What do you do on a bad day? (in order to play a big show)

[Josiah]

ive always been stoked to be able to get paid to play drums myself. getting paid to do something i would otherwise do for free, that already is a bad ass privilege to be able to do itself, how can you not be stoked?

there has been occasion where ive been sick, physically ill from something or another... like that horrible backstage catering.. but even then i find playing to make me feel better.

in respect to if something else is making me upset, i tend to find solace in being able to play music. maybe its a bit trite but i truly love to play drums, im genuinely disappointed if i dont get to play every day, be the pad or kit. and absolutely love playing with a band, playing live and getting paid is even better, even with crummy low level gigs.

i tend to have a very positive outlook on life in general which probably helps. in regards to what cjbdrm said, i lived out of the country for a few years in central america, which drastically changed my outlook on life.

i think you can will yourself to think differently, and eventually it becomes habit, just like consciously thinking about aspects of playing while you practice gradually becomes habits you dont have to think about. the motivation would be being happier.

america has a very dark culture unfortunately, people easily get trapped in it

[Kurtis]

america has a very dark culture unfortunately, people easily get trapped in it

define very dark. remember it's a lot of land to go over and come up with some yadda yadda answer. take us to each and every city and tell us about every nook and cranny that makes up the cities culture. hit up the suburbs also. don't bother discussing the US government. just the people of this very dark country. after your done hit up all the other countries in the entire world so we can see the contrast of how dark the US is. it's not so dark were we live.

[langmick]

Obviously. My question is how do you go about doing it? You can't simply will yourself to think what you want to think - you have to have a reason to do it.

Who controls your emotional response to stimuli?

You do.

If you believe that it is very important that you have the correct mindset before playing, then you must decide for yourself that you will, and make it the most important thing in your life, burning with a white hot intensity.

Now, there are other influences that can be removed or added, variables like diet, physical condition, health, drinking and all that.

But again, that's for you to control. If you think it is important to be at your best, then you must decide what that means and then do it.

[Josiah]

america has a very dark culture unfortunately, people easily get trapped in it

define very dark. remember it's a lot of land to go over and come up with some yadda yadda answer. take us to each and every city and tell us about every nook and cranny that makes up the cities culture. hit up the suburbs also. don't bother discussing the US government. just the people of this very dark country. after your done hit up all the other countries in the entire world so we can see the contrast of how dark the US is. it's not so dark were we live.

really? theres plenty of studies done on the happiest populations that you can check out. we aren't anywhere close to the top. here's one, there are many others;
http://www2.le.ac.uk/ebulletin/news/pre ... 2448323827


there are many great things about america, but surely you wouldn't argue we arent the pinnacle of the rat race and by far the most obsessed with superficial beauty and outward appearances, along with money and toys.

go check out your local park's little league game and watch the parents, that alone is a very telling illustration of the land we live in. or go talk to a cop about what he see's on a daily basis, and remember, we lead the world in violent crime, domestic violence and a host of other not so good things


just my opinion, but having a well worn passport and lived in other countries gives me a perspective of experience

whats not my opinion is things like, well talk about happiness, take a gander at how many anti-depression and psychiatric medications are prescribed in this country. if nothing else, that's a pretty clear indication.

[john lamb]

Yes, we control it - I agree, but how do you go about it? Nobody is on point 24-7. We all have bad days. How do guide yourself back to where you want to be?

i think you can will yourself to think differently, and eventually it becomes habit

Just my opinion, based on my observation and study (B.S.in music, bio + psychology, getting a Masters in Ed) but I really don't think we can simply will ourselves to do anything we want. I don't think we have absolute control over its inner workings. We make the decisions we make for a reason. To enshrine will as all-powerful is to say that reason and logic have no part in our decisions. Even while watching the most ridiculous soap opera, we know this is not true. Dude pretends not to know that his wife is cheating on him with his twin brother, so they are relaxed while he plots his revenge. silly, but the basic premise is that we act according to what we know - not according to what we decide to impose. I'll post an explanation of the literal decision making process pretty soon on my blog, in regards to stage fright. The post is only about half done as of now.

From my understanding of the way the brain makes decisions, I don't think we have absolute, or even much, control over its inner workings.
If we want to change what decision we make, we have to change (1) what evidence have for consideration. As an intermediate step, we have to allow this information to affect not only our in-the-moment decision, but how we model the world (most of the brain is composed of dozens to hundreds of maps and models of the world, and those maps are used to make predictions and act on them). All information filters through them and skews the information coming in through our senses. If those maps are more accurate, the decisions based on those maps will be more likely to yield better results.


As for myself, I do a pretty good job staying in the music these days. I kinda figured out what works for me in the last couple of years and I'm consistently having more fun each show. Its great. But then it didn't used to be this way, and my perspective on things has really changed. I used to be more of the "just push through it" "word harder" "give 110%" "quit your bitching" etc mentality. Honestly, it did me no favors. I kept pushing harder at what I thought was the right way, and that ironically prevented me from connecting. Like this guy.

[john lamb]

america has a very dark culture unfortunately, people easily get trapped in it

just my opinion, but having a well worn passport and lived in other countries gives me a perspective of experience

Agreed. I'm on my 3rd passport in 8 years now.

whats not my opinion is things like, well talk about happiness, take a gander at how many anti-depression and psychiatric medications are prescribed in this country. if nothing else, that's a pretty clear indication.

I'm not so sure about this conclusion, though. People around the world like drugs - any kind of drugs, really, but especially ones proported to make you happier.

[Josiah]

I'm not so sure about this conclusion, though. People around the world like drugs - any kind of drugs, really, but especially ones proported to make you happier.

not anywhere close to our culture though. not even remotely close. and that is of course, very easy to check out. but off topic...


"I don't think we have absolute control over its inner workings. We make the decisions we make for a reason. To enshrine will as all-powerful is to say that reason and logic have no part in our decisions. "

reason and logic have little to do with human choices. by definition that is what emotions are. and you only need to take a drive around to see how much people don't think about what they do, particularly when controlling a few thousand pounds of metal at speed.


more to the point, i do not consciously think about what i play on the drums, for that matter i don't believe the logic even plays a part of it. it's translating emotion and feelings into sound. creativity is by all rights, letting go and experimenting - no rhyme or reason needed.

often we praise players for doing the most illogical things while playing, and we call it creative

"Yes, we control it - I agree, but how do you go about it? Nobody is on point 24-7. We all have bad days. How do guide yourself back to where you want to be?"

different methods for different people, and many people most likely have never attempted to improve their self control, which is exactly what you are asking about. self control is an excellent skill to have, develop and maintain. through habit, conscious thinking patterns can become unconscious. just like i don't think about how to play double strokes, i just play, though there was a time when i had to think about it now i don't.
happiness can be attained in the same way, and when you stop and think about things, often what you refer to as bad days, really aren't that bad at all.

[Kurtis]

really? theres plenty of studies done on the happiest populations that you can check out. we aren't anywhere close to the top. here's one, there are many others;
http://www2.le.ac.uk/ebulletin/news/pre ... 2448323827


there are many great things about america, but surely you wouldn't argue we arent the pinnacle of the rat race and by far the most obsessed with superficial beauty and outward appearances, along with money and toys.

go check out your local park's little league game and watch the parents, that alone is a very telling illustration of the land we live in. or go talk to a cop about what he see's on a daily basis, and remember, we lead the world in violent crime, domestic violence and a host of other not so good things


just my opinion, but having a well worn passport and lived in other countries gives me a perspective of experience

whats not my opinion is things like, well talk about happiness, take a gander at how many anti-depression and psychiatric medications are prescribed in this country. if nothing else, that's a pretty clear indication.

you started off with really? what? come on guy. very dark place is the theme. enough of this study shit. you can post study shit till your blue in the face. could give a shit about that stuff. want to hear your view of the USA very dark place. and your friends also. kind of odd that the US is such a (very) dark place and millions of people live here. odd? little league games and parents. dude your killing me. that stuff is such mindless chatter. i know exactly what you are talking about. i'm 42 will a couple of kids. got it. i have three close friends i hang out with on a regular basis and they are cops or ex cops. have heard many stories. they were all cops in Delaware. some very grotesque stories. violence. yup heard of that, seen it and lived through it. live not to far from camden NJ. it's very bad there. guess what. don't go near the area. don't bother with the happiness thing. if the bad out weighed the good then you can bring that up i guess. people in the US are not killing themselves at an alarming rate given it's a very dark place. meds are just fine man. screw it. what ever gets you through the day. individual choice. worn out passport. futile to bring that up. you would have to live quite a few life times and have lived and lived and lived in so many parts of the world of the past and present to even begin to assess. have you lived in all the states, cities and suburbs of the US? all have different views and perspective of the country. go out and talk to every single one of them in detail about their lives and views of this country. spend months getting inside their lives and see what makes them tick to see how they come up with their answer. now that would be quite some study huh. one that cannot and will never transpire. it would be very telling. yes this country is going to shit. has been for a while. out of everyones control. just sit back and enjoy the show until your show is over. in the mean time... i'm making the best of things. Go Dodgers!

to much babble yes. don't worry everything gets buried.

[deseipel]

reason and logic have little to do with human choices. by definition that is what emotions are. and you only need to take a drive around to see how much people don't think about what they do, particularly when controlling a few thousand pounds of metal at speed.

Here you're saying that a lack of 'thinking' is dangerous. Right? Are you also saying that when people drive dangerously, that they are driving 'unconsciously' ? And therefore, driving with their emotions? I drew this conclusion because your statement below seems to separate emotion from logic. And are you saying that living without 'thinking' is living in pure emotion?

more to the point, i do not consciously think about what i play on the drums, for that matter i don't believe the logic even plays a part of it. it's translating emotion and feelings into sound. creativity is by all rights, letting go and experimenting - no rhyme or reason needed.

Do you see where you're car/drums analogy is confusing? On one hand, the result is a danger to others, while the same actions result in (what you call) creativity on the drums.

often we praise players for doing the most illogical things while playing, and we call it creative

"Yes, we control it - I agree, but how do you go about it? Nobody is on point 24-7. We all have bad days. How do guide yourself back to where you want to be?"


different methods for different people, and many people most likely have never attempted to improve their self control, which is exactly what you are asking about. self control is an excellent skill to have, develop and maintain. through habit, conscious thinking patterns can become unconscious. just like i don't think about how to play double strokes, i just play, though there was a time when i had to think about it now i don't.
happiness can be attained in the same way, and when you stop and think about things, often what you refer to as bad days, really aren't that bad at all.

I don't know that I've ever read anything in which someone wrote that Drummer-A did something 'illogical' and was then labeled 'creative'.

So happiness is a learned skill now? Sounds like mind control, not self-control.


The original poster was asking about what people do on a bad day. If thinking happy thoughts/mind control works for some people, great. But it's no way to really deal with or change how you're motivated. And that's what drives the decisions that people make, motivations. And the driver for those motivations? Emotions. Going any deeper at this point is getting into psychiatry, so I digress.


And if I never thought about, or analyzed my playing while I was doing it, I'd be the happiest mofo in the world. Yes, there are grooves I dont think about while I'm doing it, but I'm not going to put that up on a pedestal to call it 'creative'; it's a learned skill that's been developed over years of repetition and careful study. Solo's and such? different story, but much the same. Sure parts of it are creative but most of it is careful repetition.

America's a dark place? Check out North Korea for a while and let me know how 'dark' America is. Better yet, there's an old Denis Leary bit that sort of sums up my thoughts on this, "Life sucks, get a fuckin helmet pal."

[Yussuf]

Usually after a bad gig I drown my tears with cheap whiskey and internet porn.

Seriously speaking, I had a really awful gig some time ago. The band was under rehearsed, I hadn't been playing for quite some time. So I tried to self-motivate myself on stage by thinking all this "I am so lucky, I have the priviledge to play drums, think of all the people who suffered in nazi-concentration camps and ....".. Well the gig went even worse after that. There was nothing I could do to make things better.

There are no magic tricks. Practise your ass off and be prepared but don't get OVER analytical about occasional bad days/performances. We're all human and maybe next time will be better.