Ever Have One Of Those Days When Your Playing Is On Fire?!

[JT]

Spawn and Drew = separated at birth

 

[Bruce]

That’s why I smoke a lot of pot.

I’ve got a fair amount of free time outside of work, by design. The majority of songs I’ve written have been started by sitting behind Pro Tools/Logic without a single idea, just a click track and a bag of pot, then a couple hours later there’s a song there. I’ve also had PLENTY of times I sat there and nothing happened at all, but if I’m in the right headspace, an empty DAW session is the same thing as a blank canvas.

Refreshing take, the uber-prudish herd mentality towards playing with weed/alcohol (much less anything else) over at that other place was starting to make think I was a degenerate. Which I probably still am but still

It will take a generation to change social views on marihuana usage. You really have to expect that. You drill into peoples heads how bad it is and the class of folks who gravitate to the drug and one day tell everyone its legal after decades of programming.

My opinion doesn’t matter. Im not the one smoking it. Been there done that and the truth on the issue lies somewhere in the middle. Personally, I wasn’t thrilled breathing second hand pot smoke ALL FKKN DAY at the tailgating party I played yesterday. Want to light up a joint, fine. For god sakes are you getting any actual oxygen all day too? it was the same 2 or 3 guys. They must have smoked a half ounce.

Back to the blank canvas thing, yea. I get that too. I’ve sat down to a new session and tracked a whole song that ended up pretty decent in a week or 2 and have sat down over a week or 2 and ended up with crap.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Hahahaha I am no stranger in that department. In my teens and 20’s I used to pride myself on being hammered and still being able to pull a show off but when I chilled on my drinking my playing-while-buzzed skills completely vanished. Now after two drinks I just can’t f*cking play. Greenery, on the other hand, is like opening the creativity gate.

I said it in the pot thread here, but last week I got home from work one day with the intention of taking a nap and not touching a guitar, before I blew my first hit out I was grabbing a guitar and walking into my studio and there’s practically a whole song‘s skeleton finished, including the majority of the drum track, which usually takes me a week to write.

And there’s no better time to partake than right before I start mixing a song. It’s the best time in the world to play with effects/panning/automation.

That said, I have about 1500 sessions that are a bunch of synths stacked up and it sounds REALLY cool for 20 seconds and then I didn’t know where to take them….all 100% done while I was baked.

My weed intake is definitely not what it once was (although that still always meant at least a little puff daily lol) but its been back on the rise (turns out the anxiety that didn't used to be there was more related to being around my ex than the green itself, whoda thunk). My band mates smoke a shit ton, and they usually try and make sure to get me extra baked before doing something super jam heavy lol. definitely opens creativity up for me too

When it comes to drinking, well I do plenty of that. Theres always beer at practice and shows, two is my typical starting point to get loosened up. After a certain point theres definitely diminishing returns. Although a couple weeks ago my drummer busted out some rum and we went hard and the playback of the recordings was actually pretty damn good

 

[la szum]

Brief peaks followed by long plateaus, and some occasional ruts.


It's the Way.

 

[JerEvil]

Nope. Just shitty and more shitty.

#metoo

 

[Bob Zaod]

I have times where I surprise myself. Mostly because I am convinced I am an adequate player and no more than that. I am happy that I can accomplish the things I want to accomplish on a guitar. I also hate playing solos and pretty much always have. I can do it, I just don't enjoy it nearly as much as laying down solid rhythm. I remember having to work out the solos for Bark at The Moon and Mr. Crowley because our lead guitarist came up sick for a Halloween gig we had to do. It was easier than I thought it would be but I didn't work them out completely note for note. I'd say I got 90% there and the rest was random embellishment. So yeah I have had those on fire days here and there but life makes it so I am lucky to get a few hours with my guitar per week so I pretty much just try to maintain as well as I can.

 

[mbenigni]

Make it a personal goal where your good days are great and your bad days are just good.

I've long said that this is what distinguishes professionals from everyone else. Not how much they shine on their best nights, but that even on their worst, they can get on stage and make sure something happens to entertain their audience.

Whereas on my worst nights I can barely bring myself to pick up a guitar, and when I do, I feel like I've never seen one before.

 

[Bruce]

I've long said that this is what distinguishes professionals from everyone else. Not how much they shine on their best nights, but that even on their worst, they can get on stage and make sure something happens to entertain their audience.

Whereas on my worst nights I can barely bring myself to pick up a guitar, and when I do, I feel like I've never seen one before.

Ever have one of those gigs you wish you played tuba?

I have them still but its usually not my fault

 

[JT]

Never underestimate the power of a well executed tuba riff

 

[andergtr]

i think i fluctuate between being okay with my playing and hating it mostly.