Musical Magic - How often do you feel it with your bands?

[xilddx]

[quote name='CS2' timestamp='1331058528' post='1567035']
Currently I'm in two 'bands' and they are slightly unusual. The first one is a church music group that I played bass for 8 years and guitar for 6. There's 3 people on each instrument and we have a rota. It's a big band and so one has to be a bit disciplined in keeping parts sparse. There have been some magic moments but currently there are a lot of people who stare at the music and don't give off any vibes. More later.

I also jam with 3 friends and we rotate instruments. I'm technically the bass player as I have more experience. We improvise instrumentals for 4 hours at a time. We have been up to 1 a month but one guy moved abroad so it's been 2-3 a year. He's back so we should pick up again. There are more magic moments than not and here's why.

We knew each other via a musician board and we had arranged massive sessions in central London with as many as 10 guitarists drinking ourselves stupid (I know). Three of us got together to jam in a living room (with edrums, headphones). At the very first ahem rehearsal we discovered that we were completely on the same page musically. It didnt matter what combination we tried, it worked. Ok I can only do one drum beat but it worked. We decided to rehearse in a studio and the magic was still there. After a year or two a friend of one of the guys did the big puppy eyes thing and begged to come along. He was a bedroom player and initially killed the magic stone dead. We worked with him and after 5-6 rehearsal he got it and there's magic most times.

The reason IMHO is that some players communicate. I don't mean shout out chorus but stop dead, change feel, change tempo and it's instant. Someone does a bum note and someone else fills in/plays more. The only way I can explain it is that there's a line from me to the other person or persons or there's not. In our band there's a line from each person to each person most of the time. In the church band it's barely there with one person most of the time nowadays.

I know what I mean.
[/quote]

Like it mate! I know exactly what you mean too. I love my singers, they are all amazing, and there's a drummer I totally click with, and a guitarist. When the magic happens it really is magic. You can't engineer it at all, there are too many variables, it's a meeting of minds.

[skej21]

With reading. It's a real thrill to turn up not really knowing what your fingers will be playing, and then leaving at the end of the night having played a load of music you've never played before without making any mistakes... And playing alongside musicians you've never met or met a limited number of times.

Edited March 6, 2012 by skej21

[martin8708]

deleted

Edited March 7, 2012 by martin8708

[SteveK]

[quote name='martin8708' timestamp='1331069003' post='1567277']
I close my eyes for the next 3-4 minutes and drift off to a place that could be a million miles away , the bass is all on auto-pilot and I am oblivious to the world . Sometimes at the end of the song , I will have tears in my eyes , I just feel totally at peace .
I dont really understand why , dead easy song to play and sing , but it releases some emotion from me I cannot understand .
[b]Is this what they call " duende " ?[/b]
[/quote]No, I think it's called "hypotension"...best get it seen to.

Edited March 6, 2012 by SteveK

[Gust0o]

We have our moments. We have some big riffs, where you can feel the band pulling into sync and just going with it. Myself and the guitarist have caught ourselves playing headstock tennis or going a bit Quo at those moments, but it's all good patter.

It's not a constant. There's no kind of zen, just those moments - and the usual relief/euphoria of pulling off a good gig.

[xilddx]

[b]Alright, so we know this sh*t happens for most of us, although it doesn't seem to happen all the time, what is this feeling of magic? What is it that makes you feel this way playing with other musicians (as opposed to listening to other musicians and feeling some magic)? What is it that makes it feel different to other forms of musical magic?[/b]

[b]Is it the re/creation of something already in your mind, or is it the magic of something you haven't imagined yet?[/b]

[risingson]

It's the surge inside that playing live music gives you. The idea that you can thrill a group of people who are there to be entertained is a pretty intoxicating feeling.

I've got a weird one at the moment. I find myself coming in from gigs at 1-2 a.m sometimes having played all night, but plugging in my bass again to carry on playing by myself until I decide I want to go to sleep. I've gotten good at inspiring myself at gigs, and sometimes the excess energy at the end of the night spills over into when I get back home. I'm never really bored of playing, I always find it enjoyable.

[Lfalex v1.1]

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1331057253' post='1567001']
I like the sound of that! I'm very lucky, I play with some truly wonderful musicians. But I only love playing live and recording these days. Although writing does give me a big kick if I do something beautiful. It just seems rarer these days. I used to love rehearsing but I think I'd prefer it if they were much much longer.
[/quote]

We did plenty of live work, too. What I found pleasing was that the recordings of some of the gigs were a close match for our studio work with a bit more energy.
Other reasons it was great;
No drugs
No Alcohol
Frontman was awesome. Absorbed all the attention and pressure and allowed the rest of us to just perform well
Three of the band could write well, but everyone contributed
Neither guitarist played solos!
Neither really played rhythm either. I kind of did that - with the bass.
Drummer was ok, but a lefty (!)
One of the guitarists was a competent drummer, and it showed in his delivery. All too frequently, there'd be someone else in the "pocket" with myself and the drummer.

Still miss it now, a decade on, but 3 band members live >3000 miles away and we all have families and so on...

[JTUK]

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1331075793' post='1567422']
[b]Alright, so we know this sh*t happens for most of us, although it doesn't seem to happen all the time, what is this feeling of magic? What is it that makes you feel this way playing with other musicians (as opposed to listening to other musicians and feeling some magic)? What is it that makes it feel different to other forms of musical magic?[/b]

[b]Is it the re/creation of something already in your mind, or is it the magic of something you haven't imagined yet?[/b]
[/quote]

Nope...it is when it just hits the spot and everyone is pulling it that way. We aim for it on tracks in rehearsal so that gives the song its brief and definition and where we want the band to take the song at a gig.
Then it depends on how we are all feeling and how the band is gelling that night. There are levels of getting 'it', as well

[Roland Rock]

It's a bit like being in a long-term relationship; the initial passion and excitement inevitably fade over time, and are replaced with a deeper, more fundamental yet less intense relationship. The magical moments* still happen, but are less frequent, and sometimes take more effort to come about, and sometimes appear when you least expect it.



[size=1]* For 'magical moments', read 'sex'[/size]

[CS2]

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1331066190' post='1567202']
it's a meeting of minds.
[/quote]

This...

[paulypbass]

I got the magical feeling when my band made up our first song, it sounded so good and also when we are practicing and we get our set played perfect. My first gig was amazing aswell just went nuts and had such a good time. never had a feeling like that before and i dont want it to be the last.