallate. Perhaps five minutes a day of practice is really all a person needs to play guitar when they start?
