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Alcohol effects

#21
dougazbass said:
I cannot play very well at all under the effects of alcohol. I'm talking about two or three drinks although that would vary based on the person. Just wondering, is everyone else affected the same?
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I never drink anymore than maybe 1 beer - I'm more comfortable straight - I know I play better and I have more confidence. Early on in my playing (1973-74) a friend of mine told me that I was getting a good reputation with area musicians because I always showed up on time and worked hard and never got drunk or high while playing. that always stayed with me and became a habit.
 
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#23
I try to have two drinks up front to catch a buzz then maintain at one per hour. I get slight performance anxiety and start playing too stiltedly and beer helps to remedy this. Last gig we played, however, I drank some honest-to-God moonshine that definitely messed me up a little bit... that's an experience I'm not keen to repeat. While I can play with some drinks in my system once I have 3 or so built up my playing does decline rapidly even though I'm not "drunk." I mostly just get tired and sluggish.

Basically what I'm saying is that everything should be taken in moderation, alcohol included.
 
#24
I wish I could drink and play! Liquid courage sure takes care of pre-show jitters... but I learned pretty quickly that my muscles dry up within 2 drinks and I simply can't do what I want or need to do - learned this on drums and figured bass wouldn't be the same, but the first party we played at I found the same was true right away. Mentally I'd be ready to rock but physically I just go slower, in some cases A LOT slower. Oh well I usually end up having to drive to gigs too so although I wish I could, it's still technically win/win not to.
 
#25
andruca said:
Don't dring alcohol. Never did in fact, maybe it's because I didn't start at the age everyone starts, and you know, at 40, well, that train long passed my station now. You give me a beer and I don't exactly get drunk (as in incoherent) in any way, I just head to sleep within 15 minutes...
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40 is about when I started drinking. Now, about 15 years on, I would not drink whenever I knew I needed to play anything of consequence.
 
#28
I stick to the rule the emt who detoxed me in high school gave me.1 drink per hour is what your body can metabolize without too much effect.
I'm allergic to that green stuff. No joke, anaphylactic shock'll put that second set right out the window
 
#32
I don't believe that playing drunk/high helps, and if you need a drink to get on stage, maybe performing isn't for you. There is a reason driving impaired is illegal, and doing it at work will get you canned (pun intended).

Yes, I am aware many famous musicians played/recorded drunk and stoned. I am also aware many of them died young, and that many of them who still perform are now dry (ie Joe Walsh).

This has been discussed before. YMMV.
 
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#34
Drinking can and will affect my ability if I allow it. I do not drink before of during setup. While playing i am too busy to drink more than a beer per set/hour. works out great. No high gravity or hard liquour.

In my career I don't think I've ever witnessed a player improve if beyond even mildly intoxicated/stoned. Many think they do, but no really so.
 
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#35
dougazbass said:
I cannot play very well at all under the effects of alcohol. I'm talking about two or three drinks although that would vary based on the person. Just wondering, is everyone else affected the same?
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Drugs and booze ALWAYS make the music worse.

If I drink when I play I follow this pattern ... I start with a bottle of water, then a beer, then a bottle of water, then a beer then a bottle of water. That will get me through a long night without getting drunk. Then I am under the legal limit to drive home, and I don't get drunk on stage and make a fool of myself.

Sometimes I will drink just one beer or sometimes I drink the non-alcohol beer, and I always drink plenty of water, and I don't do any drugs.
 
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#36
I play my best when there's no alcohol in my body at all. Talking about finger dexterity, pitch sense (prehearing), alertness to cues onstage, timing, remembering the arrangements, the works.

I'll grab a cold one out of the frig when I get home from the gig, but I'm 100% sober onstage. The adrenalin from performing with good musicians in front of an appreciative crowd is the best buzz there is, IME.

Took me a while to mature enough to understand this...
 
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#38
way back when these indulgences were more common, I noticed that people who had trained for many years on a given instrument when impaired by substances, they could still play, but not as well -- timing and listening degenerated, but anybody in the 'learning phase' where quick and clear thinking and muscle memory weren't second nature, well their playing really fell apart.

also there's the whole 'in training' conditioning. If one is used to a certain level of say alcohol in the system, the mind and body are conditioned to compensate. Try that same level with somebody not 'in training' and it's a very different story.

so on a continuum you can go from somebody's who doesn't drink or smoke much and hasn't been playing for very long to someone who habitually consumes a few beers and has put in those requisite 10,000 hours.

in my mind, at one time, when this was all more common, it kind of separated the professionals from the wannabees.
Having played drums from age 10 I could play a kit under a load, but get on any other instrument I wanted to play and it seemed obvious I was better off as a hobbyist.
 

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