Has anyone ever used LDing to...

Learn musical instruments? If this has been posted before, sorry. I've always wanted to play the guitar, but i can't be bothered to learn, so i thought could LDing give me the ability to play?

Learning things like the guitar isn't likely to happen in a dream. Dreams can be used for similar things, but a general prerequisite is that you've experienced the action you are practicing before. For example, a snowboarder who has snowboarded before can gain experience by practicing in their dreams, but someone who has never tried won't because they don't know what it feels like yet, so their dreams cannot accurately represent it.

I have used one a few times, but nothing great 'cause i can't play :P I'm going to use an Mp3 to hopefully induce a LD tonight, so i'll try it then.

If you have no knowledge on how to play an instrument in real life.. can you LEARN to play an instrument in a lucid dream
and then play well in real life.. probably not.

If you have no knowledge on how to play an instrument in real life.. can you PLAY an instrument like a PRO in a lucid dream..
YES (depending on the strength of your lucidity and the amount of your control).

I asked cause i wanna do something that you lot'd think is silly in a LD :lol:

Ghazal:

In response to your question on whether or not you can learn instruments within sleep or lucid dreams, I decided to delve into memory research conducted during sleep.

Researchers such as Jonathean Winson, Gyorgy Buzsaki, Bruce McNaughton, and Matt Wilson believe that only memory consolidation occurs during sleep. (Winson 1985; Buzsaki 1989; McNaughton 1998; Wilson and McNaughton 1994). Effectively, memories are interleaved within the cortical regions in attempt to either reinforce or simply reminiss. Wilson and McNaughton recorded the activity of neuronal activity within the hippocampal region during sleep. They were able to recognise rehearsed cell activity that occured earlier before retirement. However, it has yet to be empirically proven that the cortex utilizes such memory activity.

Essentially, the brain must have a sense of explicit memory in order to reminiss or reinforce. Spontaneous learning cannot happen (besides the fact that there are nearly no possibilities to create new neural connections).

Therefore, no, you cannot spontaneously learn anything in sleep or lucid dreams. However, you can reinforce and strengthen your memory.

I hope I have been enlightening.

(References available upon request.)[/u]

Hmm that's a kick in the teeth, but reinforcing my memory would be very handy. Roughly, how would one do that in a dream?

Just practice an action you're already familiar with in your dream. It helps to build a sort of repition memory so it's easier to perform that action later on in real life.

I can spin pens in my fingers like crazy in my dreams, but I can't do it for crap in real life :(

Tsen, good idea. With any luck i'll have my first intentional LD tonight so i'll hop to it.

I can play the Black Sabbath song "Iron Man" on the guitar plus some abstract space music. Can lucid dreaming take it from there?

i'm sure if you've ever watched a person play guitar before, your brain would be able to pick up how to play it easily just by watching. i'm sure it's very possible to recreate whatever you saw in a lucid dream. and i hope it works because i want to do that same thing.

If you'd never played before, only watched, you'd still be lacking the specifics. Yes, you could understand the general idea, but try practicing some musical instrument you've never tried, such as a guitar or violin, in a dream, then try in real life. The results will be quite different. But if you know how to play a violin, or a banjo, or whatever, then in a dream you can accurately represent it. Otherwise you'll just go through the general motions associated with the instrument, and in the dream, the correct sound will come out, despite the fact that you haven't got the specifics right.

yeah it'll never be quite as good, and plus it wouldn't be the greatest way to learn, maybe just to enjoy playing. but it's definitely worth trying out.

the skill wouldn't translate to our waking life because it's a coordinated action, and our dreaming minds are disconnected from our muscles... I mean, I don't think any of us has the muscle memory to fly in real life, am I right?

Our dream minds are disconnected from our muscles, correct, but you actually can create muscle memory in the dream world. The aforementioned limits still apply, but if you practice snowboarding all winter, then practice in your LDs all summer, it will help build muscle memory. Same with most other sports, there's just the previous experience requisite, and with some more complex sports, the muscle memory you build in your dreams won't accurately be reflected on your waking self. There's a limit to how much the mind can accurately reproduce, and sometimes when you're lucid, you will subconsciously shift the dream so that you do well (Like playing basketball in a dream could cause you to make shots that normally you would have missed).

In general, LDs can be used to practice things that are difficult to practice regularly in real life, but it's always much better to just practice in real life.