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Smoking pot while being in a band
- Thread starter Bright Midnight
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There he is...I like you dude. Pot smokers could have Phd's in Chemistry. I don't care if you inhale ground up pages of the Bible. Smoke in bodies ain't good.
The part that escapes me is the fact that the guy is not a good guitar player. That should be the 1st deciding factor in whether he's in the band. The 2nd factor should be whether he's willing to change. These seem to be both NO's so he got to go.
Even if weed is the magical foilage from the Planet 'It's All Good' given as a gift from Jah as a guide from this passage to the next..
That's why real pot heads use vaporizers or ingest their weed. See there are ways around that.
This is a question I had as well. If I was in a band practicing twice a week, without gigs, I wouldnt last 4 months. Wheres the mota-vation?
And there is certainly something to be said for that. Drugs don't make people better musicians. Drugs and creativity do often go hand in hand, but that begs the question of whether drugs open the mind and help the creative juices flow or if creative people happen to be more naturally drawn towards drugs. I dont know the answer to that question and won't assume one way or the other.
Do I think smoking pot makes me a better musician? No, but I know that it doesnt make me any worse either. Have a written some of my better material under the influence of drugs, you bet your ass.
As Hunter S Thompson once said "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."
Id be bored too in his shoes if we werent playin gigs after 1.5 years of practice. XD
Guys, chill out, come find us in the Stoner/Doom thread.....
Besides the fun and giggles, some people get really really really messed up with weed. A doctor I once discussed it with, said that it depends on how active that person is mentally. That is, if you are lazy and well...dont think much about anything, you get like your friend over there. If your brain "works" on stuff alot, you dont get like that.
The biggest pothead I know, is a guy who works on theoritical physics for a really well known university. He never gets drowsy or stares at nothingness, probably cause his brain goes a thousand miles per hour all day long trying to make sense of whatever he is working on.
Guys, chill out, come find us in the Stoner/Doom thread.....
Besides the fun and giggles, some people get really really really messed up with weed. A doctor I once discussed it with, said that it depends on how active that person is mentally. That is, if you are lazy and well...dont think much about anything, you get like your friend over there. If your brain "works" on stuff alot, you dont get like that.
The biggest pothead I know, is a guy who works on theoritical physics for a really well known university. He never gets drowsy or stares at nothingness, probably cause his brain goes a thousand miles per hour all day long trying to make sense of whatever he is working on.
If you have never smoked a joint or been a pot head you have no reference in this conversation. Just like politicians making drug policy that they can't possibly understand do to lack of experience with the problem.
+1 AND he was given an amp as well ? Par for the course, I guess. His parents gave him a home for doing nothing, why not give him an amp as well, huh? Totally the wrong message, imo. Actions speak louder than anything. I've played with cats who smoke and they played GREAT ! Why ? Because they care about their playing. That's an important thing to an actual musician.
You've got some of the best posts in this thread and to answer the first part of this one, I would say that as all things human, there could be examples found to support either theory.And there is certainly something to be said for that. Drugs don't make people better musicians. Drugs and creativity do often go hand in hand, but that begs the question of whether drugs open the mind and help the creative juices flow or if creative people happen to be more naturally drawn towards drugs. I dont know the answer to that question and won't assume one way or the other.
Do I think smoking pot makes me a better musician? No, but I know that it doesnt make me any worse either. Have a written some of my better material under the influence of drugs, you bet your ass.
As Hunter S Thompson once said "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."
It sure is frustrating to see the all-or-nothing posts suggesting that pot is either the way to the gutter, or the only way up, when reality as usual walks no straight line that makes it so easy to nail down.
Really does sound to me though that a guitar player who just keeps playing the same thing or stops altogether is not a guitar player at all. Stay friends with him, offer support, have fun jamming with him from time to time, but you'll never have a band until you give him his reality ticket out of the band.
Id be bored too in his shoes if we werent playin gigs after 1.5 years of practice. XD
Guys, chill out, come find us in the Stoner/Doom thread.....
But I dont play Stoner/Doom music...
This has been what Ive witnessed first hand, many times over. Lazy people generally tend to get lazier. People like your physicist friend, whose minds run so fast they can hardly process all their thoughts at once, like myself, more often than not are able to slow their thinking processes down so that they can focus their energy into one task.
But I dont play Stoner/Doom music...
This has been what Ive witnessed first hand, many times over. Lazy people generally tend to get lazier. People like your physicist friend, whose minds run so fast they can hardly process all their thoughts at once, like myself, more often than not are able to slow their thinking processes down so that they can focus their energy into one task.
+1
Well thank you! Its probably due, in part, to the fact that I could be considered a pretty big pot head, yet am able to lead a normal and productive life. I hold a professional job, have a wife at home, and am the most active person in my band second to our bandleader. To be honest, I smoke herb almost every day (multiple times at that!), and have for the last 10 years. Ive certainly seen people on both sides.
Get the guy a girlfriend. That usually cuts down on loneliness, spare time, and money to buy the stuff. Focusing on his depression might be a good idea but that has to be done by him. A band of close friends telling him that he has a problem might harsh the stoners mellow and he might freak out feeling cornered. hiring a sub for a practice and telling him so, is a good gauge of how much he really cares.
Been through this situation in college daze bands.
Been through this situation in college daze bands.
Real losers spell it "looser." Unless, of course, you're talking about the opposite of Archie Bell and the Drells' new dance they started up in Houston.
Anyway, the OP should just help him out by telling him he doesn't have to come to any rehearsals.
Yes we are, but not nearly as much as at least three of us would want to, and there are enough giggs around....
We started out 1.5 years ago, but we're not just playing covers or simple 4/4 stuff,a nd we really digg into jamming and elaborating on riffs and rewrite sometimes an entire song just to make it better. We'eve been playing live with our songs but are still shaping and carving them out, which is something he rarely participates in because he 'hasn't got any inspiration', his words. I guess our writing process is somewhat demanding and we try to get the most out of the two session per week. The rest of the jamming and tweaking of our riffs we do at home and then bring the results along with us afterwards. This he rarely does as well, and he vetoed against playing live more and more, because he don't feel he's mastered the songs or the parts he's playing.... We're not doing somekind of strict regime, not at all, there's a lot of loose jamming and freakishness at our place, but you gotta have at least a basic will and drive to make music and at least the courage to play live, even if songs are not ready.
Sounds like he just doesn't have it in him right now. Dump him and let him know if he gets his act together he can come back. Offer to help anyway you can.
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