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Location: Michigan | i remember playing in my younger years and thinking that when i was under the influenece of certain things
( weed ) that our band sounded better to us than we probably were.
i have to laugh at a statement by david crosby
he said ( i never knew how good we actually sounded together until we played sober ) .
does alcohol or other things give you a better feeling when you play out ??? GWB
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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | there's a fine balance between calming the nerves and losing coordination. |
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| This reminds me of the classic song and title track from the album by the late, great Frank Zappa...."Joe's Garage".
"Down in Joe's Garage
We didn't have no dope or LSD
But a coupla quarts a beer
Would fix it so the intonation
Would not offend your ear
And the same old chords goin' over 'n' over
Became a symphony
We would play it again 'n' again 'n' again
'Cause it sounded good to me...
ONE MORE TIME...."
I found in my youth that weed always helped. Not just with playing Music, but most things....I play clarinet and sax for a living and guitar is my serious hobby. I find that very occasionally when as an adult I've played stoned, it does make things "sound better" but tends to reduce critical faculty enormously. A swift beer less so...
Some players (as we know) have gotten themselves s**t-faced before they would even pick up their axes. Hendrix springs to mind in particular. As does Charlie Parker (he used smoke weed, drink and jack up heroin before each gig). The stimulants certainly made them do what they did and removed any critical faculty but their lives were seriously shortened by it.
Stan Getz, when asked how he managed to play drunk said, "I practise drunk".
Edited by merlinshepherd 2015-04-22 4:38 AM
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Location: Thredbo, NSW, Australia | Nowadays I struggle to remember words and chords when I'm straight. Add anything more than a beer or two and I just can't perform the way I'd like to.
A few weeks ago a music friend of mine tried to play after too many glasses of vino. Not a good look - very high cringe factor.
It may be OK for the superstars, and those in their 20s, but not for old farts like me. |
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Location: Muenster/Germany | muzza - 2015-04-22 10:22 AM
there's a fine balance between calming the nerves and losing coordination.
I never took drugs (simply because I get bad headache of any), and I don´t drink much alcohol, but I always take one shot of fine scotch whisky or something similar before I play. I never saw a musician who could really play good when he was drunk. Making music is art AND adrenaline sport and needs a minimum/maximum of concentration, but if you find this special balance of booze and endorphin then it´s really great joy. Besides that, all those who think to play sober make use of these endorphines, don´t they? |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | merlinshepherd - 2015-04-22 2:35 AM
Stan Getz, when asked how he managed to play drunk said, "I practise drunk".
That's the thing.
Back in the day, many people were high every day all day.
You learnt to play when you were high, then you played when you were high.
That is just the normal scheme of things.
Many musicians have discovered that they played Better once they got clean.
Although some people think that some musicians lost their "soul" once the got sober.
Personally, I play guitar instead of getting artificially influenced . 
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Location: Flahdaw | On the rare occasions that I would play in public, I would normally have a slight booze buzz on. The wedding ceremony that I played and sang at I was straight, and a nervous wreck. Definitely could have used a quick shot of something.
I just played and sang at a beach party. Lately my voice has been terrible. But after 5 beers (over 4 hours) I did great, voice was fine.
I agree that it's a fine line, and I never drink enough to get drunk anyway, but I would imagine that it would not go well if I did. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Interesting comments so far. I generally don't get nervous onstage UNLESS I have had anything to drink. Then I KNOW I'm not 100% and worrying about everything from that fact that my hearing gets impaired first to worrying about if it sounds as good as I think it does. It really gets me at the occasional party or gathering where I wasn't "planning" on playing, and if I've had anything to drink... I pick up the instrument and it's like a foreign object in my hands or I feel like I'm playing with mittens on.
It's funny cause there are some people that think I don't drink ever. It's the problem with being a perfectionist and knowing the science. I can't be 100% even with 1 beer. No one can, it's the whole point of it, but at the same time, why would I ever not want to be at 100%. Sucks being me sometimes. |
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Location: Orlando, FL | In the days of my youth...
Yeah I always thought I sounded better, the occasional recordings didn't back that up. I think often the substances would make me explore ideas that I may not have when straight. Sometimes the ideas were good, sometimes not. |
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Location: sitting at my computer | I've noticed my playing tends to sound better the more booze the audience drinks.  |
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Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | They say that Merle Travis was often so drunk he had to be carried out to the stage and set on the floor of the stage so he wouldn't fall off a chair. But then again, he was Merle Travis.
I play darts better when I've had a few drinks but I have never, ever played on stage unless I was totally sober. |
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Location: Jet City | Depends...
Am I playing a show with a setlist and having my specific notes and chords that must be played a certain way? Well I might need to keep my wits a bit more.
Am I in a creative mode, trying to get that feeling... a impromptu jam with friends with no real direction but to lose ourselves in whatever it is we're doing??? Bust out the water pipe. |
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Location: Michigan | Back in the day, many people were high every day all day.
You learnt to play when you were high, then you played when you were high.
That is just the normal scheme of things.
you are so right o.m.a. , i think that a great example of someone who probably has never played straight in his long life would be willie nelson he seems to of beat all of the odds of staying stoned all of his life and still attracting an audience who will pay to see him.
i doubt that he would be very entertaining if he was not stoned . GWB |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I haven't noticed much difference. I forget the songs whether I'm drunk or sober.
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Location: closely held secret |
"I'd announced that I was going to sing and all our guests would make a ring around the piano. But somehow I'd manage to fight my way through that ring and sing anyway."
George Burns
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Location: NJ | I played a ton of gigs where "free beer" was included for the band and we took full advantage of it.
I'm sure we did not perform at our peak.
now that I do mostly solo or duo stuff, and I have to remember the words I can barely have a drink maybe one but save the rest for after the performance.. maybe I'm just getting out of tolerance.... |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Yeah... But once your Liver goes it is so much cheaper to get drunk.
So it's a trade-off.
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Playing gigs now I will have a beer or a shot before/during the first set but I also have a big glass of water at the ready. Middle sets I usually stick with water and last set I might have another beer. Of course, when someone sends a shot or drink to the stage I do feel obligated.
Edited by stephent28 2015-04-22 4:26 PM
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Like south beach. The drinker they smoke the better I sound. I don't have anything till after. |
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Location: Phoenix, AZ | The more I drink, the better I play (at least it sounds that way to me), but for some reason, the TV volume goes up as well... |
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | I have a pertinent reply for this. Following my last hospitalization lasting six months with surgical complications from 18th surgery I was in industrial duty pain management for five years. A few months back the pain spontaneously resolved. During these years I realized a goal of becoming adept at fingerstyle. I'm proud of my accomplishment. Very. I put myself through a rigorous taper getting off the meds three months sooner than the doctor suggested. When I play now it's a struggle. It all has to do with the science of myelin formation in the brain. I formed myelin while under the influence of narcotics. I guess I have to get new neural pathways coated with it. Google it. Fascinating stuff.
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Location: Flahdaw | DaveKell - 2015-04-24 8:25 AM
I formed myelin while under the influence of narcotics. I guess I have to get new neural pathways coated with it.
Where's an Allman Brothers tour bus when you need one??? |
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Location: Michigan | bobg from most of your posts i always thought that you were under the influence  GWB |
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Location: Flahdaw | You should see me when I AM under the influence....it's not pretty |
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Location: Indiana | People tell me I sound better when they are stoned.
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do you play / sound better under the influence of ???
