If yer man stood up on the surfboard after fourteen pints, I think the answer is "quite a few. " But I'm in a minority of one there in my own session I should think. Think sex. The more you drink the better you are at it. You think.
Before I accidentally learned that I enjoy playing music more when I am sober than when I am drunk, I could drink three beers and still play the piano or the bass.
quote:
Before I accidentally learned that I enjoy playing music more when I am sober than when I am drunk, I could drink three beers and still play the piano or the bass.
:end quote
I believe I enjoy drinking stout as much as playing music
but usually three is enough while playing. Occasionally
I exceed that.
The idea of accidentally playing while sober is intriguing ....
Being a talented drinker is growing out of fashion, between the health risks and the drunk driving laws.
That said, most of the regular drinkers I know start to decline rapidly after 6ish. If they're solid enough sober, they have a long way to go down before it falls apart completely.
That's why light, weak beers seem to be so popular among the more seasoned musicians I know. 30 beers? Sure! It's basically all water anyway, and that's the best way to still be awake 12 hours later...
It's a bit like this off-color (but poignantly true) joke:
A young bull and an old bull were standing on top of a hill, looking at a valley full of dozens of cows. The young bull says "Let's run down the hill and @#%@ one of those cows!!". The old bull replies "No. Let's WALK down the hill and @#%@ ALL of those cows"
Well, the beer I usually drink is over .07 ABV. Guinness has the lowest ABV in the pub I frequent. Les than .04 I think. That said, I stop after 3 if I'm gonna play music.
If I want to stay really sharp, I'll stick with a light beer like Guinness (4% alcohol), and I can drink one an hour for as long as the session goes. But I like our microbrews, which run anywhere from 5% to 9.5% alcohol. And some triple bocks here go as high as 17%. At that rate, there's a fine line between 1 pint and 2....
Just curious--who else here enjoys car bombs? Y'know, a shot of whiskey dropped into a pint of stout? I like the way the whiskey puts a gloss on the beer, a slightly creamier texture, and a lot more kick.
I occasionally get frustrated by being "too drunk" to play the way that I know I can, but the arrival of that point varies significantly. There are times when I've had 5 pints and 4 whiskeys over the course of a 3 hour session that I can play just fine. Things that might change where that "line" gets crossed:
* whether I warmed up my playing before I started drinking
* how much food I've had to eat
* how much caffeine I have in my system at the same time
* who I'm playing with
But there are also times where the craic is mightier than the tunes, and that is just fine too.
If I plan on playing music I usually resign myself to the fact that I wont be drinking.
If I plan on drinking I bring the fiddle I made and then I dont have to worry about falling over. And it doesnt take much these days, I'm out of practice lately... four or five pints will see me half closing my eyes and the only slurring going on are my words. I usually stop playing as soon as I realise I'm deteriorating... usually
My personal record for stout drinking is 21 pints before I lost count, but that was at the Cambridge Folk Festival and I ended up curling up for a nap under a tree. Wasn't playing tunes but it did make some of the stage music bearable!
In terms of being still able to play, sometimes I can't play properly sober at other times I seem to play best after 2 or 3 pints. A couple seems to loosen the fingers but more than that and it's a waste of time even trying!
Will's measure of a drink an hour is probably a good yardstick. Blood alcohol varies based on body size and other factors, but generally, limiting yourself to less than that amount keeps you under the legal limit. And it follows that if you are unable to safely operate a motor vehicle, your playing would suffer as well. You might not think so, but others around you would certainly notice the difference.
And it is certainly sad to see a talented musician who can't play their instrument because they are too drunk.
Myself, I stick to 1-2 drinks per evening, because my playing is barely adequate when I am sober!
After about 6 or 7 my playing starts to get worse and my fingers get slow and won't do all the things I want them to do. I usually drink Guinness or Bulmers, but it depends on my mood and the Pub. I am kind of a snob when it comes to my Guinness.
I usually play much better after about six pints, then I fall off the chair asleep. The next day people tell me that my playing was really awful and my behaviour disgraceful. Strange that because I thought I was doing great and my playing sounded all right to me!!!!!!!!.
How in the blank did yer man stay up on that surfboard anyway? Well, I suppose I could stand on a skateboard after all manner of abuse in my early days. Ah, youth.
I don't drink normally when I go to a session ............ I drink abnormally.
The demon drink is an occupational hazard for musos.
In my 20s, a gallon was no problem, in my 50s, I don't think I get hangovers as such, I think there is much more chemical beer around.
4 or 5 pints of real ale and my head can be as clear as a bell. Two pints of chemical fizz sometimes gives me a bad head the next day.
The black stuff (and red wine) seems to have more of the toxic congeners so I try to steer clear (unless the beer is chemic).
Sorry. I have for years said I won't drink and play. My tolerance (sadly according to Herself) is pretty good.
However, I learned that one get's musically fearless under the influence.
Reality of it... sometimes you make a real a** out of yourself. After a couple of those experiences, save the drink for when it really is handy-Like when someone takes you to the opera, or Herself wants to watch an evening of home improvement shows on the TV.
Will... I'm a fan of the carbomb... pubs around here like to put Bailey's Irish cream in it too... that ruins it. As for playing afterward... I think I'm one of the best after 3 of those. The operative word being "think."
Why is it that when I get to my seventh pint of the black stuff, everyone in the session without exception starts to play out of tenp ** / temmmm / te-em** (oh, out of beat)
I am glad to have amused you, Steve Shaw.
When I do drink something alcoholic, I prefer to drink Shiner Bock.
After a year or two of meeting in the bar at a restaurant, the local session was invited to move to the local branch of the Barnes & Noble bookstore. Since Barnes & Noble doesn't sell alcoholic beverages, we had to learn how to play music without being fueled by alcohol.
When Barnes & Noble changed their policy about having live music in their stores, we moved to a seafood restaurant which did serve alcoholic beverages. However, by this time, I had had to quit drinking alcoholic beverages temporarily for health reasons (in line with Georgi's comment). After a few years, I was able to start drinking an occasional beer again but not as much beer as I used to drink when I was younger.
Age reduces the tolerance for booze, as with so many other things. Prescription medication often makes for interesting variations- I recall camping at the top of Whitby many years ago and my back gave out big time. Could hardly walk (those familiar will know of the hideous steep steps to the abbey camp site-no bloody joke with a knackered disc and a 120-bass accordion to carry). The usual quota of booze had no effect. The local chemist sold me something called Vegenin, tablets the size of horse pills, carrying a stern warning not to take with alchohol. Stuff that, I thought- can't eat them whole. 30 mins, 1 tab and 2 pints later, I was floating on cotton wool clouds and so it remained for the rest of the week. Best craic ever. I would recommend them, but I think NICE banned them along with sal volatile and vitriol face wash. Shame.....
What usually happens to me is after about 5 pints i sod the session ask one of the bar staff to keep my instrument behind the bar and head off to a late drinking club then a kebab house then after all that end up back at the pub kicking the door demanding my instrument back or i'll put all the windows through. Nobody wants to play with me any more.
Approximately fifteen years ago, I took two Maximum Strength Contac pills to relieve the symptoms of a cold before I went to a Blues Jam to play piano. I didn't bother to read the instructions and/or the warnings on the box before I took the pills and I drank two or three beers while I waited for my turn to play the piano. By the time I finally got to play, I was higher than the proverbial kite from the beers and the pills. At one and the same time, I knew it was me who was sitting at the electric piano and playing it but I also felt as if I was floating around somewhere near the ceiling and watching myself while I played the piano. I felt somewhat like I was in someone else's body observing them playing the piano. I guess this is what they call an out-of-body experience. Since they didn't make me quit playing and leave the stage, I guess I must have been playing correctly.
how many pints of stout
how many pints of stout
before your playing starts falling apart ? just wandering , just realised i getting worse....... couldn't bite my finger after a half a dozen.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by molloy
Re: how many pints of stout
If yer man stood up on the surfboard after fourteen pints, I think the answer is "quite a few. " But I'm in a minority of one there in my own session I should think. Think sex. The more you drink the better you are at it. You think.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: how many pints of stout
One's my limit at our session, so I make it home in one piece. Then, I'll have a few more.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: how many pints of stout
Before I accidentally learned that I enjoy playing music more when I am sober than when I am drunk, I could drink three beers and still play the piano or the bass.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: how many pints of stout
Used to struggle after the 20th. By the 30th it could go wrong.
After awhile I was shaking so much I used to spill most of it. Stopped 18 years ago.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: how many pints of stout
Oh that was real ale. No-body could drink 30 pints of stout, too heavy
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: how many pints of stout
I don't usually get to the stage i can't play... but on the occasion that i do... i can never remember how much i've had to drink anyway.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by davydd
Re: how many pints of stout
Why can't you remember how many pints you have drunk davydd? If you haven't drunk more than ten, you can count them on your fingers.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: how many pints of stout
I usually can't see my fingers after about 6 pints.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by davydd
Re: how many pints of stout
quote:
Before I accidentally learned that I enjoy playing music more when I am sober than when I am drunk, I could drink three beers and still play the piano or the bass.
:end quote
I believe I enjoy drinking stout as much as playing music
but usually three is enough while playing. Occasionally
I exceed that.
The idea of accidentally playing while sober is intriguing ....
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by dogmageek
Re: how many pints of stout
Two - well, it can fall apart when I'm sober too.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Hup
Re: how many pints of stout
Being a talented drinker is growing out of fashion, between the health risks and the drunk driving laws.
That said, most of the regular drinkers I know start to decline rapidly after 6ish. If they're solid enough sober, they have a long way to go down before it falls apart completely.
That's why light, weak beers seem to be so popular among the more seasoned musicians I know. 30 beers? Sure! It's basically all water anyway, and that's the best way to still be awake 12 hours later...
It's a bit like this off-color (but poignantly true) joke:
A young bull and an old bull were standing on top of a hill, looking at a valley full of dozens of cows. The young bull says "Let's run down the hill and @#%@ one of those cows!!". The old bull replies "No. Let's WALK down the hill and @#%@ ALL of those cows"
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Georgi
Re: how many pints of stout
Well, the beer I usually drink is over .07 ABV. Guinness has the lowest ABV in the pub I frequent. Les than .04 I think. That said, I stop after 3 if I'm gonna play music.
If not, GIMME A MONSTER! LMAO
I only live around the corner.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Fishmonger
Re: how many pints of stout
If I want to stay really sharp, I'll stick with a light beer like Guinness (4% alcohol), and I can drink one an hour for as long as the session goes. But I like our microbrews, which run anywhere from 5% to 9.5% alcohol. And some triple bocks here go as high as 17%. At that rate, there's a fine line between 1 pint and 2....
Just curious--who else here enjoys car bombs? Y'know, a shot of whiskey dropped into a pint of stout? I like the way the whiskey puts a gloss on the beer, a slightly creamier texture, and a lot more kick.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Re: how many pints of stout
"Car bombs" aka depth charges.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Re: how many pints of stout
if you feel the need to count how many you've had, then most likely you've had enough.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Lint - upon - Tweed
Re: how many pints of stout
I occasionally get frustrated by being "too drunk" to play the way that I know I can, but the arrival of that point varies significantly. There are times when I've had 5 pints and 4 whiskeys over the course of a 3 hour session that I can play just fine. Things that might change where that "line" gets crossed:
* whether I warmed up my playing before I started drinking
* how much food I've had to eat
* how much caffeine I have in my system at the same time
* who I'm playing with
But there are also times where the craic is mightier than the tunes, and that is just fine too.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Reverend
Re: how many pints of stout
well put, Reverend. Even so, I can't drink 15 pints like i used to, no matter what, and still be able to play...
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by pipewatcher
Re: how many pints of stout
If I plan on playing music I usually resign myself to the fact that I wont be drinking.
If I plan on drinking I bring the fiddle I made and then I dont have to worry about falling over. And it doesnt take much these days, I'm out of practice lately... four or five pints will see me half closing my eyes and the only slurring going on are my words. I usually stop playing as soon as I realise I'm deteriorating... usually
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by session savage
Re: how many pints of stout
Thank you davydd and fauxcelt for the best laugh of the week. I won't be posting for a while as I have to clean up my keyboard now.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: how many pints of stout
My personal record for stout drinking is 21 pints before I lost count, but that was at the Cambridge Folk Festival and I ended up curling up for a nap under a tree. Wasn't playing tunes but it did make some of the stage music bearable!
In terms of being still able to play, sometimes I can't play properly sober at other times I seem to play best after 2 or 3 pints. A couple seems to loosen the fingers but more than that and it's a waste of time even trying!
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by SineadE
Re: how many pints of stout
Will's measure of a drink an hour is probably a good yardstick. Blood alcohol varies based on body size and other factors, but generally, limiting yourself to less than that amount keeps you under the legal limit. And it follows that if you are unable to safely operate a motor vehicle, your playing would suffer as well. You might not think so, but others around you would certainly notice the difference.
And it is certainly sad to see a talented musician who can't play their instrument because they are too drunk.
Myself, I stick to 1-2 drinks per evening, because my playing is barely adequate when I am sober!
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by AlBrown
Re: how many pints of stout
It's terrifically hard to refuse unlimited free beer, chaps. I can't remember ever doing it. But then I wouldn't remember would I?
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: how many pints of stout
After about 6 or 7 my playing starts to get worse and my fingers get slow and won't do all the things I want them to do. I usually drink Guinness or Bulmers, but it depends on my mood and the Pub. I am kind of a snob when it comes to my Guinness.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Why Bother?
Re: how many pints of stout
I usually play much better after about six pints, then I fall off the chair asleep. The next day people tell me that my playing was really awful and my behaviour disgraceful. Strange that because I thought I was doing great and my playing sounded all right to me!!!!!!!!.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Free Reed
Re: how many pints of stout
Jeez, I thought that stuff was only good for skydiving.
Boy, I learn a lot here. LMAO
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Fishmonger
Re: how many pints of stout
How in the blank did yer man stay up on that surfboard anyway? Well, I suppose I could stand on a skateboard after all manner of abuse in my early days. Ah, youth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73jpqoBKfRk
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: how many pints of stout
I don't drink normally when I go to a session ............ I drink abnormally.
The demon drink is an occupational hazard for musos.
In my 20s, a gallon was no problem, in my 50s, I don't think I get hangovers as such, I think there is much more chemical beer around.
4 or 5 pints of real ale and my head can be as clear as a bell. Two pints of chemical fizz sometimes gives me a bad head the next day.
The black stuff (and red wine) seems to have more of the toxic congeners so I try to steer clear (unless the beer is chemic).
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by geoffwright
Re: how many pints of stout
Sorry. I have for years said I won't drink and play. My tolerance (sadly according to Herself) is pretty good.
However, I learned that one get's musically fearless under the influence.
Reality of it... sometimes you make a real a** out of yourself. After a couple of those experiences, save the drink for when it really is handy-Like when someone takes you to the opera, or Herself wants to watch an evening of home improvement shows on the TV.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by zippydw
Re: how many pints of stout
Will... I'm a fan of the carbomb... pubs around here like to put Bailey's Irish cream in it too... that ruins it. As for playing afterward... I think I'm one of the best after 3 of those. The operative word being "think."
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by pastrings
Re: how many pints of stout
I can't drink in pubs yet, so I don't know :( In 7 months time I'll find out though....
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by snowyowl
Re: how many pints of stout
Lucky you lot. Three halves and the finger co-ordination starts to slip. After that I've got to know the tune on auto-pilot.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by disillusioned
Re: how many pints of stout
Why is it that when I get to my seventh pint of the black stuff, everyone in the session without exception starts to play out of tenp ** / temmmm / te-em** (oh, out of beat)
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by eiscir riada
Re: how many pints of stout
I am glad to have amused you, Steve Shaw.
When I do drink something alcoholic, I prefer to drink Shiner Bock.
After a year or two of meeting in the bar at a restaurant, the local session was invited to move to the local branch of the Barnes & Noble bookstore. Since Barnes & Noble doesn't sell alcoholic beverages, we had to learn how to play music without being fueled by alcohol.
When Barnes & Noble changed their policy about having live music in their stores, we moved to a seafood restaurant which did serve alcoholic beverages. However, by this time, I had had to quit drinking alcoholic beverages temporarily for health reasons (in line with Georgi's comment). After a few years, I was able to start drinking an occasional beer again but not as much beer as I used to drink when I was younger.
# Posted on September 5th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: how many pints of stout
Age reduces the tolerance for booze, as with so many other things. Prescription medication often makes for interesting variations- I recall camping at the top of Whitby many years ago and my back gave out big time. Could hardly walk (those familiar will know of the hideous steep steps to the abbey camp site-no bloody joke with a knackered disc and a 120-bass accordion to carry). The usual quota of booze had no effect. The local chemist sold me something called Vegenin, tablets the size of horse pills, carrying a stern warning not to take with alchohol. Stuff that, I thought- can't eat them whole. 30 mins, 1 tab and 2 pints later, I was floating on cotton wool clouds and so it remained for the rest of the week. Best craic ever. I would recommend them, but I think NICE banned them along with sal volatile and vitriol face wash. Shame.....
# Posted on September 5th 2008 by mike the box
Re: how many pints of stout
What usually happens to me is after about 5 pints i sod the session ask one of the bar staff to keep my instrument behind the bar and head off to a late drinking club then a kebab house then after all that end up back at the pub kicking the door demanding my instrument back or i'll put all the windows through. Nobody wants to play with me any more.
# Posted on September 5th 2008 by upmine3
Re: how many pints of stout
Approximately fifteen years ago, I took two Maximum Strength Contac pills to relieve the symptoms of a cold before I went to a Blues Jam to play piano. I didn't bother to read the instructions and/or the warnings on the box before I took the pills and I drank two or three beers while I waited for my turn to play the piano. By the time I finally got to play, I was higher than the proverbial kite from the beers and the pills. At one and the same time, I knew it was me who was sitting at the electric piano and playing it but I also felt as if I was floating around somewhere near the ceiling and watching myself while I played the piano. I felt somewhat like I was in someone else's body observing them playing the piano. I guess this is what they call an out-of-body experience. Since they didn't make me quit playing and leave the stage, I guess I must have been playing correctly.
# Posted on September 8th 2008 by fauxcelt