Good one, GfS. I've been practicing on my right forearm for years. Sometimes I'll be absent-mindedly playing scales on my forearm when someone will comment, "Somebody steal your guitar, Firth?" Well, it's more productive than twiddling my thumbs, and far more socially acceptable than picking my nose.

Also, mental practice. Visualizing playing something. Or running through the words of a new song I'm learning just before dropping off to sleep. Seems to work. Often, the following morning, I know the song.

There is a reason I keep yammering on in these threads about taking some lessons to begin with, and emphasizing classical guitar. Lessons in order to learn good technique from the start so when you practice, you aren't practicing your mistakes or a flawed technique that's going to eventually stand in your way. And classical, not out of any kind of musical snobbery, but for two reasons:   

First, with a classic guitar teacher, you stand a much better chance of getting a teacher who, themselves, took lessons to begin with, so there will be less likelihood of their passing their own home-brewed technical faults on to you.

And second, the vast majority of folk guitarists I've seen, both well-known and obscure, play with their right-hand fingers rather than using a plectrum. And I've seen some self-taught guitarists use right-hand positions and fingering that are really counter-productive.

One fellow I knew was a good singer, but he was really unhappy with his guitar work, for very good reason. He had a nice, shiny new Martin guitar, but he couldn't get a decent sound out of it. Other people could, but not him. The problem was his right hand position. Self-taught. When he first started to play, he found his thumb and his index finger kept getting in each other's way. So—of the two possibilities, he picked the wrong one. He shifted his hand position, moving his thumb closer to the bridge, which meant that his fingers were more parallel to the strings. In that position, he couldn't get his fingernails to make contact with the strings, and instead of getting a nice, clean, resonant tone out of his pricy guitar, all he could get was a pale-sounding, fleshy "foomp."

He was really unhappy about this, and over a beer one night, he asked me, "Why, fer Chrissake, can't I get a decent sound out of my guitar? God knows, I paid enough for it! You get a nice, clean sound. Why can't I!?"

So I told him. Then, a day or two later, I gave him a freeby lesson in right hand position and finger action. He struggled with a couple of execises I gave him to practice. But—he had been playing that way for years, and it was so ingrained by then, that he wound up swearing a blue streak and going back to his old way. Never did get a decent note out of his expensive, shiny Martin. Whereas, Alice Stuart, a relative beginner at the time, was getting fairly clean, loud sounds out of her $30.00 plywood guitar. Hand position!

Good hand position:   John Williams, classical position.

John Williams again, casual, but still with good right hand position.

Roughly, the position that Gerry was using:    CLICKY.

I don't see how anyone can get a decent sound out of an instrument like this with that hand position, especially a double-strung Baroque guitar or a lute. Not everyone back then used that kind of hand position:    Another CLICKY Much more relaxed and natural.

If you don't have a good classic guitar teacher about, or if you are simply not interested in classic guitar per se, there is a lot of good information on this DVD, along with some guitar calisthenics that would be beneficial for any guitarist, no matter what genre:    Scott Tennant's PUMPING NYLON. Worth the money at twice the price, especially the DVD.

Also works if you're "pumping steel."

Don Firth

P. S. Of course, if all else fails, there's always THIS alternative. . . .