Do you ever run through a physical process in your head, like guitar playing ?

When I compose my lessons there is always a high chance of forgetting what I've written. I find that when I'm away from the guitar that I run through the entire tune from start to finish and after a while I'm unable to forget it.

But not only do I hear the music I also sometimes visualise playing it. It's not always 100% exact but it's a quite close approximation of where my fingers will be on the fretboard. I found that this really helped me when composing and learning the large lessons like 30 Shredders.

Composing something is one thing but memorising it is another. So running through it in your mind really does help with that.

Not only does it help memorisation it also makes it more likely for your hands to do the right thing when you next pick up the guitar. Our finger movements all come from brain signals after all. So practising in our head has real applications to the physical side of things as well.

So next time you're stuck as a passenger on a long journey or are passing the time with no immediate responsibilities, try running through some licks or solos in your head. Make it something that you're currently working on and see if it makes it easier to retain and practise the material.

P.S. I've used guitar playing as an example but is there any other activity that you go through in your mind in order to keep it fresh ? It could be work related or something else ?

not only do I do this, I think it is necessary . If you can't play it without your guitar , you won't be able to play it with your guitar.
You need to to know the song so in and out, if it is not infused in your brain , you probably would not be able to play it well enough to record it.
and this is all my 2 cents is worth

Yep, I always do it. I'm always either playing guitar on an imaginary fretboard, or playing drums on an imaginary drumkit.
I really do find it helps me learn songs and gain some rhythmic awareness.

+1

I have to do it.
When I'm working on something that has a lot of different sections, I will 'play in my head' before I fall sleep.
*Then I usually grab a guitar first thing in the morning and play the song or part.

When i'm dreamin', Yngvie's got nothin on me bro.

I have scale patterns and arpeggio patterns at my desk at work. I don;t get to look at them often but if i'm not busy for 5 - 10 min i look at them and try notice patterns that might help me remember them and use them.

Like for me I was looking at 3 notes per string and the one part I got lost at was the 2 whole note steps then I noticed the ope one has a whole not at the back end and a 1/2 step at the front the middle one is a 1/2 on either side and the last is the opposite of the front. now when i get to that part of the scale I can connect it easier to other shapes

end of the day if you can fret a note the rest is in your head

I usually try to sing first everything I have to play It helps a lot - as I always bug you guys! If you can sing something, it means you memorized it. If it's inside you can then reproduce it with any means Be it bagpipes, guitar, piano, bass, whatever you wish to use. Of course, you will be limited in terms of speed, accuracy and natural feeling by the practicing you have done on that particular instrument, but you will reproduce it eventually if you are patient enough

Do we think Yngwie does the same ?

I don't think so, but hey, how many of Yngwie's songs can one remember note by note? I mean, in terms of themes and so on? You and me, we're guitarists - we can do that, just like any other player out there that has a keen ear and likes to listen to a song until he can remember it. But I think that the average listener can't really remember any Yngwie song by heart - the guitar parts at least, because I know he has vocals in his songs in a great proportion too.Those should be easy to remember