Which drugs improve your capacity for musical expression?

KingBlueTwista

KingBlueTwista

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I find opiates to break down some sort of barrier between my true self/what yearns to be expressed and the way I express it. I've written some of my favourite music while high on opiates (lighter ones mind you). A little bitta ganja also seems to get those creative juices flowing.

I'm wondering if any of you guys have had similar experiences - allowing creativity to flow easier, while on drugs, could be opiates or any other manner of drugs. Details on the drugs themselves and not just classes would be nice. Also set and setting if you think it is relevant to a particular case.

I just find it so interesting that opiates do that, wanna know if anyone else gets the same, and if it can be achieved with any other substances. Thanks :)
 
when i first started using opiates i felt similar to how you describe, but once addiction sets in that doesnt really happen anymore, in fact, opiates work AGAINST creativity for me now. weed is a simple but effective way to boost creativity. however, the best would be psychedelics, mainly LSD, since its very mind expanding but leaves you very much in control and thinking clear. mushrooms would probably be better for this purpose if it werent for how cloudy-headed they make you. if you havent gotten big into opiates now, id say to stop asap, they wont make you creative forever.
PS: interesting fact if you didnt know, alice in wonderland was written on opium, so maybe im wrong? although an opium high is different than any pharm opiates ive ever taken.
 
Weed really does it for me, but it's kind of hit-or-miss. Sometimes, it feels like the music is flowing through me and into my guitar. It's so effortless and amazing that I can play for an hour or more without ever stopping: the chords and notes just flow into each other. I'd liken it to some sort of musical trance that I go into. That doesn't happen all the time, though, and is starting to become pretty rare for me. Usually it gives me a little extra creative edge over my sober mind, but not a whole lot more. I think it just sounds better to me while I'm stoned rather than actually being better.

I haven't had much experience playing while on psychedelics. I tried playing at the tail end of an LSD high, but I was so tired by that point that I didn't much care for playing. I want to buy a couple stamps some time and lock myself in a room and see what I can come up with.

I recorded myself playing on DXM one time: no bueno. It was a 30 minute recording of me playing a single, weird riff while mumble-singing all kinds of random crap. It was interesting to listen to the next day, but that's about it.
 
Mushrooms is awesome, LSD can be fucked up but it can give you intense creative energy depends on how hard you're tripping obviously, weed is obvious, but if you're trying to learn a song it can make you forgetful and hamper your ability to express yourself, cocaine or mcat or one of the fun uppers can make you play faster than you can while sober, but it'll still sound like shit unless you really are in control of it, and it's easy to not be in control when your fingers are moving faster than your mind.
Molly is good at the peak, really good combo of speediness and mellowness.
Nitrous is actually really good for creating simple catchy riffs.
I've played music while on almost every single drug. I was curious about nitrous when everyone was doing it. I picked up my guitar, sucked a big balloon full of laughing gas, and then played the first thing that came to my head without really thinking. It was awesome.
Opiates are great for stage fright and writers block, but if you're trying to jam with people it can make you mad selfish during the jam and just wanna solo constantly. It doesn't necessarily do that, just like uppers don't necessarily make you play super fast, but these are just common generalizations.
I'd say DMT is the best for a perfect balance of creativity and coherence, after the super intense first few minutes of the trip mind you.
 
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How about instead of everyone in the world just saying weed makes them more creative we turn this into a "trip reports" thread of sorts by explaining, in an interesting amount of detail, what different drugs have done for your creativity, both good and bad?

I can totally relate to the OP about opiates being good for writing, but I had experiences in open jams that my opiate high impeded on my ability to be truly sensitive to the jam at hand and it actually limited my musical ability. I think an opiate high makes you selfish, which is good for exploring creative ideas while solo, but in a group it can hinder instant expression.
I've only been to open jams high on opiates a few times, so I didn't really have much of a chance to fix the problem once I noticed it, but I'm sure one can get past this as many jazz greats and others have performed legendary stuff while in the midst of a heroin addiction.
 
Weed for sure...I have tried writing on Vicodin but I was just to out of it to think, I would just get lost in the beat.. E pills make me think of the most creative shit...Shit I could never think of sober..LMAO.. Shrooms to...(if you dont take to much) lol..
 
CoffeeDrinker said:
How about instead of everyone in the world just saying weed makes them more creative we turn this into a "trip reports" thread of sorts by explaining, in an interesting amount of detail, what different drugs have done for your creativity, both good and bad?
Click to expand...

This is not a trip reports thread.... but


When I was "dabbling in opiates (even heroin) I was able to make more "trance" sounding material. I found, and still do, that keeping a time signature became more and more difficult with opiates.

THC helps me with creativity, on-the-spot elaboration and ability to "learn" new patterns of rhythm when I play percussion or percussively on other instruments (rhythm guitar).

Amphetamines allow for endurance .... but too much amphs cause problems with my ability to maintain time signatures.


THC allows me to communicate with other band mates "better" and "easier." Especially when we are all under the influence.


Whiskey helps with endurance and keeping time-signatures...


It has a lot to do with one's person physiological make-up and the drugs chemical effects.

THCn is a psychoastive stimulant, that is why I prefer it
 
I find when I get a good buzz off the booze, I can play guitar reasonably well. I don't care whether or not I sound good, it's just a matter of "How can I make this feeling better?" Weed always makes my mind work at a slower rate, therefore it dampers on my ability quite a bit, but listening to it is a different story. While on opiates... I've got multiple things happening. I can connect with the music on a much deeper level, my fingers are much better on chords for some reason, and I even get more experimental, it's just... There's no passion behind it. On opiates, I only care about the moment. When I'm in love, or in lust, it can only affect me for a couple of seconds on opiates. I can't stick to a feeling like I do sober or drunk.

Writing is basically the same, except for the opiates. It actually makes me more confident with my words.
 
I use to write and freestyle when on weed and beer, I'd just freestyle through beats and go all night, then I would smoke weed and write... one time I took vicodin and drink a 40 and freestyled pretty good through some beats, but now I don't really take anything except for my maintenance doses of tramadol, which doesn't effect creativity but Does make me motivated to work on music a LOT more than I use to....
a couple months ago, though, I got together with a buddy and some of his friends, they play as a band together, my buddy plays drums and his friends play the rest of the instruments, guitars, bass, sax, etc.... it' was our first time doing mephedrone, I had ordered a couple grams to try it out, so we were mephed out Plus we got some coke, so we did the couple grams of mephedrone and a couple grams of coke, a lot of times we'd mix 'em into the same line.... and was drinking mad beer, so we went to one of the dudes houses and they had all the instruments, and a PA system in one room just ready for jamming. so coked out,mephed out and drunk they all started jamming and I got on for vocals. .usually I just rap, so at first I was just freestyling to their heavy metal jamming, but as it went on and the more jacked and drunk I got, I started just freestyle singing to their jamming(btw I DO NOT sing, that was just in the moment) I ended up rapping and singing All night while they Jammed. they actually were impressed and thought we should write some songs together.... I'm looking forward to jamming again.. and maybe some more mephedrone lol
 
So different substances help/hurt in different ways
I play guitar for fun/jam with friends.
I like all my playing with a bit of cannabis and am slightly more creative. screwing with feedback/pedals/noise is great imo
amps/caffeine help with proficiency/speed of playing
opes tend to make you not care what you play, though I enjoy playing on them
mxe in high doses makes it impossible to play, but low doses really enhance listening and creativity. I played some good funk/frusciante inspired stuff on this
love dipping while playing too
a little bit of alcohol or benzos helps with anxiety playing in front of others
lucy inspired me to start playing...
 
For me, opiates are far and away the drugs I associate most with playing music.
 
candy/hippy tripping
/acid or shrooms with mdma/
Completely beats any other types of psych's, any type of opes/stims/etc. Being able to see the videos for fav songs, or even just having R4/R5 visuals in the background, makes it even better. That's the only way I've ever had music become so intense I've had to turn it off for a few to collect myself lol. Has to be music I'm already into, obviously, but with stuff I already know and love, well, there's absolutely no better combo. Shrooms+mdma beats the acid+mdma combo, but shrooms isn't always a sure thing for me given my psyche ;P
 
heroin, no doubt

marijuana a distant second

I'm going to throw alcohol in there as well, and I know it won't be used much in this thread, but whenever I perform and I'm a little anxious for whatever reason - nothing curbs that like a couple beers. the trick is to not get too plastered, because nobody wants to see a sloppy-drunk player
 
Right right Alcohol. Musn't be trashed, though if you think about it those highschool days where you get totally fucking bombed on Devil's Springs or some other raunchy alcohol, and then play the talent show. Those were legendary times of silliness.
 
yeah, they help in all forms of artistic expression, I believe :)

most especially writing. I felt so more fluid, natural, and expressive
 
Doesn't it feel phony though? Isn't the real goal to be able to be creative on your own, without the use of mind alterers?
Well I suppose different goals for different people, but I don't like all this endorsement of opiates.
Sometimes in my hardest hours related to my drug use I can feel a battle between my clean self and my junkie self and I feel like my junkie self wants me to suffer for the sake of my art, so it does everything it can to make me think that the stuff I make on opiates are way better than the stuff I did sober. I think it's a trick of the mind just finding new ways to make you crave the drug.
You know the whole "sold his soul to the devil" thing? Well what if that's really referring to the creativity that comes after using opiates?
Now there's an idea!
 
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