Here is a question Pickers and Grinners

[desertbluesman]

Do you play better on an empty stomach, or before a meal? Or do you feel less like playing after a full meal?

[Scott Fraser]

Not right after a big meal, but not so well when hungry either.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Depends on just how FULL of a full meal. If I really put it away- which takes less and less any more- I don't feel too ambitious at all. I'd rather not play on an empty feeling stomach, though, either... Moderation seems the key.

[Winston Psmith]

Hard to answer from personal experience, as I live mostly on coffee (don't ask), but a simple fact of physiology: When you eat a big meal, your metabolism shifts gears to digest your food, so more energy (and blood oxygen) to the to the digestive tract, less for the brain.

 

It is a truism in recording/rehearsal sessions that one of the worst things you can do is to break for a big, carb-heavy meal. No one will want to blow a note, right afterwards.

[Larryz]

I can play guitar no matter what I eat, but I have to watch out when it comes to the vocals. It's hard to sing into a mic if you eat something that causes any gas, belching, burps, etc...so I try to eat and drink on the lighter side until after the gig.

[Dannyalcatraz]

"Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowbOOOOAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHS."

[skipclone 1]

I don`t eat anything at all if I`m going to sing, especially anything like cheese or sweets-totally gums up the pipes. Cold liquids are not a great idea either.

Playing wise-I have a friend who fronts an Americana/rockabilly type band. Their base is kind of far from here but when they`re in town I`ll catch their show and sometimes sit in. I`ve sat with them while they`re eating before their set. Kool-whatever. No way would I do that. But at this venue, by the time they finish their set it`s close to closing time.

[whitefang]

I never gave it much thought or consideration. Since I don't play professionally, I'd also figure any possible gas eruption, from either end, would be disruptive during a paying gig. Just as a growling and otherwise complaining empty belly would also distract one's concentration. Possibly the "rule of thumb" used in swimming might be best. You know, wait a half hour to an hour after eating before you "jump in".

Whitefang

[hurricane hugo]

Do you play better on an empty stomach, or before a meal? Or do you feel less like playing after a full meal?

 

Depends on the meal. Let me finish a good meal of Chinese food about half an hour before the gig and I'm gon' be killin' it onstage, both singing and playing.

 

Anything else, and from a singing standpoint, it had better be just a few bites. If it's a gig where I'm just playing guitar, it really doesn't matter - as long as it hasn't been more than, say, 3 hours since I've last eaten. When that happens, it had better be a quick gig!

[picker]

Both a gluttonously full stomach and a backbone-rubbin'-against-the-bellybutton empty stomach are distractions. Can't play if I'm distracted like that. A small to medium meal is okay, as long as it doesn't make me belch.

[whitefang]

as long as it doesn't make me belch.

 

Or, the OTHER thing, especially if you're playing a gig in a small club with a cramped stage!

Whitefang

[Eric Iverson]

I never really thought about it. I don't recall going on stage ravenously hungry OR stuffed to the gills.

Of course, there are plenty of OTHER distractions, LOL.

One thing I'm careful of lately is not to DRINK too much (not necessarily alcohol) so I don't have to run to the bathroom.... but if I don't drink a gallon or two of water right before, or 3 or 4 iced coffees (more likely), I'm OK.

[Larryz]

I learned to limit my alcohol consumption to two drinks before and during a gig. At jams and parties I don't worry much about it but I think I can play better if I keep it down to 2 drinks while playing in front of people. I used to tell the bar tender (yeah Fang I know it's just one word LOL!) at bar gigs to give me soda water and a twist of lime after two regular drinks. That way the people buying me drinks thought I was giving them their monies worth and the bar was happily charging them for a mixed drink LOL! I can have one or even 2 more after a gig if I feel like it and have a designated driver. I usually just take two or three beers to a party and two or three diet root beers and usually come home with one beer left over LOL!