Do drugs make you a better player?

[OliverBlackman]

Maybe… but they don’t make you better at interviews!

I enjoy the Anderson Paak band but this is a tricky watch and I can feel Ian struggling through some of it.

 

 

[AMV001]

No. But they are a great source of ideas.

[Downunderwonder]

To the extent that druggies think everything sounds amazeballs that implies I sound amazeballs as the result of drugs.

[Doctor J]

Drugs only make you better at being an a$shole.

[Bassfinger]

Drugs certainly improve my playing.

 

A quick snort of Vics Sinex and I'm a veritable Geddy Lee.

[BigRedX]

Hasn't anyone come with a proper musical technique enhancing drug yet? Not one that just makes you think you are great.

[Beedster]

7 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Hasn't anyone come with a proper musical technique enhancing drug yet? Not one that just makes you think you are great.

Caffeine can be very helpful especially if you don’t use it otherwise 👍

[Doctor J]

6 hours ago, AMV001 said:

No. But they are a great source of ideas.

Drugs don't give you ideas, otherwise every junkie would be a sleepy, staggering Bach. They just tend to relax the parts of your brain which shut down ideas. The ideas are already in you, or they are not in you, but drugs don't add anything. Learn to relax and let your creative voice speak up a bit. You don't need drugs to do that, just a bit of control of your own mind.

Edited September 10, 2024 by Doctor J

[Lozz196]

It`s a strange one, I look at vids of 80s rock bands such as Motley Crue in their heydays and they were great when all completely ruined, yet now when all sober & healthy, well not quite so good. 

[paul_5]

2 hours ago, Bassfinger said:

Drugs certainly improve my playing.

 

A quick snort of Vics Sinex and I'm a veritable Geddy Lee.

Careful, that’s how I started and now I’m on the Vaporub. Get out while you can! 

Edited September 10, 2024 by paul_5

[Rayman]

Drugs make you think your bad ideas are great.

[bassbiscuits]

The trick is remembering any good ideas you did come up with…

[Hellzero]

Jaco Pastorius anyone? He really destroyed everything with drugs including his talent.

[Mickeyboro]

36 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Jaco Pastorius anyone? He really destroyed everything with drugs including his talent.

I’ll second that. Read his biography and weep… You just think’Thank f@ck I was never in a band with him…’ 😧

[King Tut]

Back in the day jamming on acid, endless repetitions of Em to Cmaj7 sounded soooooo good until you listened back to it. Never forget the night on mushies and tequila where we were trying to count the amount of little red lights we had on all the gear we had set up!

[TimR]

Surely it depends how much you've taken and whether you're a slave to that particular drug.

 

1 pint of beer can calm the performance nerves, make you less inhibited so you move around the stage a bit more.

 

3 pints will certainly make me move around the stage a bit more, but not in a good way.

 

[tegs07]

I think the most appropriate comment I have heard about this was in a documentary about the Happy Mondays. I can’t remember who said it but they were asked who were the biggest casualties that they had ever worked with. They replied that the Happy Mondays were by a long shot as other artists were aware that they were living on the edge but the Happy Mondays appeared to have no concept of what the edge was never mind if they were living on it.

[Old Man Riva]

3 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

I think the most appropriate comment I have heard about this was in a documentary about the Happy Mondays. I can’t remember who said it but they were asked who were the biggest casualties that they had ever worked with. They replied that the Happy Mondays were by a long shot as other artists were aware that they were living on the edge but the Happy Mondays appeared to have no concept of what the edge was never mind if they were living on it.

Think that might have been Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz?

[Mykesbass]

Heroin and Jazz were very uneasy bedfellows in the 40s and 50s. Responsible for some great music and some tragically early deaths. I've been looking to see if there have been any studies of some of the biggest names to see if their best work was clean or under the influence - Joe Pass, Charlie Mingus, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday and Chet Baker all spring to mind.

[Doctor J]

A lot had habits but the real question was whether they used before playing or after to pass the time travelling to the next gig. I recall Dave Mustaine, himself an addict, talking about gigs where the drumming would start slowing down to a stop because Gar Samuelson, a truly gifted drummer, was falling asleep at the kit due to using before they played. 

[prowla]

Well, it is something to ponder.

Years ago I was in a band and I was never into partaking, though the rest were; we were at a practice and they were all going "This is great man!", but I thought it was an utter shambles.

I think some of the drugs can help stamina, staying up to work on things, and suchlike, so I guess that may implicitly help playing.

I watched a Beatles documentary and they were all on something; I think it may help the creativity.

A lot of the music I like appears to come via drug enhancement, but it's just plain not my thing.

[ahpook]

1 hour ago, TimR said:

Surely it depends how much you've taken and whether you're a slave to that particular drug.

 

1 pint of beer can calm the performance nerves, make you less inhibited so you move around the stage a bit more.

 

3 pints will certainly make me move around the stage a bit more, but not in a good way.

 

 

Agreed, and depends on the drug as well.

 

Sharing a jazz fag before performing is far, far removed IMHO from jacking up heroin or necking a handful of Mandrax, just like having a bottle of beer is different from a bottle of vodka

 

Y(Medication)MV of course.

Edited September 10, 2024 by ahpook

[chris_b]

This isn't an either or question. I'm in the "It depends" and "How much are you talking about" camp.

Edited September 10, 2024 by chris_b
spelling, as usual!!

[Steve Browning]

I am hoping the answer's no, because - apart from a single puff on a joint in 1978 - I've never taken any form of recreational drug in my life.

[Delberthot]

Whenever I hear Layla I always imagine that right before they begun recording, EC shot himself full of heroin. It's great at the beginning but as the song progresses he gets more and more out of his mind until you get that casualty of a guitar solo at the end.