popvulture wrote:In general I find that just playing every day, even just a little, keeps me sharp. I guess that falls in line with what you're saying, but yep... I find that it's not too important to follow any kind of rigorous routine, rather to just play something and enjoy yourself. For me at least, the latter's the most important; I feel like if I'm enjoying it, then good shit (sharpening/improvement/general happiness) comes with that naturally.
Matt Sweeny is sooooo cool
.100% agreed.
Not for nothing but (and please make fun of me if this seems ridiculous) but I find visualization techniques 'don't hurt'. You certainly won't improve with these but during intense work periods, I would ride a stationary bike 30-40 minutes a day. I listened to predominantly to guitar driven music so I would intently visualize how to play along...I think it kind of helps in preventing kinesthetic atrophy? It won't do your dexterity any favors but it helps to keep thinking through "how" you would play something.
I like practicing finger picking patterns a lot. This activity is more a mental and physical exercise than a 'useful' one. Trying to get all five fingers in my picking hand picking in different time signatures...at the same time...I have never succeeded
I liken it to lucid dreaming...lucid picking... 
