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Drugs do make you a better musician


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It's so funny that you hear both sides on here. Some of you are really hardcore pro weed. Most people bash alcohol and other drugs. There was a recent thread where I think the premise of "Dont adversely affect the gig" should be the gold standard.

 

I've done a lot of shit over the years. Sorry, but I just suck ASS if I smoke pot, so I haven't some it in literally decades. I just can't understand how anybody can play like that, but everyone is different.....moving on to alcohol.....

 

I drink probably more than most bands would prefer but have a sort of tolerance I guess. And I'm guessing the pot smokers would say the same thing. So 3 sets, 2 breaks, 4 hrs, plus setup/teardown....6-8 beers maybe 8:30pm-1am....is that excessive?

 

Never experienced heroin or anything. What about Coke? Not so much a high, just energy....very addictive for a live performance. I've experienced it myself - you feel like you're really tight and focused. Are you really? I don't know. Not something I've done much, but at those times I felt pretty good.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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Ultimately, no. Drugs don't make a better musician. In the SHORT term, drugs can get a musician through a difficult night like aspirin can get you through a work day when you have a headache. As soon as you NEED it, it's a detriment.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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So 3 sets, 2 breaks, 4 hrs, plus setup/teardown....6-8 beers maybe 8:30pm-1am....is that excessive. .

 

 

I assume we"re talking pints here? When I was in my twenties, 6-8 pints would have been normal for a Friday or Saturday night. Now, at 67, five pints and I would be on the floor.

 

It may not be excessive for you though, everyone is different. As long as it doesn"t affect the performance/make you obnoxious with band mates or customers, I would say go for it.

 

Can"t comment on the drugs, I could only afford either them or drink, and I chose drink!

 

Occasionally, do something nice for a total stranger. They'll wonder what the hell is going on!
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Eight drinks in 4.5 hours is a substantial amount that would put you at at least twice the legal limit for Blood Alcohol Level in likely all states. Are you driving after the gig or getting a ride from someone?

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
www.joshweinstein.com

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Eight drinks in 4.5 hours is a substantial amount that would put you at at least twice the legal limit for Blood Alcohol Level in likely all states. Are you driving after the gig or getting a ride from someone?
Beat me to it, but +1. It's one thing to get through a gig on 8 drinks (Ozzy Osbourne, Amy Winehouse...), but quite another to drive with that level of alcohol.

 

I know that I can tolerate a half-pint of beer (British: 1 pint = 20 fl oz), but after a pint, I would not care to drive. I might be legal, but I would not be safe. (YTtBAMV - Your Tolerance to Blood Alcohol May Vary).

 

Cheers, Mike

 

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Other than 5 Hour Energy and Ibuprofen I have no use for dope. Played with a bunch of users and drunks over the years. They thought it helped them. 9 times out of 10 they were better without the shit. Drunks are bad news.

 

PS- An exception is lighting guys. Every great lighting guy I've known have been a stoner.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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I always say that cannabis (weed) doesn't make a person more creative. It just makes a person more enthusiastic about being creative. I'm retired 3 years now. I confine my weed consumption generally to a 3 hour period, mostly starting early to mid-afternoon. I often use the "high" when I'm writing music. I'm currently playing 4 Friday evening gigs nights each month (2 nights solo, the other two as a duo). I don't perform high, but only because I'd have to drive to the gigs that way.

 

Besides the negative impact on one's coordination, alcohol makes me sluggish after that initial lift. Then there's that hangover problem with over consumption. I never have a hangover with weed. I often say that alcohol is way way overrated.

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For creative time alone, yes, occasionally and in moderation. For performance there are pro's and con's but on balance, no.

 

It might help ease my nervousness if I'm feeling that. But nerves are a symptom of feeling unprepared. The better solution? TuPractice!

 

Plus, I have a very healthy fear of getting pulled over. If I was a cat, I'd be on my 8th life in that regard.

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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A few months ago I was prescribed beta blockers for a (thankfully incorrectly) diagnosed heart condition.

 

I had read somewhere, perhaps here, that some concert pianists use them to reduce performance anxiety. Although far from a concert soloist, I suffer quite badly from this affliction and was interested to see if the drugs would help me with my nerves. They didn"t - I had to fall back on my usual Jedi mind tricks.

 

Digressing, I"ve played with drunk/stoned drummers before. Not good.

 

Digressing further, I will have one beer before a show with dinner if time permits, and maybe a small one at set break. Any more than that has a deleterious impact on my playing.

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Eight drinks in 4.5 hours is a substantial amount that would put you at at least twice the legal limit for Blood Alcohol Level in likely all states. Are you driving after the gig or getting a ride from someone?

 

 

Somehow we jumped to maximum range in minimum time.

 

I'll repeat. 1 per set, 1 per break. So that would typically be 5 in 4.5 hours. For it to be more, would mean I got there earlier and sat around hanging out with people, which would extend the time. Also, at 1am, I don't make a mad dash off the stage to my car and drive home. I tear down, load out, and usually sit around a while waiting to get paid. By the time I'm driving it's probably been an hour since I finished the last drink during the 3rd set.

 

So to recap for all those concerned.....typical would be 5 in 4.5 hours followed by 1 hr of loadout and waiting for pay. Max would be 6-8, and in that situation, I may show up more like 6:30 for a 9-1 gig, so we're up to 6.5 hrs plus another hour dry before I leave.

 

For my weight, I typically consider 1.5/hr to be my limit.

 

For our U.K. Friends, they are 12oz here and a Bud Light is around 5% ABV (actually a little less).

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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In the 70s and 80s, my teens and twenties, I drank like a fish and smoked like a chimney, I was fiddling around

with all the hard core as well. When I moved out of the socal pit and up to Steamboat it all tapered off quite a bit.

Today it's been over a year since I've had a drink and even longer since any pot. I wouldn't turn down a Boston Lager,

a shot of jägermeister or a hit of some skunky sticky herb though. The hard stuff was so long and a life time ago I just

forgot about all that bad.

 

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Somehow we jumped to maximum range in minimum time.

 

Well, your question was:

 

 

So 3 sets, 2 breaks, 4 hrs, plus setup/teardown....6-8 beers maybe 8:30pm-1am....is that excessive.

 

My honest answer to that is that yes, that is excessive if you'll be driving afterward. That's a pretty righteous drunk and if you got pulled over, you wouldn't be spending that night at home. You might even lose your car at that level, depending on the laws in your state.

 

Even if it's actually 5 drinks in 4.5 hours, that can be treacherous too, since remember that all the effects are backloaded by about an hour after your first drink, and your liver gets worse and worse at breaking down all that ethanol as it gets more and more taxed. So that last hour isn't really a detox hour, it's a "last drink finally kicking in" hour, and you'd really probably need a second hour to be OK to drive after that.

 

I'd honestly consider Uber or carpooling if you're that committed to that level of consumption.

 

 

 

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
www.joshweinstein.com

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All that shit screws up coordination and memory. You don"t see athletes needing to get high to perform in the zone.

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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Being around music especially Jazz as long as I have there are two types of people using drugs. The ones who would be using drug even if they were doing a day gig or to party at night. They just want to get high. Then there are musicians who use drugs as a tool to get further into the music and they tend to be the same people who clean up their use after awhile. Now weed especially today is pretty much the same as beer and spans all walks of life and probably many people you know, and don't know this about them.

 

So can just throw out a blanket statement or stereotype drug users there is more to it.

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Personally, I have found that I think I play a bit better when I have partaken of a little weed. It puts me into a mindset that allows me to more fully immerse myself into the music. There is a downside, however. It makes it harder to stay fully on track with the songs, because I get so immersed in what I'M doing, that I don't correctly listen to what my bandmates are doing. For that reason, I seldom partake. Plus, if I partake, then get subjected to a whiz quiz at work, I would lose my day job.

 

As far as alcohol, I've found that at about one beer per break does not affect my playing. Problem is, I'm one of those Shot-and-a-beer types, so it ends up being 2 per break, which can affect me in the later sets.

 

The last couple gigs I have been a practice in abstinence. I had Gall Bladder surgery 2 1/2 weeks ago, and the surgeon said that I had one of the worst cases of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease he had ever seen, and if something was not done soon, it could turn into cirrhosis. So, I have started actively working toward reversing the issue with supplements and weight loss. And since the liver is where alcohol is processed, I've cut out drinking.

 

I found that as long as the groove is there, I can get into the zone, and still be there when needed.

 

In fact, last week we played "Sir Duke" as one of our last songs of the night. 4-piece band, and I play the EP and the Horn Section. Because I was completely sober, I was able to concentrate enough to nail both parts, and all the band members commented that it was the best the song has ever sounded.

 

This just goes to show that even though I THOUGHT substances we're enhancing my performance, in fact they were a deterrent.

"In the beginning, Adam had the blues, 'cause he was lonesome.

So God helped him and created woman.

 

Now everybody's got the blues."

 

Willie Dixon

 

 

 

 

 

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I don't partake in drugs. Of the people I play with regularly, quite a few of the younger players do, though very very few of the older players do (at least that I'm aware of).

 

Personally I think there's another factor that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread. If players really thought it was about improving their performance, I would think they'd also be partaking when they practice. But most don't. They practice straight, and they practice a lot.

 

I suspect getting loaded has more to do with other things than musicianship. I think it has to do with deeper stuff.

 

An international touring kinda guy once made the offhand remark to me, "And in our solos, well, that's where we work out all our demons..." And there's some truth to that. Combine that with incipient stage fright, anxiety, depression, fear, anger, despair and all that great stuff that is native to many creatives...and the history of self-medicating is long and storied. I think that has more to do with the long-held tendency - that musicians and drugs tend to go hand-in-hand. It's a second cousin to why dudes have often needed Dutch courage before talking to that fetching gal at the bar or whatever.

 

Being under the influence has never helped me play. In the short term it can help with stage discomfort or anxiety, but it also screws with my coordination, mental skills, accuracy, precision and speed. All of which I need in extra doses when I'm uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the music at hand. Better to learn how to deal with all the negative stuff sober first - and be confident I can play my best without a sip or a puff.

 

Which isn't to say on some gigs, I haven't had a drink...or more than one. But in my experience being confident in my abilities first is the best way to make sure the drink doesn't impede the playing.

 

I guess this is my typical long-winded way to agree with the very first post. Every musician needs Tupractis.

 

My 0.02.

 

Tim

 

..
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This one works too:

 

http://www.ohmz.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/image001.jpg

LOL, yea I took that pill

 

Triton Extreme 76, Kawai ES3, GEM-RPX, HX3/Drawbar control, MSI Z97

MPower/4790K, Lynx Aurora 8/MADI/AES16e, OP-X PRO, Ptec, Komplete.

Ashley MX-206. future MOTU M64 RME Digiface Dante for Mon./net

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In the short term it can help with stage discomfort or anxiety

 

I also think what tends to happen is that there ARE times where a sip or puff can take the edge off and improve the single aspect of your playing that has to do with anxiety...but that's like 1% or 2% of all consumption situations. Then we selection-bias our way into the other 98% or 99%, when in actuality we're just messing with our perception of time and groove.

 

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
www.joshweinstein.com

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All that shit screws up coordination and memory. You don"t see athletes needing to get high to perform in the zone.

 

Might as well draw analogies to doctors or pilots. And you can"t draw conclusions based on what you 'see.' The problem with being judgemental about this is that, for most of us, one or more of our musical heroes has done some kind of drugs some of the time. So am I really going to tell other people to stay off it? There"s pretty broad consensus towards avoiding the hard stuff, other than that it"s still debatable imo.

 

I"m happy I can bicycle to my gig tonight!

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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ah, the "don't be judgemental" response is popular ... after all, who are we to judge the choices and actions of others? Especially when so many great artists have been known users.

 

Fair enough; let's make a list of those whose artistry was diminished by cutting out drug/alcohol use.

 

...

 

Well, that was quick. A list of those who prospered after cleaning up, on the other hand, wouldn't be so hard.

 

A third list of those who died from complications related to their drug/alcohol use -- well, that comes dangerously close to being simply a list of the greatest artists who died too young.

 

Me, I've recorded myself under the influence; everything I thought sounded great had to be re-done (mostly for timing). Except the lead singer, who sounded great on every take. Bastard.

 

I'm not going to tell others to "stay off it"; if you can play well under the influence, cheers to you. But the one thing drugs or alcohol can never do is improve communication.

 

It's not the gear, it's the player ... but hey, look -- new gear!

 

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I can agree with anyone who makes the theoretical assertion "it's better to accomplish X without drugs than with them." I suppose in an ideal world Jimi Hendrix would become the musician he was without ever doing drugs. There's no way to test whether that could have happened. If I look at my playlists, they are full of artists who are either known to have done drugs, or likely did. They all needed something to help them start thinking outside the box. Could they have done the same with buddism, science fiction, badmitton? We'll never know.

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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All that shit screws up coordination and memory. You don"t see athletes needing to get high to perform in the zone.

LOL. You're kidding, right? Or as John McEnroe once said "You cannot be serious ..."

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

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