Here are a couple of quick tips that I hope will help you in getting the best out of your instrument.
Number one. Remember that your live performance will usually never be better than your best practice session. Use this fact to gauge how much work you or your band might still need to truly be great.
Number two. Picking up your instrument is similar to starting a car. It takes the most juice out of the car's battery to crank the engine. Once it is running ... things go a lot smoother. Same principle applies to playing your instrument. It takes the most energy to simply pick up your guitar, drum sticks, etc. Once you are playing and in the zone (this usually happens when you are 15 minutes into it), you will see time simply disappear while you make some amazing progress.
Good luck and practice hard.