for weapons I tend to think as an extension of the character, I have a few that use swords as their main weapon of choice, one is Higen, he is a master at arms, and with him, I have this in my notes when writing a fight scene "will change weapons and tactics depending of emotional state" and by this ai mean, whenever he fights with a sword its always when he is in rage or anger, the times I had specify he uses swords are times when he was extremely angry at the enemy going for the beheading and not for the artful takedown, he uses long swords or bastard swords when in this state.
the other one is Aris, he is a very acrobatic character and a summoner so he needs a free hand at almost all times, I wanted a sword that was light and fancy so I went with a raper for him, I at first thought a dagger but I opted out of it quickly.
as for my own experience with swords IRL, I used to be the captain of the Kendo team at my college I still practice from time to time, I would say that you don't have to practice the style you want to write, but, you do need some research for basics and such, and if your write fantasy just go for the rule of cool.
