Cannabis

Some musicians swear by it.

I, for one, find myself entirely unable to use to this substance in any advantageous way to enhance or improve my musicianship.

We're all different, we have different chemistry.

But I find it more of a hindrance than anything, so I avoid it.

What are your thoughts on this?

Sorry, I know this is a really immature thread. But, I'm just curious.

I really cant do much of anything under the influence lol. I try to stay clear of pot or alcohol strictly because of that.

I never really enjoyed getting high. When it comes to music, I feel like any drug is a distraction/hinderance to some degree. When I go to live shows I prefer to stay sober, so that I can take in the experience and remember it as it was, as opposed to how high or drunk I felt while I was there. A lot of people feel like drugs enhance musical experience. Whatever's cool for them, I suppose. While writing, I especially prefer to be as clear headed as possible.

My band runs on pot.

Total myth. It doesn't make you a better player or more creative. People who say this are just using an excuse to smoke. If someone wants to do it, whatever, that is their decision, but they shouldn't use this as the reason. Just say you wanna smoke and then do it, don't mislead others into thinking that it will help their performance.

The flip side, of course, is that I also highly doubt that it makes you any less creative or skilled.

I feel like someone brings this up at least once a year and everyone always has the same things to say.

Instead of saying my piece, I'll just say I agree with btimm.

And I agree with DarkRiff.

A better tool to use instead would be a good knowledge of theory. That is my two cents. :)

I just enjoy smoking. I don't like alcohol-I mean beer is delicious but I don't get drunk very much(I certainly cannot play when I'm hammered). So yeah basically what you guys said. Its a moot point-and knowing theory is good but I have to add that creativity is far better to have than the knowledge of what scale or key it is you are playing. If you can't find a good melody it doesn't matter how much theory you know.

edit. I believe yes. Cannabis can help with creativity. For example. Could the beatles have done what they did without the influence of drugs? i dont think they could have. But i also believe it will not help with creativity for everybody.

It's also good to know that drugs do NOT contain the high. When you use them they change your mind and mood. But they change it physically. These mind and mood changes can also be controlled WITHOUT the use of drugs. There is, however, no control when you use drugs. I can get myself in the right frame of mind to be more creative sober way more than I ever could with drugs.

I'm not against the use of drugs mind you. Just don't think that using will make you a rock star. The Beatles, Hendrix, Page and so on, all launched their careers before they were really into getting high.

@macandkanda; although it is true the beatles did start their career long before they got high. The point is that after they were introduced to marijuana they wrote revolver and rubber soul and so on. Did drugs not give them a different type of creativity than what they were doing before? And im anti drug.

i haven't smoked in a while (lame!), but one time i had to stop and put my guitar down because i nailed this solo and it felt like my fingers were on fire. but like, in a good way. if that makes sense. haha if you're a smoker you probably know what i'm talking about. like i heard and did something so awesome i felt lightning bolts through my fingers.

now playing guitar on mushrooms... that's an experience. it's really interesting to be able to perceive each string's unique vibrational frequency... not just audibly, but visually.

I do believe there were some heavier drugs involved in the beatles "creativity boost". they probably had a bigger influence than the pot did.

Just as one writes different music whilst angry or sad so to one writes a variety of contrasting compositions whilst sober or stoned to various degrees.

Music is an expression of soul; unless you are playing a specified piece or a specific degree or function of music.

This is similar to alcohol as well. One can simply not play to the same technical standard drunk as when sober, as it is physically impossible; despite so, some may think as much (probably while not sober).

So if it is not possible to play one way, one must play another. And this is the same as when high or "tripping". Whether the change in technique be influenced or forced, it is superbly different.

I went to see Aerosmith during the rocks tour in the late 70's. What a fantastic album right? I'm sure they were using all the things they used when they wrote and produced that album but when I went to see them, Steven Tyler couldnt walk much less sing. The rest of them were pretty off too. Biggest concert disappointment of my life. And yeah, I was pretty F'd up when I saw them!

hah, i believe in the "plateau". not just with playing guitar but with any sort of task. i first became aware of "the plateau" with respect to bar games. darts, pool, foosball, etc. think of it as an X-Y chart. along the Y axis is my ability to perform these tasks, and along the X axis is amount of beer consumed.

as i drink beer, my skills appear to increase. i get "in the zone". so we've got a steady increase until it levels out (the plateau). while you're on that plateu you're good. the plateau is a light to moderate buzz, but not drunk. probably teetering on the legal definition of "drunk" (which is conservative in my opinion).

and then after that it's just a downward spike to below the sober baseline. suddenly darts are boucning off the walls.

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i've always heard horror stories about bands performing when they were so messed up that they could barely play, but i don't think i've been unlucky enough to witness one. i did see sammy hagar drink several wabo-ritas on stage once but it didn't affect his performance.

I think I've talked about this before but my favorite thing to do, almost 30 years ago, was to drink, smoke weed, and do meth all at the same sitting and play Metallica type songs til the sun rised. Yeah, I was able to play faster longer better but with no feeling. I also was ruining my life.

Again, I don't have anything against responsible use of say pot and drinking but I still say it's not worth the risks to maybe making you more creative.

I have seen a similar trend with drinking, but with golf. Unfortunately for me, there was no plateau though, just a peak, before my demise. LOL