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Writing and playing music on psychedelics

If I'm performing songs I practice and perform regularly, I can play them tripping, and pretty much without thinking, and only occasionally will I forget where I am in the song. Jamming with friends is fun in this state. I can't imagine being able to write while tripping, though I will probably try now that the idea is in my head.
 
I am angry because nobody is reading my Thread and writing a response. How can I write a trip report and where do I post it?
 
Interesting point Kingme. Different levels of 'Psychedelia' (ie Shulgin scale, levels of immersion, dissociation) are key here. A full on dose might provide inspirational raw material, but your fingers don't behave quite as dexterously as usual. Wait until you calm down and sketch your ideas. Heavy doses don't work with gigs. I did one on strong LSD when I was 16 in 1990. Apparently I played OK, but it was a trial of willpower to stay on track. Everyone in the audience (of 40 people or so!) had animated red lighting across there eyes like KITT off of KnightRider! There was too much extraneous psychedelic noise for comfort.

Later, when RCs and there kindred became available, I dabbled in low to medium doses of 2CB which worked subtly. I usually don't jump about like a mad thing on stage, but with a whisper of 2CB and I let loose somewhat. My Mrs (unaware of my synaptic tomfoolery) commented that I looked more into it than usual. Not sure if it affected quality either way but if looking like you are enjoying yourself is important to your act there is mileage to be had.
The most fun I have had i performing with an empathogen on board. Whilst recommending caution, it seems that in a busy noisy venue or outdoors, stronger doses are more noticeable. I usually go 1.5 times my usual dosages for MDMA and relatives (5/6APB, M1 etc).
Intuitive judgements like 'that was a good show' are slightly unreliable, but subjectively it does seem the case. Musicianship is not harmed by sensible dosages. Assuming your material is decent (One usually hopes so. . .) and you're on the way. Loosening of emotional expression is a good thing up to a point. You have to work out your own sweetspot.

Does the stage and maybe amplification provide a medium for the 'Contact High'? I don't know either way.
The people who come to see you after the performance are perhaps not the best people to be objective, and I can't remember a gig where there hasn't been compliments paid. My wife is the only person I trust to be objective on such matters since she is not a music obsessive like myself and has different taste. As a musician, you are are witness to your own mistakes. Those kinds of statistics speak for themselves.
But above the level of technical mistakes, there's that reading between the lines stuff, expression, sensitivity, band cohesion and interplay, listening attentively to your buddies contributions as much (if not more) than your own. The fusion of all these feedback data and the generation of your own happens almost unconsciously on a good night. Whatever your Drug Of Choice, it needs to be at a dosage that does not mess too much with those processes, but just widens there freedom of operation slightly. I'm perhaps a bit uptight emotionally from time to time so for me, that kind of loosening of inhibition can be useful.

I do always find some location to smoke a small joint before going on stage, but I spend much of my waking hours stoned so it's effects beyond normal are negligable. . .
I'm going to strum my acoustic for a while before supper.
Pipp out.
 
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i drank some water from a tap recently and it tasted strangely familiar .... then i realised of brass ! so i picked up the years old cornet yesterday and shit- brass is hard on the lungs

however i think i'm gonna keep at it, or borrow someone's flute !

CARIBOU is a musician who plays many orchestratic instruments from trumpet to drums, he's big on serotonergics. tends to combine this with electornic music. i love
 
PippUK said:
Interesting point Kingme. Different levels of 'Psychedelia' (ie Shulgin scale, levels of immersion, dissociation) are key here. A full on dose might provide inspirational raw material, but your fingers don't behave quite as dexterously as usual. Wait until you calm down and sketch your ideas. Heavy doses don't work with gigs. I did one on strong LSD when I was 16 in 1990. Apparently I played OK, but it was a trial of willpower to stay on track. Everyone in the audience (of 40 people or so!) had animated red lighting across there eyes like KITT off of KnightRider! There was too much extraneous psychedelic noise for comfort.

Later, when RCs and there kindred became available, I dabbled in low to medium doses of 2CB which worked subtly. I usually don't jump about like a mad thing on stage, but with a whisper of 2CB and I let loose somewhat. My Mrs (unaware of my synaptic tomfoolery) commented that I looked more into it than usual. Not sure if it affected quality either way but if looking like you are enjoying yourself is important to your act there is mileage to be had.
The most fun I have had i performing with an empathogen on board. Whilst recommending caution, it seems that in a busy noisy venue or outdoors, stronger doses are more noticeable. I usually go 1.5 times my usual dosages for MDMA and relatives (5/6APB, M1 etc).
Intuitive judgements like 'that was a good show' are slightly unreliable, but subjectively it does seem the case. Musicianship is not harmed by sensible dosages. Assuming your material is decent (One usually hopes so. . .) and you're on the way. Loosening of emotional expression is a good thing up to a point. You have to work out your own sweetspot.

Does the stage and maybe amplification provide a medium for the 'Contact High'? I don't know either way.
The people who come to see you after the performance are perhaps not the best people to be objective, and I can't remember a gig where there hasn't been compliments paid. My wife is the only person I trust to be objective on such matters since she is not a music obsessive like myself and has different taste. As a musician, you are are witness to your own mistakes. Those kinds of statistics speak for themselves.
But above the level of technical mistakes, there's that reading between the lines stuff, expression, sensitivity, band cohesion and interplay, listening attentively to your buddies contributions as much (if not more) than your own. The fusion of all these feedback data and the generation of your own happens almost unconsciously on a good night. Whatever your Drug Of Choice, it needs to be at a dosage that does not mess too much with those processes, but just widens there freedom of operation slightly. I'm perhaps a bit uptight emotionally from time to time so for me, that kind of loosening of inhibition can be useful.

I do always find some location to smoke a small joint before going on stage, but I spend much of my waking hours stoned so it's effects beyond normal are negligable. . .
I'm going to strum my acoustic for a while before supper.
Pipp out.
Click to expand...

I play classical piano and I have to agree that entactogens are by far the best performance enhancers when it comes to drugs. Entactogens have consistently not only not reduced my technical chops, but have actually increased them in a very objectively measurable way. I also am at my most passionate while playing on them - I get really into the music, connected with the audience and just all around the music sounds more meaningful to those who watch me play, as well as myself. The only risk of doing this too much is that it can be easy to rely on entactogens to actually perform and for awhile I lost the drive to play much without them.
 
i drank some water from an outdoor tap recently and it tasted strangely familiar .... then i realised of brass ! so i picked up a cornet i played as a kid yesterday and shit- brass is hard on the lungs
i think i'm gonna keep at it, or borrow someone's flute, and play tripping

CARIBOU is a musician who plays many orchestratic instruments from trumpet to drums, he's big on serotonergics. tends to combine this with electornic music. i love

one of the themes of this thread seems to be ' was i playing better or did i just think i was ? ' - perhaps the only way to know is to record it and compare
 
I've been experimenting with psychs and entactogens while messing around on my turn tables. I've found that where I am on the shulgin scale really influences the music. If I under dose, and am only at a +1 at peak, I find that I should've just stayed sober. I am almost uninterested. At a +2 I find experimentation to be at its best. I can easily think about what I want to do, and pull it off. It is experimentation, so sometimes it ends in an epic fail. At a low to mid +3 is where I prefer to work. I find my creativity is at its highest, and my ear for sounds/music is at its highest. High +3/bordline +4 is too much. I find I can't pay attention, and confusion sets in.

I find music is a great way to release any excess stimulation. It also helps me forget any uncomfortable body load. Playing music, on my turn tables, is not the best for introspection. Though I find playing my bass guitar great for introspection. Maybe because there is less happening all at once. I am also playing more by feel/memory then thinking of my next move/track.

All in all, music and the psychedelic experience go hand in hand. Happy Travels.
 
I'm 30 years old, and I've been playing music since I was 7. However, I find that when I'm tripping, I rarely have a desire to pick up the guitar or play keys, or compose in a DAW. I'm far more interested in doing other things (or not doing anything). Playing a standard instrument or composing songs is way too much of a culturally-ingrained, parameter-imposed distraction for me, and I would rather be letting my mind be getting cleaned of all the extraneous garbage which has accumulated over the previous weeks. In all honesty, I would rather be hugging a tree.

That said, on the occasions that I have played a guitar whilst tripping, my chops have always been improved. Dexterity, visuospatial memory, and hand-eye co-ordination is increased, as is the ability to creatively flow. It's easy to get straight in to 'the pocket' when tripping. But I find it doesn't increase my desire to make music any more. I would rather just lay in a meadow and listen to the dawn chorus. Pure Gaian music.
 
I tend to play guitar best right after the peak, or when I take a smaller dose (1.5-2g of mush/half a tab)

Seems as though when peaking it's impossible for my fingers to understand my brain, or I'd rather be staring at the ceiling thinking about everything at once. :p

But after the peak I feel like Jimi Hendrix. When playing sober, I can improv for about a minute or two before losing focus or messing up and having to 'start again' per se. But on 2 grams of mush it's non-stop. I'm completely 'in the zone' for almost the entirety or the trip making very little mistakes and just pouring out beautiful music off the top of my head. It's perhaps the biggest reason I take psychedelic drugs to be honest. I almost feel like I'm in a trance or meditating or something, as if I'm having sex with the instrument. Quite a magical experience, and something I haven't achieved when trying to produce music while tripping.
 
Making music is amazing when tripping but it's defo better to leave production till you're sober :)
 
I find that improvising gets really fun and epic-feeling. I had a jam session with some friends while I was on around 400mics of acid and I felt like I was a shaman summoning gods.
 
Naturally I'm not at all the improvisatory type, I like thinking things out a lot before hand, but when I'm tripping I can grab my guitar & just go without thinking about it.

Occasionally I'll compose something cool too (usually Stoner/Doom Metal riffing). More stimulating, clear-headed/focused psychedelics work best for this (or good 'ole LSD).

When I have a working computer again I intend to start making electronic music (on the more cerebral, atmospheric side, a la Boards of Canada), I imagine I'll end up spending lots of trips working on that.
 
I've never got into playing guitar much while tripping - tripping is so much fun that playing the guitar doesn't really enter my head. I do know Hendrix regularly took LSD before gigs. Pete Townshend says in his autobiog that before Monterey Hendrix was high on LSD - to the point that Pete had trouble understanding what Jimi was saying.
 
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