Way back in my "using" days I didn't think I'd be able to play with taking something, be it a couple of drinks or smoking some pot.  Now that I've cleaned up I can't imagine playing under the influence of anything.  If I have something before playing the first thing that goes is my timing so I just don't partake . . .

I don't think it would matter if it was real beer or not, a couple of pints would put me on my backside.  

Whether or not you "can" doesn't mean you "should" drink on the job (or get high, or do coke, etc.) If someone's paying you and you're partying, you're not being a professional.

If I have one or two it makes me a little bit faster or a little longer than I normally could, but after that I'm not satisfied with my playing because I have a tendency to forget certain parts, drop sticks, ect.  Now on the other hand, when I play guitar alcohol inhances my playing ability to an extent that I impress my band mates and others jamming around me.  There is just something about being drunk (or stoned) and playing guitar that brings out all the licks I forgot,as well as the feeling and mood of the music.

"What's the use in getting sober, when you're gonna get drunk again?"
  ~Louis Jordan

x x
  |
__

ah, a different matter entirely!

I find it very difficult to drink and play at the same time.  It makes me feel like i'm playing under water, and it's very difficult to move.  Sometimes I get nervous about singing my harmony parts, and once in a while I may have a very small drink (usually something mixed with water) just to loosen up and get over those nerves.  The more I practice singing, however, the less nervous I feel about it.

I feel that if people are paying to watch me perform, it's my responsibility to give them my best at all times.  I can wait and have a drink after the show, and it will taste just as good, if not better.

*edited for grammar

I used to have a large cooler with a case of beer behind me whenever I played 10 years ago. Being a drummer,you're hands are full and it's hard to get a swig,but by the end of the night...I had managed to get mooorre than a "swig".....I drink bottled water these days when I play. I drink when I'm home listening to recreational music or watching the football game....Not on the "job"...after all,that's what it is.
You notice I never addressed the actual question of this post......

I'll end this post for you!

I'm not much of a drinker.   I like a beer now and then (Sam Adams and Molsen Golden are favorites) but I'm really more of a Pepsi guy whille on gigs.

We once had a guitar player who felt it was necessary to get wasted before gigs and on breaks.  The difference in his playing was hardly noticable.  It was his lack of professionalism when wasted that got him fired.

How's that joke go?  I only drink when I'm alone or with someone.

Some George Thorogood:

I played REALLY drunk about 3 years ago.

The band was having some difficulties, but we seemed to be working through them. The bass player showed up to a gig trashed on JD. So I figured I'd start my drinking (I was prepared to start after the show). Besides, it was a crappy hole-in-the-wall venue (The Riverbottom).

I had a flask of Absinthe (Martin Sebor), so I drank half a Heineken, then poured half the flask into the Heineken bottle. Absinthe is really made for sipping, but it didn't stop me. I did this twice.

Remember playing "Sweet Emotion" as the sound check.

Next thing you know, I raise my head from the table. Everybody is gone. My drums are gone. Did I even play?

My g/f drumtech had loaded up the drums. Security helped me out the door. I asked her if we played the show. "Yes, and we video taped it."

Crap.

I couldn't get the nerve to watch it, but eventually I did after curiosity won the battle. It was musically OK.

But there was a problem. We were asked to do an encore and we played "Symptom of the Universe" by Black Sabbath. We had discussed this song in a rehearsal. The #1 guitarist said that he felt playing a metal song as an encore leaves people with the wrong idea of what our sound is about (he was more influenced by Radiohead).

We played the song anyway.

I see a discussion while they're playing. He's telling the #2 guitarist to take the lead. He says he doesn't have anything (I get this story from the #2 guitarist later). So we go through the guitar solo part with no solo.

He quit after that. He said he would if we played that song.

Had I not been totally wasted, we would have not played the song. But based on the video evidence, I was all gung-ho to play the song after it was suggested by the bass player (who quit 2 weeks later).

I guess it could have been worse. After watching it a few more times (and getting past the shock of it all), I noticed things that I felt weren't pulled off exactly right. I mean, it was good enough in my opinion (whcih doesn't matter). But I expect more from myself than that.

As Bermuda said at his clinic last night, those who think they play well when they're wasted are alone in their opinion. The video seemed OK to me, but who knows what others thought of it. The only thing I can say for sure is that I'm way happier with my sober performances.

The end result was that my playing was sub-standard. Even worse, I lost control of my leadership of the project and it all fell apart.

I'm playing a gig for my birthday. Two bands in a row. I might have a beer (as in ONE) between the sets. Nothing else when I'm on the clock.   It's Patron Silver shots after the last note, and not a note before.

Having lived over a third of my life in the land with the highest binge drinking rate in Europe (if not the world), run my own bar and done a few gigs, I gotta say that a little (<3 pints) can help you relax a bit, but more sends you off to lala land, and by that I dont mean Hollywood. That said, in one occasion I had 8 pints before getting on stage because the manager bought a round, the singer bought a round, the other bands' singer got a round... etc etc. so it can be pretty hard to survive the peer pressure.

That said, I still listen to the tape of that gig, cringe at some missed crashes, but gape at some breaks I know I'll never do again in my life. Still, missed crashes score more than flash breaks so I've decided to stay off the (heavy) boozage.

I'd say "so long as you know what you're doing" but reading a few alcoholism threads makes me want to withhold that statement....

drumwild......I'm glad you're not here with me to hear how loud I'm laughing at your story(I'm not laughing AT you).....that is a true to life story if I ever heard one..especially, the "did we play???"..."yes,and we videotaped it"..the rest is hopefully a lesson to others to realize that this a BUSINESS.....how serious are we,as players?? That's really the bottom line. It's all about having "fun", but, when does the "fun" cut into your "business".....thanks for sharing..

I learned very early in my playing career that alcohol takes away my coordination pretty quickly, so drinking while playing has never been a problem.  I've gotten pretty hammered on a couple of occasions, and always regretted it later.

Subbing in with a lot of different bands I often find myself the only sober guy left at the end of the night, except for the occasional recovering alcoholic, who's usually on a sugar/nicotine high after chain smoking and chugging soft drinks all night.

I don't do soft drinks any more, either, so it's water and maybe a cup of coffee on gigs.  Makes the drive home afterwards a lot safer, too.

Once I get home all bets are off.

I have met great players that couldn't play anyother way but drunk.  Not talking about drummers in general but personally, I think that a few beers at practice is fine.  If you are getting paid to play out, it is a job and should be treated as a job.  No real job will let you drink on the job. As far as the drugs go, I don't play music with anyone that is into anything more than pot any more.
If there are other drugs in their life then their priorities are all messed up and you can't count on them anyway.
                                              Nutty