^ don't let trolls get to you brother.
It is actually an interesting thread - a few bitter sounding posts needn't reflect on the wider (and more interesting discussion at hand
If you feel a post is abusive, you can always report it to bring it to the attention of mods in this section.
Just hit the button at the top righthand side of any posts you feel are inappropriate (the triangle with an exclamation mark in it).
ANYWAY, that's really cool that you play music. Is that your full-time gig or just a project? I've recently been learning to play the guitar, as my dad has played for years and it's piqued my interest. And I've actually been looking to get to amps for the sole purpose of increasing my focus on learning the instrument. And for recreational purposes, as well.
I haven't done stimulants (other than coffee) in so long.
I don't make a living off playing music or anything - but it is certainly a fairly consuming part of my existence.
The band i've done the most with - recording, gigging and touring - is on something of a hiatus at the moment because we're all living in different parts of the world, but i'm about to make a record with another band i've been playing with for the last year or so.
It's addictive, man!
Given that we've discussed music before - i really can't recommend learning an instrument enough.
It is like having a new language to converse with. When i play music with my friends - whether we're writing a song, rehearsing something that we've already composed, or simply jamming - it is like we are having a discussion - but instead of words and sentences, we use tones, rhythms, melodies and aural textures.
As the "conversation" develops, the musical compositions shift, the volume and structure builds and descends according to our (unspoken) communication.
To me it is a really wonderful ability to have and to share. There is a BB King quote that goes along the lines of "the great thing about learning something is that nobody can take it away from you" - which i think is very true.
Nl
Some people use drugs as a shortcut to this sort of transcendent social interaction; just look at the way empathogens like MDMA are used to build a sense of connection and togetherness. What i get from music is more powerful than that
Drugs
can be incorporated into it as well - but are by no means essential or obligatory.
Some of the experiences i've had with mushrooms in band situations have been too bizarre to explain without sounding like some crazy hippie.
I've always been very sceptical about concepts such as telepathy and ESP - but there have been times when i've been playing music and everyone in the room has picked up on a cue to change musical direction that has had no external or explicit guidance from anyone - we're just so syncronised that the music flows and shifts like something natural and organic.
And playing music onstage is - for me - a greater high than any drug experience i have ever had (and let's just say i have a wide experience in that regard). Nothing else comes close to the sort of energy and mental clarity that performing live brings me; it's hard to explain how it manages to affect me so much.
To deny the power and importance of human social interraction is to deny a certain reality that we are all part of.
I know as well as anyone the pleasures of solitude!
But i'm not so naive that i think i can be happy or survive in this world alone.
Getting somewhat back to the original point here, it seems to me that we can use drugs to enhance our social experiences or our time spent alone.
Self-gratification has its place, but without the social structures that allow us to survive in the world we find ourselves in - we have very little to work with. Even the most fiendish amphetamine-addled auto eroticism enthusiast is reliant on social interactions to supply them with the the privacy, the drugs, the computer, the porn - to indulge themselves in this way.
As much drugs can enhance reality, they can also help sustain fantasies that have little basis in reality - such as the idea that locking oneself away and getting wasted is somehow living in a vacuum of solitude. It may feel that way, but it's an illusion.
It's sad to see how isolation can distort people and create a sort of bitterness about social interaction - i
do understand it, but i don't think it is healthy or particularly realistic. I value my alone time, but i don't define myself by it or see it as anything more than a component of the wider, richer life i try to live.
