Uh, this is pretty accurate...

'eh Peter, there is a little portion of the average male brain that is allotted to sexual thoughts, I thought you might've marked them in red and possibly marking it in green for *Developing new guitar skills, theory and practice*. Just a thought mate.. S

I actually read a great article ( don't where it was from exactly, so can't link it ) from a university study.  They did some very elaborate testing using MRI machines to see what activity caused the brain to be most "active."

Long story short, they said that no other activity they could find could make the brain do the equivalent of mental gymnastics than playing an instrument while singing a song.  More than any other mental or physical activity, the act of singing a song while playing an instrument ( usually a guitar, but piano is in there too etc ) caused more activity in more parts of the brain all at once.  I remember they had posted pics of the MRIs along with pics of other activities like doing math, playing chess, reading, playing video games etc. and a whole bunch of other things one might think is great for the brain.

They also found pretty concrete evidence and concluded that continuing to learn, just about anything but especially music and/or languages, is medically proven to help prevent the onset of Alzheimers. Believe it or not, just plain old reading was pretty high up on the list too.

So ya, learning, playing and singing while playing an instrument is so far, the most healthy exercise you can give your brain as far as we know scientifically right now. 

So, play on people and sing those songs!!   

LOL.  And the cool thing is, I've read articles since then ( that original article I read was some time ago ) and other studies like it seem to have proven or at the very least made this accepted as a pretty indisputable medical fact for the time being.

Not my illustration, slowpoke, just passing it along.  I would have made a slight allowance for the activities you described... but unfortunately that shrinks (literally and figuratively) over time. 

you mean tab...I'm too dumb for sheet music

petermac , I don't read music, but I know lots that do and I've seen at least 2 of them read and play a piece of music they've never played before, and didn't know the song.  Just from reading the sheet music, they nailed it pretty well.  Ya, the custom inflections of the original singer/band's take on it were not there, how could they be, but they basically had it.  I'm always amazed and a bit envious of people who can do that.

I'm in the camp that I'd have to see more scientific "evidence" that one can not do two things at once.  Ya, muscle memory is a thing, but your brain still has to consciously active it.  Maybe not in martial arts ( which I've taken so have some experience there ) where some things can almost become instinctual and other stuff like that in sports or purely physical activities. 

But when playing and singing a song, think of all the things you're doing ( or maybe especially me, cuz I don't have time to memorize songs, I have music books.  Over 200 songs in them, no time to remember all or even part of them cuz I play them all "fairly" evenly, give or take ).

 - You are singing, which involves reading or at least recalling the lyrics, then controlling your vocal chords to sing them out ( almost like playing an instrument in and of itself ).

 - You are reading the chords on the sheet and not only hitting the right chords, but a lot of bass notes, run downs, and high "picked" notes while strumming.  Never mind when playing fingerstyle where there's even more going on.  Yes, muscle memory big factor, but you have to read to assess and invoke that muscle memory.

 - Then there's strumming itself.  You have to consciously strum to the right rhythm while also applying the right pressure for parts and hitting the right single strings for other parts.

 - Then you're chording with the other hand.  Which involves, yes, muscle memory, but also a conscious effort for pressure, rhythm again, single fingers doing the odd thing etc.

 - Then, to top it all off, when in a situation where you either play live, or like me, lead a praise team at church, you are at least "partially" connecting with and paying attention to the audience to guage or read certain moments which will affect how you do things during the "performance."

 - Finally, and this part I'm not so sure about, but your brain has to put all of that stuff together and make it all fit or flow perfectly.  Yes that takes practice, which involves muscle memory, but still, your brain is constantly coordinating it all at the very least.

I don't believe in all that, ( and that's a lot of stuff! ) that all of that is stuff being alternated or all things but one are being done completely autonomously or "automatically" just from muscle memory alone whilst you're only focused on one thing.  No way.  I'm in the camp that there's at least 2 things going on at any or most given times.  And the MRIs they have in the studies, I think, backs that up with showing just how many parts of the brain are firing at the same time.

Ya, I'm pretty darn sure that with most things, we can't fully do 2 things at once, I'll concede to that, but I think there's probably more exceptions to the rule than we might think.  We still don't understand even 5% of the human brain as much as we think we do.

Just my 2 cents worth and the camp I'm in.   

/rant off........again.  Sorry.  he he.   

slowpoke ,  All the things that studies say help prevent Alzheimers are not absolute "cures" or "vaccines."  They have just seen evidence that all this "brain exercise" stuff helps "prevent" and slow down the onset of the disease.

Similar to say, if you kept working out all your life, your muscles would last way longer and stay way stronger than if you sat at a computer all your life.  You know, the old "the more you work it, the stronger, healthier and longer it lasts" kind of thing; it's just that they've discovered it works for the brain too.

But, some people unfortunately, are just genetically more prone to certain diseases than others.  Can't help that, it's in your genes.  I have a friend that had a heart attack at age 40.  He exercised and ate WAY healthier than me.  But it was found out that he has a genetic sort of disorder or predisposition to his body just creating way more cholesterol than the average bear.

Me on the other hand, I don't eat all that great, in fact I eat way more junk food than I know I should.  Yet my sugar, cholesterol and whatnot levels are always perfect ( and I'm a smoker on top of it ).  My doctor always laughs at me when my physicals come back A-OK and I'm shocked they didn't find anything wrong.  She always says to me, "Do you want us to find something wrong with you?"  LOL.

It's just genetics for some people.  But, evidence is evidence and every little thing helps, so, ya, keep playing and singing those songs!!   ( and enjoy knowing it's not just fun, but it's good for ya! )