Drugs and alcohol and inappropriate times for inspiration

[The StabbinCabin]

In my personal experience- I tend to have musical ideas at the worst times. When I am home and have a few hours before work I feel like it's impossible to get myself in a state of mind to write music that actually means something to me. Yet when I'm at work or about to go to sleep it's when these ideas hit me and it's weird because I'll debate whether it's worth getting up and powering everything up at 5am or I'm simply stuck behind a register to my own thoughts. It's wacky. I don't personally like being high, either- I tried all sorts of things when I was in highschool. But alcohol does something to me sometimes where lyrics and sounds just come to me, and the few close friends I end up showing them to just say "woah".

In regards to the whole experimentation with drugs and alcohol and their effect on the human brain, musically, do any of you guys feel there is truth or benefit from this? Or means to get to this state of mind without substance? How many of you guys get and forget so many cool riffs or just musical concepts while you're at work? Anyone practice anything to keep track of these ideas in their moment or am I just drunk and not making any sense right now?

 

[UncleBob]

I think it would be more of a crutch, plenty of great musicians (classical period included) used drug and whatnot, but I'm pretty sure not in the actual musical process itself, there are a lot of stories of Nobel winning scientists who were on drugs at the time the double helix of DNA occurred to them etc but they were already working on the problem sober for months, if not years before that. So maybe if you're stuck on a particular problem, science or music (same thing really) then you could probably help lube up your brain with substances and something mite come of it.

But I'm pretty sure if you were a crappy musician AND a drunk/high one at that, nothing good will come of it, the results would probably be worse than just a straight sober crappy musician trying hard.

 

[Notuern]

Generally speaking, getting high wont give me any new materials at all.. but the day after im always full of inspiration for some reason.
Kind of the same goes for alcohol, when im really drunk or hung over i can get some really great ideas as well.. but those always need allot of work to become the final product you envisioned when writing it.

 

[xFkx]

Yeah, never felt the benefits of alcohol or drugs when creating stuff (quite possibly the opposite)

On the other hand, i'm quite pleased that I have a guitar lying around in the office, and everytime something hits me I just record it on my phone

 

[DullElysium]

Never tried getting high nor drunk so I can't help on that part. But when going to sleep my mind goes to super-inspiration mode at times. But laziness wins. And sometimes i get the great ideas in my head even during the day but then i see that my hands didn't get them.

Every once in a while there's this small hole in the time and space contiuum where I actually manage to get my ideas down just like they were in my head.

Music is a bitch..

 

[==>Alb<==]

Alcohol it's part of writing and pre-production process of my band
between the various alcoholic nights we have some days of sober analysis of the songs or various parts of songs.
after a long alcoholic cycle of production I need a break/detox cycle

and after the detox cycle, to drink the "first beer" it's like an orgasm

 

[plague_rider]

I get loads of rhythm ideas and some riff/melody ideas when i'm at work... I try my best to note them down in tab tab/notation form then email to myself to work on later... problem is by then I'm so tired or don't have time... its so hard to draw on inspiration at a time when I am free to work on it...

With regards to alcohol and drugs (my experience goes as far as weed, thats it) I find alcohol lowers my inhibitions but theres a certain line I cross quickly where I go from loosening up to sloppy... With weed, to be honest i've only ever played live shows on it (but not a lot), I quickly grasped how lazy it makes me, so if I was to smoke, i'd probably not make it upstairs to my guitar/bass, i'd make it across the sofa to the chinese takeaway in the phonebook... needless to say I haven't smoked in a long time since becoming a dad...

 

[Erik Monsonis]

Let me throw a bit of neuroscience here:

The human brain is composed of two hemispheres that send shut off signals to each other every time their neurons fire. The left hemisphere processes logical input, syntax, math, etc, but when it's neurons work they send a copy of the message to the right hemisphere that will NOT process that batch.
On the other hand, this phenomenon also happens the other way around: the right hemisphere, which is involved in art, abstraction, instincts, feelings, MEANINGS, will tell the logical brain to be idle.
And that's the reason why the alcohol creates the perception of higher creativity (alcohol disrupts that negative-feedback pathways), and that's also why getting high will also help, but by overstimulating the right brain functions (try to do math stoned).

Cheers!

 

[Erik Monsonis]

I get my inspiration in exam period, but that's just called creative avoidance, in which I will try to do anything to keep me from actually studying. Surprisingly, that's when I write

 

[JeffTD]

(try to do math stoned)

I can't even do math sober. Fuck.

 

[UncleBob]

Let me throw a bit of neuroscience here:

The human brain is composed of two hemispheres that send shut off signals to each other every time their neurons fire. The left hemisphere processes logical input, syntax, math, etc, but when it's neurons work they send a copy of the message to the right hemisphere that will NOT process that batch.
On the other hand, this phenomenon also happens the other way around: the right hemisphere, which is involved in art, abstraction, instincts, feelings, MEANINGS, will tell the logical brain to be idle.
And that's the reason why the alcohol creates the perception of higher creativity (alcohol disrupts that negative-feedback pathways), and that's also why getting high will also help, but by overstimulating the right brain functions (try to do math stoned).

Cheers!

The whole left brain/right brain thing is a bit of a myth

http://www.yalescientific.org/2012/04/left-brain-right-brain-an-outdated-argument/

 

[Erik Monsonis]

The whole left brain/right brain thing is a bit of a myth

http://www.yalescientific.org/2012/04/left-brain-right-brain-an-outdated-argument/

The article not only says that is a real thing, but also proves that it's not unique to humans. Our knowledge about the topic can be a bit patchy, with loads of unexplained phenomena, but it's definitely not a myth.
Also, it's basic neuroanatomical and neurophysiological knowledge. A region on the left hemisphere of the brain will pick the words while another region in the right hemisphere will modulate the pitch, intonation and all of that.

 

[AD Chaos]

Whenever an idea comes to me (most likely at some random moment one doesn't expect, as you point out) I hum/tap/sing the rhythm, lyrics or the notes on the cellphone's recording app. So, at the end of the day I can record them more properly and permanently.
Kind of awkward at first but nowadays I'm very used to do it, I've gotten the hang of it as not to get unintelligible clipping nonsense.


Haven't tried weed in ages, but I've been wondering if it helps with creativity, or at least to get 'un-stuck' from usual stuff like riffs that won't match, etc.

Beer takes the edge off for me but also gets me drowsy, so it depends on the day.

Whatever works you know.

 

[AD Chaos]

when going to sleep my mind goes to super-inspiration mode at times.

Totally +1

I guess it has to do with the brain having been awake for a long time, or maybe getting one's head in a horizontal position? Who knows but yeah, that definitely happens to me too.

 

[StefTD]

Drugs and alcohol never really worked for me while playing music in any way.
Tried lots of stuff, got into weird theories and stuff, was able to draw strange
things, but as soon as I got a guitar in my hands, I felt like I was the best player
in the world and just sucked really hard

@Erik, I already knew the basics, but I have a question for you regarding this
stuff because it always bugs me:
I know there are differences between left and right handed people, but I seem to
be none of them, writing with my left hand, playing guitar right handed, throwing
stuff with my right hand, catching stuff with my left hand.
Using the computer mouse with my right hand, dribbling the basketball with my left
and so on, the same goes for my feet, like when playing soccer and stuff.
Most of the stuff is pretty strict for one side, like writing, there's no way I could
write with my right hand, tried it out a lot because I broke my left arm really bad a
few years ago and had to learn how to write again, so I thought "why not write
with your right hand?" but it didn't work at all (and that wasn't the first time).
Or using scissors, even if you get special left hand scissors, I can't use them with
my left hand, I am actually using them backwards with my right hand...

It's not like I feel ultra-special because of this, but it's strange to me and it would
be cool to know if that's nothing strange or if my brain just fucks me up

 

[Mashreef]

Never go for drugs, it cant help you with the talent you bear inside, you see the will for guitar was inside you and you are getting it.

 

[Bay Studio]

Really interesting thread! I started playing guitar like 13 years ago (i´m 23 now), and i´ve always gotten better and better as time passed. At the age of 18/19 i got into smoking pot heavily (still do now, even to cure my back pains from a broken back), and i have to say, it didn´t help me getting better riffs, better songs etc... But, it helped me get my inspiration/my ideas alot quicker. And for some odd reason, i can memorize ALOT of stuff throughout the day, so when i come home, i track one idea after another and see what is cool.
Maybe i´m getting a liiiittle off topic here, but i guess that alcohol tends to make your brain think everything is awesome, even if it might be a half shitty riff. If you´re high on weed, you tend to "feel" alot more, and you´re kind of "in the now", and it will still sound rad when you listen to it when you´re not high.
That´s my experience.

 

[John_C]

Let me throw a bit of neuroscience here:

The human brain is composed of two hemispheres that send shut off signals to each other every time their neurons fire. The left hemisphere processes logical input, syntax, math, etc, but when it's neurons work they send a copy of the message to the right hemisphere that will NOT process that batch.
On the other hand, this phenomenon also happens the other way around: the right hemisphere, which is involved in art, abstraction, instincts, feelings, MEANINGS, will tell the logical brain to be idle.
And that's the reason why the alcohol creates the perception of higher creativity (alcohol disrupts that negative-feedback pathways), and that's also why getting high will also help, but by overstimulating the right brain functions (try to do math stoned).

Cheers!

I don't want to be rude as you may know a lot more about this than me, but i'm pretty sure that the whole right brain left brain thing doesn't work like that according to modern neuroscience.

Edit: what is known to be true (i.e. measured, not extrapolated from neuroscience ) is that weed makes you bad at making new memories but very good at recalling, grouping and connecting old ones. The classic experiment is asking sober people and high people to name all the types of cheese they can remember. The high people always kick the sober people's asses. One can draw a parallel with music: linking existing ideas is what creating new music often is, even the greatest innovators are often just immensely creative at rehashing a variety of old phrases and rhythms.

TLDR: Write your music high, but write it down/record it, because you won't remember it properly.

 

[colonel kurtz]

try to do math stoned

way easier than sober

i used to pump out shit loads of accounting homework while high as fuck, and ended up with grades over 100% in every one of those classes

for me, trying to write while i'm high doesn't necessarily make me more creative, but i find myself in more of a "groove", and thus better able to come up with entire songs rather than individual riffs

i'll also end up writing a bunch of shit that i think is awesome at the time...but when i re-visit later, really sort of sucks

 

[bryan_kilco]

I like to have beers at practice. But most of my writing is done at home where I can sit in my pajamas, sip some beers, and take a few puffs of the green. I've noticed (many years ago) that weed does indeed give me inspiration. Its sad to think about, but I instantly want to shred guitar almost 100% of the time after smoking. I feel that, for me, a few brews and tokes definitely helps me loosen up and not get frustrated when tracking harder riffs and I can just get in my little zone.