For me alcohol kills everything: technique, memory, creativity, timing. Small amount (up to 50 ml of vodka or 0.5 litres of beer) can be not such noticeable effect on general playing (but I already feel the effect). If I'm really nervous, 0,25 glass of beer or 25 ml of hard drink can help me to relax, but I prefer not to do drink befor gig anyway. I prefer to avoid drinking before playing possible except playing among close friends.
---------- Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
I am not opposed to a few drinks throughout the night. Typically for example I will have maybe three woodchuck ciders through out a gig night. And a shot if someone buys the band one.
BUT that is it.. and I learned this the hard way. To much WILL effect your performance badly. I have seen entire bands fall apart due to over drinking.
Like I said, I learned my drinking lessons the hard way. In my case I got lucky and it did not totally make a fool of myself but it was enough.
I had been drinking ciders all day then when the band was bought a shot it all caught up to me at once and I was suddenly having trouble standing up. I managed to play through it but from that day I have limited myself greatly on drinks at gigs.
I have seen lead singers forget everything, guitar players and drummers loose it completely. Watched band members get into fights with crowd members, you name it. To much alcohol is a bad thing.
I love a few pints of beer.But i have learnt the hard way that there is a big difference between being compus mentis (sp) enough to spend a night playing darts and pool with your mates and getting up on a stage to play Harp. 2 draw to 9 blow no sweat sober,a few pints and your likely to end up blowing the 11 hole or worse.Etc. Now i have 1 or two pints before we start and maybe a quick half in breaks. There is always an exception but in general i reckon booze and blues harp are not a good mix for most guys. And not a small point but i've missed out on the groupies because i was too pissed ;^)
Nobody like to drink more than I do. If I had to decide whether to give up sex or drinking, I would have to think it over. I also have health issues which mandate me taking pain medication, Vicodin, usually chewed. It is all detrimental to performance. Oh, you may THINK you're more creative, but it just ain't so. If I'm intoxicated and in my studio (basement recliner) I may practice bends or slow passages. I would not get up on stage drunk. I would sooner have some pain but be sharp.
For about 10 - 15 years ago i always was the bandmember who drank most. I feel soo good after a beer ,,, or five. I was convinced i was relaxed and had everything under control. Until i saw a film with myself after some beers. And i compared it with a film from a drug and alcohol free charity concert. On the drug free gig i was so nervous i nearly shaked down from stage. But it sound good and i did not see any sign on nervosity on myself. On the film after 3 beers i was clumsy, tried to do things i did not fix and so on. No control at all. Now i take max one beer 0,5 Liter / about 1 US pint and no more between soundcheck and the gig. Just to be social with the rest of the band and prepare myself a little. If i don't have to drive home from the gig. In that case it's no beer at all. And my nervousity have i left in a trash basket somewhere a long time ago. I don't care if people like me or not. I do my thing, i always do some mistakes. But i have fun and i am good on what i'm doing. In fact i'm the best arnenym ever existed!
Last Edited by on Nov 22, 2011 1:49 AM
For me I find a few drinks do help me, I find I relax a bit, I find it easier to find the groove, I feel a bit braver. However like others have stated, I learned the hard way that too much will make a real mess of your playing. After a certain point it affects your technique, timing and the worst thing for me it that I find it really hard to connect with what's going on musically.
Like drink driving, you think you can but you really dont have the ability, i often record to backing tracks half pissed and delete them in the morning, they sounded good at the time but were nothing but out of tune rabble. Maybe a nip of bourbon before playing wouldn't hurt, BUT no more.
Drinking before playing doesn't make you more creative. I find it makes me more thirsty on stage. It does lower your inhibitions & nerves having to do with playing on stage in front of a crowd. Though Im concerned that you can get in the habit of 2-3 beers before getting on stage every time like I seem to be. I think it makes your playing less consise as others have mentioned. It seems to me as the night goes on & I have more to drink my playing probably becomes less interesting as I default all the way back to the 2d - 6b blues scale. I certainly wouldn't want to try to play note for note covers or classical pieces after a few, lol.
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Steven Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
Like anything it's a case of "a little of what you like won't hurt but a lot of what you like will", wether it be drink drugs or food you just have to be responsible. I would say from my VERY limlted stage experience that a couple of pints before playing is fine it definatly reduces the nerves and that allows the creative juices to flow, anymore and the controll starts to suffer, so i like a couple of looseners before i go on followed bt a couple of calm me downers after and being a bit of a lightweight as far as the booze goes that's me nicely served.
For me, rather a lot works fine. I get better, up to a point, and that´s somewhere when you start feeling a certain slackness in the jaw muscles; for obvious reasons not great when you´re playing wind instruments. This is something I´ve tested a great many times -- and compared with "clean" performances -- and feel comfortable with. I would of course NEVER recommend it since our reactions to alcohol is so varied.
@FMWoodeye: Sex or alcohol -- that´s a so called no brainer. Alcohol has been a trusted friend for most of my 54 years now, and I´m very happy with it. Sex ... well, let´s just say it´s the most over valued factor in our declining civilisation and since long celebrated to death by media.
Alcohol dries my mouth, makes me sloppy and too loose. In the early days, I would think it made me more creative, but listening to a recording would squash that perception.
These days I drink NO ALCOHOL at gigs. Also, the musicians I choose to work with also will not drink on the gig. More responsible playing is the result. ---------- The Iceman
FACT: alcohol shrinks your brain. if you want to be great at something, dont drink. also alcohol will give you the feeling of more emotion making the music feel better to YOU. but in reality your skills will be better if you are sober. but it wont be as fun. ----------
I don't drink because I want to feel that all. Drinking might relax you and take some of the tensions/fear away, but for me that is part of the exitement!
Only way that I feel drinking has helped me with my music & harp playing is that it has provided me good material for the lyrics... ;)
Much like my driving and conversational skills, alcohol improves my harp playing. Fantastic stuff. Increases my balance, wit and charm.
Jon, it is not a fact that it shrinks your brain. That is an illusion stemming from the fact that your head actually gets bigger, causing one to think that the brain has shrunk. Silly notion, but not to be confused with the fat head frequently experienced the next morning, again caused by the great expansion of the mind the night previous.
I recorded "I Want You," "C. C. Rider," and "Sweet Home Chicago" on HARLEM BLUES when I was pretty high on vodka. Those are three of my best performances.]
Of course, I had an incredible amount of adrenalin coursing through my bloodstream.
Alcohol is a chemical--a euphoric that is also a depressant.
The answer to the OP's question: If you drink, drink smart.
Waltertore knows what I'm talking about.
You have to know your chemicals. You have to know you. Sometimes the wrong drink at the wrong time kills everything.
But sometimes the right drink at the right time is the key that unlocks the mystery.
Re: kudzurunner's "Alcohol is a chemical--a euphoric that is also a depressant."
ETOH (alcohol) works like this - while the bloodstream level is rising it feels good - when the bloodstream level is falling you get thirsty for more. As you drink enough to maintain the rising buzz you pretty soon lose presence, then judgement, then control, and eventually pass out. F'd that one, So Sorry!
The trick is to drink tiny amounts at a time, and be well nourished and drinking water at the same time so as not to be using alcohol as a substitute for real nourishment and hydration.
And know when to pass in spite of the depression.
Last Edited by on Nov 24, 2011 11:15 PM
it is so individual,i have been playing out for 40 plus yrs,i dont drink but some of the best i ever heard played pissed to the gills and some of the worst were as well,some like reefer and are aided by it,others cant function...
I suspect that whatever test provided you with that research summary was conducted under controlled conditions in a lab. But the conditions under which a blues musician might deploy alcohol to lubricate/adjudicate/provoke a performance are anything but controlled. All sorts of other chemicals, including adrenaline and endorphins (and pheromones from the chicks dancing down front, god knows) will also be working their magic. So alcohol is only part of the cocktail.
But yes: I will agree that it's often that first hit, ingested just before ascending to the bandstand--either for the first set or the second set or both--that has most of the magic. That first magic rush. That first intoxicating draught of the godhead. That first explosive onslaught of superhuman....
Well anyway. The stuff has helped me. But it depends very much on the liquor. Beer is likely to push me down rather than open me up. Scotch has some fire in it, but god save the player who tosses back too much. Confusion and asymptotically increasing lack of coordination can ensue.
I'll second Adam on scotch. That's my usual whistle-wetter at gigs. But, as much as I love the taste and burn of it straight, I've learned to keep things on a more even keel by drinking scotch & water. Loses some of its potency, but it doesn't completely dry out your vocal chords or make you start cursing at the pink elephants telling you to bend that 7 draw. :-) Sometimes I'll slug a shot or two of bourbon on break. Helps clear my throat when I've had sinus drainage or things of that ilk. I rarely drink beer when I'm playing, primarily because it leads to belches, and that's obviously problematic.
In terms of affecting playing, I've found it CAN help nerves a bit, but only so much, and I've had to make a limit for myself on how much I swig before I start playing. I've let myself overimbibe a couple times, and managed to finish up the night on a sub-par note. I've pretty much learned my lesson on that now. Once in awhile I'll get something of a buzz, and at times it can inspire some neat licks that I probably wouldn't be able to repeat completely sober. But when I do get like that, that's when I start reigning it in. As my buddy Bruce says, partaking in booze is an occupational hazard in this business. I tend to agree. ---------- Hawkeye Kane
@kudzurunner: I do hear you about the adrenaline and the pheromones. Absolutely no lab tests were conducted that influenced my appraisal of the effects of alcohol, only my own trial and error, more than enough error at that, over the years. It's still a battle. But I am quite certain the effects are related not to the absolute momentary level in the bloodstream, but to the rate of change of the level at the given moment, whether up or down. Thank God for adrenaline and especially the pheromones, and the eye candy that comes with it.
Rbeetsme, I've noticed the girls in the audience dance more when they've been drinking. I don't know if that makes me play better, but I sure do enjoy it.
well, if affects me like a locomotive,, I keep pouring the coal to it. the fire in my boiler builds.. I work up a huge head of steam.. and it goes faster and faster, more & more powerful... powerful , building force and rhythm like a mighty rushin engine as it says in Wabash Cannonball...then without warning... suddenly the I come to a deep river the trestle tumbles and the bridge is out !!!
Jonsparrow said,"i was a massive alcoholic an i quit drinking for over 5 years. had my first drink a few days ago." Jon sparrow if you was you still is, good luck to you.
Here's something I bring to almost every gig-- a 13 ounce bottle of tequila, discreetly nestled amongst my microphones, harmonicas, etc. in my gear bag. Before I play, I partake of it in some private corner of the gig venue. Between sets, I partake of it, and so does the singer in our band. She and I take turns bringing our "essential" to the gig. I can't speak for her (the singer), but for me, a certain lack of sobriety contributes immensely to the passion I feel and transmit into my harmonica playing. Good for blues, no?
I'm well aware of and understand the admonitions on this and other musicians' forums-- alcohol/drug use only makes you think you're sounding better; it won't sound nearly as good when you listen to the recording in the cold light of day. I can only say that, for me, I do play better when under the influence, up to a certain point. As one (non-drinking) band member said to me after a gig: "Wolf, the drunker you get, the better you play". He was exaggerating-- I don't play drunk (well, not usually), but I do play a few steps removed from my usual sobriety.
I'm in my sixth decade of life, and fourth decade of playing, and it works for me.
i'll drink beer, wine, whiskey, but prefer dirty gin martinis as a rule. for 20 years my drink of choice was gin w/ club soda and a squeeze of lemon ( i like to taste the gin).
if there is no booze on site or time to drink it i don't bother but the guitarist tends to have a flask of whiskey in his case more often than not.
carry bell and jimmy thackery like gin but drank it straight out of a flask. too hard core for me.
i don't smoke herb but some dudes seem to play okay all smoked up. ----------
MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
Last Edited by on Nov 28, 2011 12:25 PM
I left one band partly due to the drinking of the other players, the more they drank the worse their playing and behaviour got.
in another band I sat in with once the later it got the more the drunks sang along and the rowdier it got. and that was only the band !! there is a youtube of that but I am not going to tell you where it is :^) ---------- "Come on Brackett let's get changed"
