Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[EastAnglianTed]

    I'm a student, ergo I drink alot. Something I have found is that drinking alcohol has a devastating effect on my playing. I know this thread doesn't serve much purpose, but I was thinking about it all today.
    The other day I went to show a mate my playing after going out clubbing, and I wasn't able to play anything bar 10 seconds of a tune before it all went tits-up.
    In some sessions I've been to, a box player can sit and drink around 7 pints and still be coherent and able to play tunes well. Does this come with practice? It's just I'd say in my experience, it felt like I was like picking up the box for the first time all over again, really got me down, but then a few beers later I was back to me ol' self.  Still I'd like to hear some of your guys opinions and stories on mixing drink with the box.
    Please say I'm not the only one afflicted with this terrible hinderance! 
    P.S. Any tips welcome 

[Marje]

I think there is some evidence in psychology reseach to suggest that things you learn while under the influence of a drug are best recalled while in the same state of intoxication. In other words, try learning some tunes when you've been drinking, and perhaps they will come back to you when you reach a similar state on inebriation on another occasion.

I can't say I've put it to the test myself, though. One or two drinks (half-pints, in my case) can help me relax and play more spontaneously, but after that I find my playing becomes clumsier. The occasion to drink mores seldom arises, as I usually have to drive home, but if I do get the chance to drink more, my playing and my memory begin to show it.

[ACE]

1 pint= The audience can hear some really nice tunes and the dancers can dance at the tempo I am playing.

2 pints=  The audience can hear some really nice tunes but the dancers get a bit puffed.

3 pints=  The audience can hear some better tunes and the dancers under 25 can still dance.

4 pints= The tunes are fantastic. Only a few dancers getting up to dance

5 pints= I have played tunes I did not think I could play, the dancers have all sat down

6 pints= I have never played so well in my life

7 pints= I have just realised I can also play the drums

8 pints= 1 gallon and I can hear the rest of the band but I cannot find my way back from the toilet.

I found out years ago never drink at a paying gig.  But a couple at a session is about the limit of my pocket anyway.

[Chris Ryall]

I found out years ago never drink at a paying gig.

I once watched Christy Moore put away 8 pints of Guinness, and play a gig. But for most of us mortals that is very sound advice.

[EastAnglianTed]

1 pint= The audience can hear some really nice tunes and the dancers can dance at the tempo I am playing.

2 pints=  The audience can hear some really nice tunes but the dancers get a bit puffed.

3 pints=  The audience can hear some better tunes and the dancers under 25 can still dance.

4 pints= The tunes are fantastic. Only a few dancers getting up to dance

5 pints= I have played tunes I did not think I could play, the dancers have all sat down

6 pints= I have never played so well in my life

7 pints= I have just realised I can also play the drums

8 pints= 1 gallon and I can hear the rest of the band but I cannot find my way back from the toilet.

I found out years ago never drink at a paying gig.  But a couple at a session is about the limit of my pocket anyway.

That's brilliant, made me chuckle 

[Lester]

As a teetotaller I can assure you that by the end of a long evening I am the best player left in the bar, and the only one who can tell or cares    

   That is tea of course!

[Malcolm]

After a few beers, to quote the late, great Eric Morecombe, "I'm playing all the right notes—but not necessarily in the right order".

[Etienne]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[Andrew Wigglesworth]

Like anything it's just familiarity and practice I suppose.

The only real issue I find from having a couple (and I really do mean two!!) of pints at a gig is if you are doing lots of them and drinking night after night ... not a good thing for general health reasons. People like Christy Moore can attest to this.

Sitting in dressing rooms and hospitality rooms there is a great temptation just to pick up another drink to pass the time/stop the boredom. I tend to take a book and a large flask of coffee, much to the surprise of venue organisers who seem programmed to make you drink alcohol.

If I'm at a night out at a session or festival then I'll drink moderately and keep moderately anebriated. Not just being moderate for any particular moral reasons, just that as I got older I decided that feeling ill was not something that I like and that pacing myself properly is better for myself, my wallet and a pleasant evening.

[Bob Ellis]

I discovered early on that a couple of drinks helps me relax and play better. Anything more than that makes me lose control of my fingers!  Consequently, I never have more than a couple of drinks when I am playing, which also has the advantage of keeping me within the drink-drive limits.

One disadvantage of this is that friends sometimes rely on me to get them home or back to their tent/caravan/motor home when they have drunk far too much. There have been occasions at certain festivals when I have had to get three or four drunk friends and their instruments back to the camp site in the early hours of the morning. It can be like trying to keep half a dozen plates spinning simultaneously on top of their poles.

[Rob2Hook]

I think a lot of the problem as sited by the OP is to do with alcohol letting the brain "relax" to the point from which there is no quick way back.  If I've had more than two pints, I won't start playing - it'll all end in tears.  If I start playing in a session before the booze hits the blood stream, then I can maintain concentration and keep playing all evening.  Of course all this goes down the tubes if you're tired or hungry - then the drink wins every time (perhaps that's my problem).

Rob.

[Steve C.]

Just like with drinking and driving, the "a couple of beers makes me drive better, more relaxed" is "BS".

[gettabettabox]

playing music with others is a kind of social conversation or interaction, same rules apply, drink as much as is possible and stay nice and considerate in your found circumstances, (ha!)... but if your speech, triplets or "row-steals" become slurred, then ask for a cuppa not a pinta. I am an expert upon these matters.

[Bob Ellis]

Just like with drinking and driving, the "a couple of beers makes me drive better, more relaxed" is "BS".

I agree 100% about the drink driving, but I was speaking from personal experience about the playing. It may not apply to others, but I do play better in public after one or two drinks (no more) because I get very nervous playing in public (even in sessions) and a drink or two help me to relax and dispel the nerves.

[Graham Spencer]

Personally, I'll have a couple of beers in a session, but NONE on a gig (afterwards is another matter!) because I KNOW I play far better stone cold sober and I owe it to my audience to play as well as I possibly can.  No doubt about it: alcohol may lower my inhibitions, but it also reduces my accuracy, concentration and awareness of my surroundings - which doesn't matter quite so much in a session among like-minded souls.
 
Sorry to be a party-pooper

Graham

[Andrew Wigglesworth]

Funny isn't it, I probably play a hundred or more gigs a year (really!), and this has *never* been an issue.

I've never been drunk on stage and have never had a problem with another musician who was either. However, just about every musician I have played with sometimes drinks alcohol (beer) on stage or beforehand. Not always, or every time, I don't do that, but very often.

Being drunk on stage or not giving your bookers value for money because of alcohol seems to be a red herring for the vast majority of us. If I'm at a wedding/party or whatever, it's the person who's booked us who buys the beers. They don't seem to have a problem with it either.

Sure, we don't all react to alcohol in the same way, some feel more susceptible to it or whatever. However, I enjoy a pint of good beer. So, yes, screw the moralising and the sanctimony, I like beer and I'm damned if I'm not going to drink the odd pint whether at a gig or not.

[ACE]

I like beer and I'm damned if I'm not going to drink the odd pint whether at a gig or not.

Wish I could, but I just know I will speed up. Afterwards is a diffent matter and if it is free I turn into a proper old beer pig.

[Andrew Wigglesworth]

I like beer and I'm damned if I'm not going to drink the odd pint whether at a gig or not.

Wish I could, but I just know I will speed up. Afterwards is a diffent matter and if it is free I turn into a proper old beer pig.

Well, there's a difference, I don't on either count   

[Nick Collis Bird]

I know my place

[Graham Spencer]

I'm not being moralistic nor sanctimonious.  I'm as fond of a pint of decent ale as anyone, and as a morrisperson of over four decades standing (sometimes!) I have had many relaxed days/evenings. Quite simply, I'm happier playing a gig alcohol-free.  I'm not suggesting anyone else should adopt that approach, nor am I advocating total abstinence - alcohol is part of my life and fairly often I drink more than I know is good for me. Just not when I'm working (or, more importantly, driving).

Cheers 

Graham