Psychedelics + playing music?

[Zjesko]

For all you fellow musicians out there, have you ever tried playing music whilst tripping?

I have sadly never gotten the chance to trip yet, although have done some high doses of MDMA multiple times which created somewhat of a trippy experience. I'm planning on getting my hands on either some shrooms or acid in the next few months and plan on doing a good starter dose (100µg acid or half eighth shrooms). So I'm curious, is it harder or easier to play music while tripping?

I know on heroic doses of any psych you are pretty much immobilized by visuals and left to immerse yourself deeply in thought, but with a lower dose, even for a first time, would I be able to compose any sort of music? I'm mainly a drummer but also play the piano and dabble a little bit in guitar. Would it be hard to play drums since time is slowed down and irrelevant when tripping? Or would my heightened creativity aid me to play better?

All opinions appreciated

 

[.:Holy::Toast:.]

I can't play shit when I'm on psyches haha.
All ideas, zero ability

 

[Clocktower]

You might be able to compose something, sure. I've tried playing piano and guitar while tripping and recorded myself - It was EXTREMELY fun, but I would get so overwhelmed by the beauty of sound that I'd collapse into laughter every couple of minutes. I recommend trying it- just don't expect to play anything that sounds good.

 

[RhythmSpring]

When I read the title of this thread I was like, "tshhhhhh DUH."

I mean, I'm a hand drummer, so there's not a lot of thinking involved in playing my instrument, just being physically in-tune. I can't NOT play music while on psychedelics. Hand in hand.

 

[Shadowsblaze]

I can't play on acid, to many wait, this time, shit wait I'll get it, I got it, no again, next time fer sure, fuck for get it. You want to try?

 

[Ballz_Trippington]

I'm a "noisician" (I create highly structured noise-scapes) using modular analog synths and anything really), I only ever practice or record while under the influence of psychadelics and cannabis and I only record/rehearse during ritual. If I was making actual music with say a guitar or piano or whatever it probably would not work out so well.

 

[Si Dread]

On low doses, maybe a bit. I dont often do high doses.

I produce psychedelic techno, uplifting trance & tribal house & I have often produced while on shrooms or low doses of other psychedelics. I have never made a tune sober, to the best of my recollection. Of course, most of the time weed is the drug of choice when writing & producing tunes.

I was wondering the other day how likely it would be that a person who was completely naive to psychedelic drugs would be able to produce psychedelic music... & along the same tangent, whether or not a DJ who did not know what MDMA was like in a rave, would be as good at entertaining the crowd as would a DJ who was experienced with MDMA...

 

[Gratuitous Grace]

Would it be hard to play drums since time is slowed down and irrelevant when tripping? Or would my heightened creativity aid me to play better?

All opinions appreciated

It doesn't play out this way at all -- perhaps unfortunately. On psychedelics -- at least the ones I know -- you don't simply turn into a "super-creative you" and remain in control of all of your other faculties like fine motor skills, clear thinking, etc. (In fact, there's a type of "psychedelic inebriation" -- for lack of a better word -- that makes certain movement impossible or very unlikely.) You'll be creative all right, but not in the (standard or routine?) way you're thinking about it. It's not "more creative" (like, a quantitative thing) -- rather, "super creative" (like, a qualitative thing). For example, it's more likely that you'll pick up a pair of drumsticks to start playing and get totally lost in the tactile feel of those smooth wooden cylinders in your hands. Or a flash of light will bounce off of a cymbal just right and you'll stare at it for minutes, maybe hours -- seeing worlds on top of worlds of who-knows-what in there. Or you're going to look at your drums and think, "hmmm ... interesting ... I wonder what those are for?"

Others may disagree, but IMO a proper psychedelic experience often implies a complete collapse and "re-wiring." The concepts we have right now that are allowing us to communicate and share these ideas may totally (or at least partially) disappear for you. You may lose the concept of what drums, drumming, music, creativity, playing better -- all of that -- even mean.

Sadly, the bottom line is that you're not going to turn into Tony Williams just 'cause you drop acid. Not at all...

 

[RhythmSpring]

I think if you lose your ability to make music, you've done too much. Going against the "you haven't done enough" sentiment of Terrence McKenna...

 

[Zjesko]

It doesn't play out this way at all -- perhaps unfortunately. On psychedelics -- at least the ones I know -- you don't simply turn into a "super-creative you" and remain in control of all of your other faculties like fine motor skills, clear thinking, etc. (In fact, there's a type of "psychedelic inebriation" -- for lack of a better word -- that makes certain movement impossible or very unlikely.) You'll be creative all right, but not in the (standard or routine?) way you're thinking about it. It's not "more creative" (like, a quantitative thing) -- rather, "super creative" (like, a qualitative thing). For example, it's more likely that you'll pick up a pair of drumsticks to start playing and get totally lost in the tactile feel of those smooth wooden cylinders in your hands. Or a flash of light will bounce off of a cymbal just right and you'll stare at it for minutes, maybe hours -- seeing worlds on top of worlds of who-knows-what in there. Or you're going to look at your drums and think, "hmmm ... interesting ... I wonder what those are for?"

Others may disagree, but IMO a proper psychedelic experience often implies a complete collapse and "re-wiring." The concepts we have right now that are allowing us to communicate and share these ideas may totally (or at least partially) disappear for you. You may lose the concept of what drums, drumming, music, creativity, playing better -- all of that -- even mean.

Sadly, the bottom line is that you're not going to turn into Tony Williams just 'cause you drop acid. Not at all...

Thanks for the input, this really allowed me to invision what the experience would be like. It makes sense that I would become totally immersed in anything and everything I was perceiving. Maybe on lower levels I would be able to handle things better, although it will be my first time tripping so who knows, maybe it will be more powerful than I'm anticipating....

 

[psykedenlitenment]

Ime, I pick up an instrument and it almost becomes a chore to play, even though music is my heroin. Mental composing however, if I can manage to remember what ive created while sober, becomes a great starting point for fleshing out.

 

[Surfmor9]

It doesn't play out this way at all -- perhaps unfortunately. On psychedelics -- at least the ones I know -- you don't simply turn into a "super-creative you" and remain in control of all of your other faculties like fine motor skills, clear thinking, etc. (In fact, there's a type of "psychedelic inebriation" -- for lack of a better word -- that makes certain movement impossible or very unlikely.) You'll be creative all right, but not in the (standard or routine?) way you're thinking about it. It's not "more creative" (like, a quantitative thing) -- rather, "super creative" (like, a qualitative thing). For example, it's more likely that you'll pick up a pair of drumsticks to start playing and get totally lost in the tactile feel of those smooth wooden cylinders in your hands. Or a flash of light will bounce off of a cymbal just right and you'll stare at it for minutes, maybe hours -- seeing worlds on top of worlds of who-knows-what in there. Or you're going to look at your drums and think, "hmmm ... interesting ... I wonder what those are for?"

Others may disagree, but IMO a proper psychedelic experience often implies a complete collapse and "re-wiring." The concepts we have right now that are allowing us to communicate and share these ideas may totally (or at least partially) disappear for you. You may lose the concept of what drums, drumming, music, creativity, playing better -- all of that -- even mean.

Sadly, the bottom line is that you're not going to turn into Tony Williams just 'cause you drop acid. Not at all...

Well put, I had this same idea when i was younger and it went terribly wrong lol..sort of . I typically cant put my attention span on one thing for too long tripping but its also very hard in general just to perform up to the expectations I want. Its almost like i get too impatient. When I was in high school i remember showing up to practice stoned and being in the top band I would fuck myself over by just not performing well. As a "been there dont that" experience I wouldnt waste my time playing I could only see myself being able to dj or maybe make music on like a soft synth program and even with that id prob just stick to MDMA or MDA

 

[Gratuitous Grace]

I think if you lose your ability to make music, you've done too much. Going against the "you haven't done enough" sentiment of Terrence McKenna...

Yeah ... there are obviously (at least) two schools of thought on this. And I know that there's a "low-dose appreciation" thread around here somewhere. I'm just not familiar enough with low-dose effects to be able to say anything on the subject.

In an earlier post, I gave the OP some hypotheticals which I obviously made up. Here's a real example that came to me this morning as I was thinking about this some more.

The first time I had a proper LSD experience, I was in a band with my best friend from high school and college. This was probably 1992 or thereabouts. We got all geared up for the "creative experience" and decided that we'd devote the day to writing trippy song lyrics. (Give me a break, OK? We were kids. ) About an hour or so in, my friend said to me that we should think about starting to write. I asked him (and I remember this SO CLEARLY even 20 years later): "who are you talking to?" I hadn't even realized it was coming on, but I had lost so much "sense of myself" that I couldn't even work with the concept of someone else speaking to me. It just didn't compute. I remember feeling very distinctly that this guy was all alone and talking to himself. Believe me, in that frame of mind -- or lack of mind -- I wasn't about to start collaborating musically or "playing better" or anything like that. I was completely in my own world without much in the way of ties to "back here."

Does it need to be said? I came out of the day with a blank piece of paper and a new me; my friend wrote some gibberish and had a generally mediocre time; he never tripped again and I never stopped.

 

[bloodshed344]

The only psychedelics I've been able to play good on were phenethylamines. My second trip on 2C-I I tried playing guitar, it was perfect. I played for a solid 5 minutes making a solo up (on an acoustic) and changed notes the entire time with nothing that sounded out of place or messed up. I'm not trying to brag, because I'm normally not too good but phenethylamines increase my reaction time. I react faster in video games (fighting, shooting) and I do things more accurately. For guitar they are just a creative wonder and when you're jamming as a unit and you're all tripping the music gets crazy and never gets repetitive or old.

What I mean by phenethylamines is stuff like the 2C family and the NBOME family. My favorites for playing music/having a good "up" experience: 2C-E, 2C-I

A lot of people say you can't play on acid how ever I know my coordination feels better on psychedelics and I feel I might be able to (I've never done acid) so therefore, you might have a harder time playing while tripping than me.

It doesn't play out this way at all -- perhaps unfortunately. On psychedelics -- at least the ones I know -- you don't simply turn into a "super-creative you" and remain in control of all of your other faculties like fine motor skills, clear thinking, etc. (In fact, there's a type of "psychedelic inebriation" -- for lack of a better word -- that makes certain movement impossible or very unlikely.) You'll be creative all right, but not in the (standard or routine?) way you're thinking about it. It's not "more creative" (like, a quantitative thing) -- rather, "super creative" (like, a qualitative thing). For example, it's more likely that you'll pick up a pair of drumsticks to start playing and get totally lost in the tactile feel of those smooth wooden cylinders in your hands. Or a flash of light will bounce off of a cymbal just right and you'll stare at it for minutes, maybe hours -- seeing worlds on top of worlds of who-knows-what in there. Or you're going to look at your drums and think, "hmmm ... interesting ... I wonder what those are for?"

Others may disagree, but IMO a proper psychedelic experience often implies a complete collapse and "re-wiring." The concepts we have right now that are allowing us to communicate and share these ideas may totally (or at least partially) disappear for you. You may lose the concept of what drums, drumming, music, creativity, playing better -- all of that -- even mean.

Sadly, the bottom line is that you're not going to turn into Tony Williams just 'cause you drop acid. Not at all...

That's not my experience at all. Psychedelics have definitely helped me improve my attention to detail, coordination, and speed. However, I am only talking about phenethylamines so maybe the psychedelics you do are a lot more disorienting. I've had very strong 2C-E trips with visuals and I could still play guitar. However, yes on some psychedelics it was really hard and for a "proper" experience as you probably mean I can guarantee it would be impossible for me.

 

[Mr. Meowfish]

I fully agree with what most people are saying about how you do feel incredibly Creative while on just about any Psychedelic or even just good Buds, but it does get hard to articulate those thoughts into actual actions or something productive. It get's complicated. I will say one thing though, I feel that way about Shrooms, LSD, DMT, most of the Psychedelics really - but I disagree when it comes to MXE or Dissociatives in general. The slightly speedy edge that they tend to have, at least for me - give's me AMAZING focus, better than an Amphetamine to be perfectly honest. Dissociatives are my Psychedelic Adderall. I can write poetry, compose music, write stories, draw landscapes, draw cartoons, paint large productions on Canvas or Wall - I've tripped on Dissociatives for at least 4 entire years of my life, daily, at this point - and during that time I was periodically taking LSD, DMT, and other Psychs and Dissociatives along with it, as well as a 3-5 blunt a day plan.
The craziest thing about Human Beings is that we can Adapt to being able to Function in any Mental or Physical circumstance. It all comes down to Desire, Motivation, Ability to Clear you Mind, and PRACTICE. I don't think some forms of Beautiful Art could be Produced without altering Consciousness. You become one with you art, fully in tune with it. I literally talk to my pieces sometimes on MXE and ask them how they're feeling, if they're digging how I'm working the paint - what does it want to see me do so I can enhance it's natural beauty, or take something interesting and flip the concept upside down to create something completely different. It's amazing really. It's possible, it just takes practice, being a Drug Addict, Having too much Free-Time, and being OK with the fact that you are more than likely a Crazy Person by Societal Standards. If you can do this - I highly recommend trying to make Art of Music under the influence. You may Surprise yourself!

 

[Gratuitous Grace]

That's not my experience at all. Psychedelics have definitely helped me improve my attention to detail, coordination, and speed. However, I am only talking about phenethylamines so maybe the psychedelics you do are a lot more disorienting. I've had very strong 2C-E trips with visuals and I could still play guitar. However, yes on some psychedelics it was really hard and for a "proper" experience as you probably mean I can guarantee it would be impossible for me.

It occurs to me that we may simply be talking about differences in dose? 2C-E can be damned disorienting when you get up there! And if we're talking about phenethylamines across the board, then we have to talk about mescaline ... and that's one that leaves me either unable or uninterested in doing much of anything other than closing my eyes and saying sayonara. IDK ... these things affect us all differently, right?

Really, though, it's LSD that causes that "cutting ties with reality" thing I mentioned earlier. I haven't found it to that extent in anything else.

You become one with you art, fully in tune with it. I literally talk to my pieces sometimes on MXE and ask them how they're feeling, if they're digging how I'm working the paint - what does it want to see me do so I can enhance it's natural beauty, or take something interesting and flip the concept upside down to create something completely different. It's amazing really. It's possible, it just takes practice, being a Drug Addict, Having too much Free-Time, and being OK with the fact that you are more than likely a Crazy Person by Societal Standards. If you can do this - I highly recommend trying to make Art of Music under the influence. You may Surprise yourself!

This probably has implications that I'm not taking into consideration right now, but I'll tell you that I really enjoyed mulling this over!

 

[innawoods]

Jamming on medium-high doses of acid is possible, and very rewarding, just difficult. You need experience with the drug but more importantly you need to be well-practiced enough to play reflexively, without pause or hesitation or thought. As soon as you intellectualize it, it will dissipate and you'll stumble all over yourself.
Never tried producing on psychs but I'd love to play with a modular.

 

[GreenMachine]

i have a bit of experience in this department.

first off OP, DO NOT plan to play a show and trip for the first time. im gonna go ahead and say youre gonna need tripping experience into the double digits to even approach playing a show spun.

go ahead and pick up a guitar (or whatever you play) when you trip next. it will either be: much more difficult than you imagined, or much easier than you imagined, in my experience. the first few times i tried to play guitar tripping i was a mess, i couldnt do shit. but as a grew as a musician, and became more comfortable with the psychedelic state of mind after tripping a bunch more, it gradually became easier.

a big part of playing live under the influences of psychedelics has to do with what particular kind of music you will be playing. the more highly rehearsed and composed the music is, the more difficult it will likely be for you to play. if your music has room to stretch out and improvise, its much more possible to "get in the zone" sorta speak, hence the association of jam bands or improvisational rock (grateful dead, phish, etc) with psychedelic drugs. its not only cool for the musician, its cool for the audience for everyone to be on this psychedelic musical journey together.

playing on psychedelics amps up your awareness so much, that you are pretty much forced to hear everyones musical output at once. once everyone is listening to everyone else, the magic can begin. and once you get used to this process on acid or whatever you can hone it down very finely.

for me at this point in my musical career, playing on psychedelics, especially acid, is fantastic and natural. its better for some kind of shows than others. if i was playing the albert hall, i wouldnt take acid. however if im playing a fun, wild, psychedelic house party or outdoor festival, it doesnt get any better. it all has to do with the vibe and the amount of room you have to stretch out and get weird with the music. improvising is risky business by nature; sometimes its good sometimes its bad.

i find L to be the best psych to play on, mushrooms are good too. MDMA and the like make me too jittery and i have no focus whatsoever, i try not to play when im rolling because its never very good. other phens like 2C-B seemed cool but too close to the ecstasy style high for me to really get into sync. acid all the way for me.

 

[RhythmSpring]

I really don't understand how people can get worse at their instrument while tripping. I always get better, *much* better. Coordination, creativity, surprising myself, finesse, it all increases.

The only instance where it decreased my ability to play was when I took 2.6g of Iboga alkaloids. But like, that's to be expected, I think.

When I took Ayahuasca I physically HAD to sing. I guess it was my form of purging, since I did not throw up.

Seriously though, I almost literally cannot contain musical impulses when I trip. I simply MUST drum/sing/beatbox/play piano, etc.

 

[Jauntypeacenik]

I think GreenMachine kind of nailed it on the head. For me, playing on psychedelics always went the best when I was at the top of my game and practising regularly. Same thing with jamming with my band while tripping, we were so much more "on" when we'd been practising regularly and then jammed tripping than if we tripped after an off period. You're also so right about the importance of what kind of music you're making. I played in a jam band heavily influenced by early Grateful Dead so tripping and playing was practically second nature.

I can't stress enough how important those experiences were for attaining a high level of expression that made the music we were making extremely satisfying on a personal level at the time. I've been playing bass for over eight years now and at some point I realized that I was much better able to express complex and contradictory aspects of my self through playing than through words. Playing while tripping helped to catalyze an outpouring of these modes of expression, ranging from ecstatic outbursts of joy to sly meandering something-or-others (see how words fail me here?). I really developed a sense of the conversational aspect of group improvisation and interplay through psychedelics. On a peak acid jam it really feels like everyone is in each other's heads, speaking directly through the music, finishing each other's sentences and responding. It really is a magical feeling and I wish I still had musicians around me these days interested in this kind of thing.

Also, I have to mention that on the purely mechanical level, so long as I wasn't too blasted psychedelics have always increased my physical dexterity and stamina. Basically, I can play faster and for longer when tripping. I've also developed somewhat of a sense of the idiosyncratic effects of different psychedelics on my musical sense but that is a little less straight-forward to explain and likely to be highly personal. In all cases though (again with the caveat that being too blasted is being too blasted) my musical sense was augmented by my tripping mind set and I came away from the experience having expanded my musical bag of tricks.