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Personally, I have an extremely destructive relationship with alcohol. Does it augment my guitar playing? Not a bit! More than a beer or two, or a couple of glasses of wine, I won't bother picking one up. Why? (a) because my playing goes to shit, and (b) because if I'm trying to learn something new, I'll forget it.
Fully appreciate it's not the same for everyone, and we're all in the same boat, more or less. Kudos to the OP for raising the issue, and music on, brothers and sisters.
It's interesting, most reactions were along the lines of, I perceive myself to be, rather than I am, playing better. Fair point, and yes recording this might teach me a lot.
It's difficult for me right now to agree because for me it's self evident, but I'll do some recording.
Assuming that what I'm experiencing is true, does anybody have any suggestions for relaxing as has been mentioned?
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
A long time ago I did the first gig with a new singer/guitarist in the band, and before we went on he had about four or five pints and was clearly drunk - I thought it was going to be a disaster, but he was brilliant. And I’d only had one, so I would have been able to tell...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
When you look at what alcohol actually does to your body, it definitely just makes you less able to play from a technical standpoint. It might, however, make you enjoy it more and "being in the groove" is very important, IMO more important than technical perfection.
So it really depends on the balance; i.e. does the better feeling help you enough to outweigh the lessened technical ability.
I think what people are saying about comparing recording (or even someone else comparing) is a good point, definitely don't judge it at the time.
When it comes to weed, though, I don't have a shadow of a doubt that it increases creativity. It might not help with technical ability, other than hyper concentration, but it definitely helps if you're creating something new and not just performing something as-is.
Plus, I had an unfortunate incident when I was pissed in a club in Guildford, I made an absolute idiot of myself. I shall have to live with the guilt and shame for the rest of my life.
There are 5 things I would suggest.
1. Level up your playing.
If you are playing at 90% of your ability when performing then you will fuck up.
If you are only using 20% of your ability then you have bandwidth to get out of trouble if you fuck up.
2. Read some books on the topic.
Two I would suggest are 'Effortless Mastery' and 'The Inner Game of Music'.
3. Play another instrument.
I chose drums- there is nowhere to hide on a drum kit and the gross muscle movements seem to suit moving more freely.
Practicing on another instrument and then performing it gave me a lot of confidence that I could take back to guitar.
4. Practice escape routes. What I mean here is get yourself into an uncomfortable part of the neck and then practice how you get back to a place where you know what to do.
I also found it difficult when out of position in flat keys- but I practiced doing this and now it is less of an issue.
5. Perform a lot in front of others.
A lot of the time it is just inexperience.
You can practice all you want at home but playing in front of others is how you get good at playing in front of others.
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