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Thread: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

  1. #1
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    Default It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    About a month ago I was looking for something in my lapidary shop and accidentally came across my kids' weed stash. It is legal in AZ now. My reefer madness days stopped well before my mando days started but I thought what the heck, might be worth a try. Last night I had the house to myself so I rolled one and fired it up. The hoped-for creative breakthrough didn't happen. I still sounded like me and not Sam Bush. However sonically, the mando itself (Elkhorn) had never sounded so good to these ears. I was happy just hitting a note or double stop and letting it ring. This might call for some more experimentation but that is probably cheaper than upgrading to a new mando.
    Jim

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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Sounds like I should hand some out to the audience.

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    Registered User DavidKOS's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Quote Originally Posted by maxr View Post
    Sounds like I should hand some out to the audience.
    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".

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  7. #4

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Some substances do tend to open us up to greater sensibilities. I can play fiddle, drums, and such very well under the influence, because it's all feel (but I cannot read or play Bach - or anything where I have to execute from memory). Some of the best music has been created under these conditions.

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  9. #5

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Record it and listen to it the next day.

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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    While jamming with folks It’s like driving with the high (no pun intended) beams on, I can see further down the road

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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    I find a couple of beers loosens the inhibitions, but much more reduces the physical ability. I once played in a 'relaxed' 6 piece good time band (rock, pop, Dr Hook etc) where the left 3 smoked and the right 3 drank - the roadie was teetotal, drums and bass same side, thankfully. We had some mental dissonance problems because of this. Once in a while the whole thing would come together tightly and the guys would stare at each other in a WTF? moment - till the narcotic conditioning reasserted itself.

  14. #8
    Registered User Billy Packard's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Ironic...

    In the 'ole daze when it was seriously illegal I used to really enjoy smoking pot. I barely missed going to San Quentin on a truly tiny, insignificant episode in the '60's. I made money and had some very interesting adventures. I never liked or used any of the powders that were popular, just the marijuana smokeables.

    Now I can go to the pot store and have a huge selection of indiga, setiva, and other exotic blends and it's all graded, packaged and branded.

    Thing is, after all these years I just don't like it anymore. I tapered off without thinking about it and now I just don't want it.

    Oh well..Y'all enjoy it in the comfort of being fully legal.

    Billy
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  15. #9

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Supposedly Doc Watson once admitted to using the wacky weed and said that when he did, "You know, I play real pretty but it don't mean a thang!"

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    I wonder if you took that stash and placed it on a Tone-Rite. I bet the mandolin would sound even better.
    Jim

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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    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 ....
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  19. #12

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    The smoker you drink the player you get. (J.Walsh)

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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Quote Originally Posted by Billy Packard View Post
    Ironic...

    In the 'ole daze when it was seriously illegal I used to really enjoy smoking pot. I barely missed going to San Quentin on a truly tiny, insignificant episode in the '60's. I made money and had some very interesting adventures. I never liked or used any of the powders that were popular, just the marijuana smokeables.

    Now I can go to the pot store and have a huge selection of indiga, setiva, and other exotic blends and it's all graded, packaged and branded.

    Thing is, after all these years I just don't like it anymore. I tapered off without thinking about it and now I just don't want it.

    Oh well..Y'all enjoy it in the comfort of being fully legal.

    Billy
    And, well, geez; you live in Grass Valley after all..............
    Thanks

    Several mandolins of varying quality-any one of which deserves a better player than I am.......

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  23. #14
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Quote Originally Posted by Billy Packard View Post
    Ironic...

    In the 'ole daze when it was seriously illegal I used to really enjoy smoking pot. I barely missed going to San Quentin on a truly tiny, insignificant episode in the '60's. I made money and had some very interesting adventures. I never liked or used any of the powders that were popular, just the marijuana smokeables.

    Now I can go to the pot store and have a huge selection of indiga, setiva, and other exotic blends and it's all graded, packaged and branded.

    Thing is, after all these years I just don't like it anymore. I tapered off without thinking about it and now I just don't want it.

    Oh well..Y'all enjoy it in the comfort of being fully legal.

    Billy
    I can understand living where you do. Decades ago my family owned a restaurant and we had sirloin steak every night when the kitchen closed for at least 10 months. I still don't care for steak, because of eating so much, and have never ordered it in a restaurant in the last 50 years
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

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  25. #15
    Registered User Billy Packard's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    IK,IK, Living in GRASS VALLEY!! I've met a major grower who's told me a story or two about succeeding over the years esp. with the local gendarmes. My completion with the bud was done by the time I moved here in 2016.

    BTW, In 2007 I had a major injury in my rt. tibia and after surgery I was put on Norco, a very strong narcotic. I was totally addicted in less than 2 weeks and really bummed about it. I went cold turkey and switched to marijuana which worked really well. I had only smoked for recreation before and was surprised at the pain suppression pot provided.
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    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".
    I always thought it was, “ the more you drink the better we look”... my band says that to our audience frequently
    It’s recreational in MT, though that didn’t stop me before the end of prohibition
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Quote Originally Posted by pops1 View Post
    I can understand living where you do. Decades ago my family owned a restaurant and we had sirloin steak every night when the kitchen closed for at least 10 months. I still don't care for steak, because of eating so much, and have never ordered it in a restaurant in the last 50 years
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    A while back the Dr. cut me off temporarily from alcohol. We weren't hitting it hard like in the Honky Tonk days, just a beer, maybe two, during a 3 hour gig. When I had my first one in several months I could really feel it and knew my timing had gone to heck. The fiddle player then ripped into a fast fiddle tune and I just stood there grinning like the Village Idiot. When he asked me "what is the matter?" I told him "Right now I can't even hear that fast".
    Reckon it all depends on what you are used to.

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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Jim, I just laughed so hard I thought my sides would split!!! Your post made my day. I bet your Twinky stash got devoured too LOL! I live in MA now but had lived in Arizona for 50 years. I'm thinking you live down near Bisbee - great little town. Thanks for a great post and a hearty laugh!!!!

    “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.” ― Albert Schweitzer

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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Tim, Thanks. The world could use a few more laughs these days. Actually near the border in the Sonoita/Patagonia area. Did drive through Bisbee on the way to work in Douglas the other day.

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  34. #21
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Too funny. So, for the first 20-25 years of my musical journey, there was no way I could play a gig, practice or even listen to music without a puff or three. That was just the way we rolled (sorry) back then. Then I started getting drug tested where I worked, and shall we say, that put a damper on things. Beer replaced the bud. Wasn't as good, but I guess it settled my nerves for gigs. Anyhoo- cut forward several years, and I retired from the drug testing job. My compatriots in musical crime were not tested, so they had continued imbibing all along. But when I tried joining them, I was shall we say- dazed and confused. I no longer could concentrate- on anything. So back to the beer. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
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  36. #22

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Better agents yield reciprocal results. Of course there is risk associated as these can be addictive (there's a price to pay if dabbling in powerful agents) so great care is required.

    In my early twenties I imbibed in hallucinogens (legal in Oregon). After one particularly vivid evening, I saw my environment such that I was immediately compelled to enroll in art school.

    Certain hallucinogens are effective in treating addictions, for example, and will increasingly be used in therapeutics. The reason is due to their highly effective capability to enhance awareness, and by extension perspective taking, etc.

    Some believe that these organic resources, being plentiful around the world, gave rise to humanity itself. That it has had great impact on humanity is undeniable.

  37. #23
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    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Through high school, 6 years of college, young adult hood and previous to my career in public school administration I was a regular smoker that started when I woke in the morning and ended when I went to sleep at night. During those young adult years I began an almost lifetime long hobby of sports car racing (now retired from both work and racing). I was convinced that I drove better with a buzz. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately the time clock proved me to be quite incorrect. It just felt better but really was not.
    Someone suggested recording yourself before and after. Try it, and if you still think you sound better after a buzz, then have at it.
    Reminds me of a NEW RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE tune we play "Just a Lonesome LA Cowboy".
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  38. #24

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    Them Californians always were ahead of the curve.

    From The Book of the Dawg . . .

    Click image for larger version. 

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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeOlAt4Dj20

  39. #25

    Default Re: It Made the Mandolin Sound Better

    How about some Uncle Terence ..

    Last edited by catmandu2; Mar-15-2021 at 5:23pm.

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