Recently, I’ve taken a liking to going out. Actually, it’s a cyclical thing. Sometimes I like to go out, meet people, and be really sociable. Other times, I like to stay home and keep to myself. I’m in a place right now where I like to go drinking with the guys.
I find that when I do takes of my music, I get very wound up. Most times, this is a deteriment to what I’m doing, because the takes are tense and the playing sounds forced. When that happens, I’ll put down the instruments and call it a day. The best takes, I’ve learned, happen when I’m either very relaxed or very sad. Then, something just happens, and I like what I hear when I’m done, on the day after that, and so forth.
Tonight, I tied one on. And then? I came home and played bass. And when I sobered up? I listened back to what I’d done. Oh my. Oh my my. Sure, I’d managed record bass on track. And sure, it was me playing it. But it was almost like me trying to play bass while riding a horse.
The effect, I find, is completely amusing — not because I played while drunk, and not because my embarassing takes are worth keeping, embracing, or listening to again — but because not being able to play your instrument while swaying to and fro in your chair flies in the face of everything that is rock ‘n’ roll.
