This was more of an observation when I used to live in LA - it was everywhere - drugs - specially
among the rich and famous..... it was so obvious...

I've even had 3 teachers (for short time), excellent players, and more or less famous, who were
doing drugs - a couple of times totally loaded in a lesson that it was ridiculous ! After a while
you can detect and see it easily - it doesn't take much!

What's the point? Marijuana, classified as a hallucegenic, and a medical drug, obviously lowers
performance, creates illusions, confusion. Evey musician (specially in the rock scene) that I knew
who was so called "high" was not playing up to par - I'v never known ANY classical guitarist who
could play well while on pot - and he was a regular pot user, he'd not be a good performer...

Now, cocaine is a different story. [I do not do any of these things, don't even drink coffee, eat
meat, sugar, etc. - I'm a health-nut]. But it appears as though, as in the case of these 3 teachers,
or many musicians in the business in LA for example, who are able to do coke and still play - after
a while it seems like they get used to it or something. How, I haven't got a clue. A recent
observation prompted me to write this. The fact is illegal drugs are much more popular than it
seems.

As far as I'm concerned drug users are losers and that healthy goes happy (goes lucky). Life itself
is so wonderful that when lived intelligently one can be naturally drunk, naturally high!
 

Regards
Reza

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They may have more to worry about. Today's cnn.com has an article in
the health section stating that aging baby boomers who use Marijuana
have a five-times greater risk of a heart attack.

Ray S

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   Drugs and music? No.  The whole entire 80s glam sound, all those souless
R&B tunes and glam metal bands were driven by cocaine.  Cocaine ruins the
ability to concentrate and play with feeling. Pot makes a person lose their
ability to really control the music, and does indeed reduce neural energy,
and anything that requires nueral energy to work, which is everything, is
diminished by at least 20% in seasoned users and can be reduced by 50% or
more in new users.  Alcohol is bad news as well, but it has a far greater
number of supporters, who fail to see the hazard a few drinks incur upon a
players skills.
  If you want to hear playing made lousy by booze, one only has to listen to
early Megadeth.(Ooops, I'm in the wrong group..)  It's funny how people will
say some great player is bad because they don't  realize how stoned he was
when he played the offending notes.  However, if you can play good when
stoned on pot, you'll be immaculate when you play without it, after a few
days to clean up. Alcohol is a little different due to the nerve damage it
inflicts upon habitual and  heavy drinkers. They tend to never play as well
as they could have, if they never became drunks, even years after they sober
up. However, they still play better than they did as drunks. Anyway, even
though I am a electric guitar player, and dabble in Flamenco, this
information holds true for all musicians. I'm going home now. Bye. (LJ)

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LJ makes some interesting points.  Though not of the CG genre, one could
only imagine how much better Hendrix might have been....... (Larry)

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Excellent post LJ - what amazes me is how so much of the world is run by drug-users - but you can
see the loss in quality - take for example the Persian music scene of L.A. - some of the composers
who used to write great pop songs have done so much drugs that the songs they conceive of these days
is crap...Don't even mention some of the singers. I've heard of TV producers who'd get totally
stoned and work.....no wonder there is so much crap out there! Opium is another big one. I met a guy
last month who knew a famous Persian singer who'd shoot heroin in his brain! LOSERS! To come back to
CG - it puzzles me that some players can get used to coke and still perform.... They must lose their
sensitivity........
Reza

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same in jazz as well,still (and the amount of heroin and cocaine that
runs in the flamenco scene these days is flamenco's dirty little
secret...)Its interesting that classical players use too...is it as
widespread?
its odd, Ive done jazz gigs with some big users...and somehow they keep
it together and make it happen, some of them. Mystifies me because i
cant handle any of it, and really dont want to.
Still Im not pure...I like one drink before performing,i do smoke a
pack and a half of cigarettes a day and my coffee intake is approaching
mythical levels (g!), but thats all i do. I often wonder, by how much
would the playing improve if I modified these legal excesses of mine...

S. Dill

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Hell, after just one beer, my playing goes straight to hell.   Greg