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Thread: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

  1. #26

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    In a study called: Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin, it concluded: " These results strongly imply that the subjective effects of psychedelic drugs are caused by decreased activity and connectivity in the brain's key connector hubs, enabling a state of unconstrained cognition.

    It's been researched and deployed in music therapy, although not widely, since the 80s (see Helen Bonny). It has limitless potential, but social factors being what they are it's highly stigmatized and an ensuing strict limitation of opportunity for research and development.

    *I recently posted a lot about this on a guitar forum: https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...=606680&page=5
    Last edited by catmandu2; Mar-15-2021 at 11:47pm.

  2. #27
    Registered User Denis Kearns's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Thanks for the link Catmandu2 - A very interesting read. I didn’t realize guitar players were so cerebral! In regards to our thread’s topic, I’ve found it fun to occasionally use Cannabis and mess around with my instruments. It seems to make me focus on the sounds in a different way and is a lot of fun. Never could understand the folks that got loaded every day, but have always considered it as a way to experience some occasional non-ordinary reality. About a year ago, I did make the mistake of eating a whole cookie that my brother made and was too wasted to even play my guitar - I would get lost within a few measures. It was an interesting experience, but a little too far into the non-ordinary realm. As a botanist, I’m constantly amazed at the way in which human cultures have figured out which of the locals plants will make us high. Some, like the peyote cactus, are really unpleasant to consume, yet create remarkable effects. The desire for these non-ordinary states must be hard-wired in humans because cultures all over the world have employed various plants and fungi to this end.

    - Denis

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  4. #28

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    One dominant feature of some highly accessible fungi in low dosing is enhanced visual acuity. They reason that this would result in more adaptive traits (more productive hunting, warring, etc) - think Dock Ellis. No, you wouldn't want a bigger dose as you'd probably get stomped, bitten, gouged and gored, shredded or eaten, or all of that.

    I've got to share mine. Many years ago I was drumming in a band performing at a 4/20 day celebration, great crowd, great gig. I consumed a large cookie very quickly (I was hungry) and much later started laying down some very cool counter-rhythmic, polyrhythmic jazz beats . . . but it was a country rock band/gig. What a night.

    Check out McKenna. He and his brother Dennis have done extensive research in ethno-botany - particularly of hallucinogens, shamanism, etc.
    Last edited by catmandu2; Mar-16-2021 at 12:39am.

  5. #29
    Registered User lowtone2's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Quote Originally Posted by Dagger Gordon View Post
    The first time I was in the States in the late 70's I went to a Jesse Colin Young gig in a big theatre in St Louis.
    I was slightly taken aback to see joints being passed along each row of the audience, who basically each took a drag and passed it on to the next person. I hadn't seen this before at a sit-down concert. As far as I could see, virtually everybody was smoking, and indeed smoking quite openly.

    I guess the music did sound better ....
    That was standard for all concerts from the late 60s through mid-70s. We shared weed and saliva with complete strangers regularly. My first smoking experience was at a Who concert in 1968 when my girlfriend and I were passed a smoking joint from the complete stranger sitting on our left, simultaneously with the smoking joint from the stranger seated to our right. There was also wine.

    I tried pretty much everything, but then I met this one thing that caused me to lose interest in all the others. We had a very close relationship for a year or so. No more of that for me. I did enjoy myself for a couple of weeks each after shoulder and knee surgery.

  6. #30

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Quote Originally Posted by DavidKOS View Post
    I'm not sure about the substance in question, but I recall musicians telling the audience this on dance gigs:

    "the more you drink, the better we sound".

    Quote Originally Posted by MontanaMatt View Post
    I always thought it was, "the more you drink the better we look"
    My old Chicago friend Tom had a different angle on that. He'd say, "I drink to make other people seem interesting." Lol! He was actually a very sociable guy and just about everyone liked him, but he also had a serious drinking problem.


    Quote Originally Posted by steve in tampa View Post
    Record it and listen to it the next day.
    Yep. I keep this awful old audio recording (mandolin melody with mandola backing) to remind me of that. The obvious lack of proper recording gear doesn't account for my sloppy playing, bad timing, and mistakes... although I did miraculously manage to get in one halfway-decent triplet. But it sounded so good *while* I was playing it! Plug yer ears and turn down the volume, this is some shrill abrasive pickin'... fortunately it's only 30 seconds long...


    (or direct link)
    Yeah I know, I posted that video before, probably a couple years ago now. It's the only known surviving example of my drunk-playing.

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  8. #31
    Registered User Frankdolin's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    It makes me so happy that finally, in 2021, we can have this conversation. But being born in 1956 and graduating in 1974, I'm still to paranoid to talk openly.

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  10. #32

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    I have found that I can make my mandolin sound better by handing it to someone else.

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  12. #33
    Registered User J.C. Bryant's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    I have so enjoyed thinking about this thread. I have laughed and when I tell anyone I get tickled again. Than you.

  13. #34
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    My best story on the subject came up in another thread a couple months ago...

    Ever just love the sound of your mandolin?

    Well, there was that one time ...

    A few years ago, my band had just finished playing an interesting show. We were sort of the background music for a cabaret setting, with ladies and gents dressed pretty snazzily and dancing swing-style to our music, which was varied but we kept it in that era for this event. This was during our band's peak time, which lasted well over a year, during which we were pretty much the toast of the town. All in all, after a long time, life was pretty good for me at the time.

    Since things were going so well, I thought it might be a good time to chance it, and succumb to the lead singer's incessant entreaties for me to join them in the indulgence of some smokables. (I hope it's OK to include this mention, as it is a crucial plot element.) I had always demurred, as the stuff doesn't agree with me anymore, although back in the day I couldn't get enough. But about a dozen or so years ago, the stuff started getting me too wigged out, so I stopped doing it. But here we were, I was in a good space and vibe, feeling pretty good about life. So I had a puff or two on our break. The gig went well, even with me getting a bit experimental musically here and there. Some of my band mates had some giggles when I got a bit loose on a lead, but I survived all right.

    After the show, we broke down and packed up. Before loading out, we sat down and hung out with the promoter and a few other people, chatting, having a beer or two. I was listening to the acoustics of the room - second floor of an old building, nice aged wood, with a peaked ceiling about 5-6 meters high at the peak. I thought I'd play my mandolin a bit, just to hear how it sounded in that acoustic space. Well, I'll tell you what. That little thing produced a sound that just filled the air, sounding bright but not shrill, bold but not harsh, light but not flimsy - in a word, perfect. I got to playing a melody I'd written, a sort of Calypso with a lively mixture of melody and rhythm. It's sort of self-contained, self-sustaining that way. It sounded so good, I couldn't stop playing. I dropped out of the conversation for the most part, happy to produce this background music, letting that be my contribution to the proceedings.

    After a few times around, the lead singer piped up with some mockery - look at you, you're so stoned, that sort of stuff. I thought that was pretty asinine of him, not just letting me be and enjoy myself, especially since he'd been instrumental in producing my state of mind. But he did suffer from professional jealousy, wishing he could play as well as I, even if he couldn't be honest enough to admit it. So I ignored him, because I was enjoying the way my mandolin sounded so much, and also the piece has a way of turning the end into a beginning and starting over. I must have played for ten minutes or more, and didn't stop until my band mates decided it was time to go. I didn't indulge in that stuff again, not for maybe a year, and that was the last time.

    I've no idea if it really sounded that good, or my buzz was directing my perceptions. I prefer to believe the former. One of these days, when I'm ready to do some serious recording, I want to go back to that room and check it out, see if I can lay down my lead tracks there.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

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  15. #35
    MandolaViola bratsche's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Quote Originally Posted by JimKo View Post
    About a month ago I was looking for something in my lapidary shop and accidentally came across my kids' weed stash.
    I'm so jealous - you have a lapidary shop!
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  16. #36
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    The pot is definitely much more potent these days as compared to the stuff we rolled into joints in the late 60' and early 70'. Today one toke can do the job that a whole blunt could not achieve in the olden times. The stores that sell weed these days quantify the THC content and have varieties that can induce different mental states. Anyway this is what I have heard.

  17. #37
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Yes, much stronger now. And finally legal in Illinois. To quote a hair product: a little dab'll do ya.

  18. #38

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Quote Originally Posted by steve in tampa View Post
    Record it and listen to it the next day.
    You had to go & ruin it for him.

  19. #39

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Although it does enhance audition, you do want some experience with it before you go gigging.

    I had a reggae band for a while. Definitely Irie.

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  21. #40
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Quote Originally Posted by catmandu2 View Post
    I had a reggae band for a while...
    Did you play much bluegrass with them

  22. #41
    Registered User zookster's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    This is why the Cafe has to be one of the most interesting places to hang out on the web.

  23. #42
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    I've played a fair amount of reggae over the years. A few years back I was part of a Tuesday night jam with some people who had a gig at a place here - nice restaurant and bar outside, wild chickens and cats adding to the uptown-down-home funky vibe. It was their gig, so I followed them, and fit in however and wherever I could. We did a mix of Marley songs and pop/rock done reggae - style. One night the sound guy recorded it, and gave me a copy. I put some of the songs up on my myspace page - yeah, it was that long ago - where they still are. I can't get them to play, no idea why. If you can, let me know what you did. I'm on a new computer and haven't been able to get the files off my semi-dead old one yet. It's a real drag not being able to access my own music. I'd like to be able to listen to it, as well as share it. Especially that electric wah-wah mandolin reggae music. Pretty rare stuff, that.

    Hmmm ... just noticed this is Post #42. Or is that Post 42.0 ...
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  24. #43
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Well, it took some digging, but I found the source CD for that reggae-jam-gig. It was pretty loosey-goosey, and I was just sitting in occasionally, so there was no practicing. But this was after a few sessions, so there was at least some seat-of-our-pants cohesion. It was actually the flute player's gig, and she asked others to join her to make a de facto band. The singer/rhythm guitarist pretty much took over. He would sail around the Caribbean for a few months, hang out here for a few months, do some gigs, then go sailing again. Nice lifestyle, I guess. The mandolin is a little high in the mix, even for my liking. Sound guy was liking what I was doing but should have been more hip to the overall levels. I can't tell if I was playing my F-12 or EM-150. Pretty sure I was going through my Yamaha REX50 Multi-effector, combination of distortion and reverb. No wah-wah after all. Too bad - really makes the scratching cool. Leads too, natch.
    Attached Files Attached Files
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

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