I can relate to the problems you have learning and playing music. Yes, stress makes things worse, but if I am performing, there will be some stress. I don't perform any place fancy- just recitals with my students and I play in a coffee shop once a month for tips. If I try to play anything from memory, my mind will go blank at some point, so I always play from music. Even with music, my mind will go blank at times and I feel like I am sight reading. At least with the music I can sight read which is better than nothing.

My neuro recently prescribed Exelon for me. I have been having a big problem with getting lost. If traffic is backed up and I try to take an alternative route, I always turn the wrong way. I told my neuro that I hope the Exelon will help me make fewer mistakes when I play guitar. Here is his reply from an e-mail:

"There may be other medications that can help your memory. We should give exelon a chance first. Some patients with memory problems can improve by playing memory games, learning a new language, etc., This is a typical stragegy we use that be effective however, I think your guitar playing and teaching is doing the same thing. That being said, I do have patients with neurologic disorders functioning at very high professional levels and they will still report benefit from the "mind Games" they play on a computer. If you are interested and can't find any on your own would be happy to contact some of these people and find out which programs they prefer."