Guitars & Alcohol

[Jwills57]

Hey, Guitar Friends--I would like to gracefully and respectfully offer a bit of a different perspective, being involved in a 12-step program myself. The number of good people I know who have ruined their lives by having had a couple of drinks every now and then to relax themselves is lengthy. Not a single one of those people ever thought they had a problem with booze until they did. Now, I skip the chemicals and just go right to the guitar and the music. The chemicals never did anything for me that the music didn't do, and with a lot less harm and damage. My perspective, from experience, is that if you need the chemicals to relax and enjoy, then you are a ways down the road to a problem. Sometimes it's good to take stock of why we do what we do. Thanks and Best, Jack

[Denny B]

I stopped drinking for purely personal reasons almost 20 years ago, and my ability to do anything and everything better improved dramatically...even relaxing became more fun...

I've only been playing for about 4 years, and I'm just a noodler, and a couch & porch picker...

I like copious amounts of coffee and a little green tea, but nothing for my guitars when they're on the job...

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Goat Whiskey Picks

...Usually I'll have one beer while I'm getting up my gear for a gig and then I'll slowly sip during the show...

My usual practice for everything but Irish seisiuns (something stronger in order there ), something light just to keep the mouth moist and the throat clear - a nice German pils (preferably Bitburger - my "practice-time" beverage of choice) if it's an upscale place, Coors for where I've unfortunately found myself playing more often than not over the years ...

Originally Posted by RoseAdi

I like a really nice Islay scotch when I play my Irish guitars...Looks like the Scots get it for the drink and the Irish for the guitars. Works for me!

Depends on what kind of set I'm doing that night and I, um, bring a flask of my own with me - Lagavulin 16YO for ballads, Ardbeg 10YO/Laphroaig Quarter Cask for the Rebel songs, Caol Ila 12 YO for pub songs/seisiuns, all on my Avalon A-201 (great strummer with a rowdy crowd at an unplugged seisiun, BTW: painfully loud - literally - in close quarters, and my go-to fingerpicker when I want "that" sound for the softer stuff)...

[SouthpawJeff]

I find drinking a beverage or two goes well with many things.... playing guitar being just one. If I’m playing with others it usually starts out with a couple beers, the single malts don’t come out til later in the night.... when we’re really playing at our best😉. If I’m home practicing alone it varies, some nights a beer, lately with the summer heat gin and tonics have been a welcome refresher. And in the middle of winter often just a sip or two of Scotch and I’m all good.

As far as drinking problems go I find I am suffering from one right now.... all the Scotches I like are above my pay grade.... and that’s becoming a real problem!😮

Sorry, no disrespect meant to those with real problems as alcohol can be a serious problem. Like many I’ve seen it firsthand. Just trying to keep things light on a guitar forum🙂

Good luck,
Jeff

[beninma]

Nothing wrong with enjoying a beverage while playing.

I don't really do so... a few times I have had a beer with dinner and then end up playing after dinner but it's certainly not routine.

But the article is not about that.. it's about how much country music is currently glorifying consumption of alcohol and how they're trying to sell the fans alcohol through branding/endorsements/songwriting.

I wasn't really aware of how conscious an effort this was but I certainly have noticed how much pop country currently glorifies bad behavior and substance abuse... kind of funny when it is also sold as more wholesome than other genres and is also sold/most popular in the bible belt.

IIRC there was a lot of talk a year or two ago when Zac Brown came to Boston he inspired people at the concert to drink to the point the police said they'd never had to take so many people to the hospital for alcohol poisoning at a concert before, a majority of them apparently underage.

[jaymarsch]

Every once in a while I will enjoy a craft beer or a couple of fingers worth of good bourbon while playing or writing a song but I probably play more without alcohol than with. But I have memories of my dad sitting down after work with his beer and a shot of whiskey listening to his favorite country music station on the radio so I grew up with the two being pretty connected.

Best,
Jayne

[muscmp]

i'll have a couple of beers when i play but i know when to cease so i don't screw up the songs.

play music!

[Denny B]

I read the article, but on the topic of alcohol and Country music, there's absolutely nothing new here...

I'm in my late 60's, grew up on Country music since I was a kid in the 50's, and knew and sang all the old Honky Tonk songs by heart even way back then...

Country music has ALWAYS been full of bad behavior and substance abuse..."Cocaine Blues" by Johnny Cash? Drugs and murder...anyone think that one would get airplay today?

If you'd take booze and bad behavior out of Country music in any era, the genre would be gutted...like the old joke, there wouldn't be anything left but your ol lady left you and your dog ran away...

The main difference I see between the music back then and the music now is that the performers today are cookie cutter and interchangeable, and the vast majority of the music is generic Millennial whooping... about beer...

[Boozehound]

Just another reason not to like pop-country. Not that I have a problem with alcohol (clearly!) - just that I think the whole thing is marketing, not music. Give me some Jason Isbell or John Moreland over Kane Brown or Brett Eldredge any day. Real Music.

[Nyghthawk]

Originally Posted by SouthpawJeff

As far as drinking problems go I find I am suffering from one right now.... all the Scotches I like are above my pay grade.... and that’s becoming a real problem!

I am going to echo this sentiment. Glenlivet and Glenfiddich are too dear for me to justify. Can we lower the tariff on single malt scotch?

[stephenT]

The music I play, in bands or smaller groups requires I be in the present tense so I can listen, react and be in the moment. Drinking ever helps that, so on gigs I don’t drink or whatever.

But, playing by myself for fun and maybe recording, I enjoy a bit of whatever.

[beninma]

Originally Posted by Denny B

I read the article, but on the topic of alcohol and Country music, there's absolutely nothing new here...

Is the specific pushing of certain brand names new?

I am not real educated on old Country Music.. but I don't recall say Johnny Cash (since you mentioned his lyrics) actually singing a song that had a chorus of "Drink Brand X" the way some songs do now.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by BobbyMocha

The Washington Post ran a very entertaining article about the long-standing connection between Country Music and the Alcohol Industry. (10-min read)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graph...=.cfe5c8817204
Just wondering what people's thoughts are on this. Any traditions being followed.

Interesting article but in the big picture is probably only genera related microcosm of civilization as a whole . The drug/poison known alcohol and it's cultural relationship has probably been around since man first began moving towards primitive civilization probably 10,000 years ago.

Having been very very "good" at consuming alcohol in my younger days, but also having been fortunate enough to get away from consumption some 30 years ago, I no doubt have a somewhat different perspective of alcohol and it's relationship to our culture , and probably not a very popular one. So I will let it go at that .

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by Nyghthawk

I am going to echo this sentiment. Glenlivet and Glenfiddich are too dear for me to justify. Can we lower the tariff on single malt scotch?

The tariff?

Unless things have changed, "whisky" over there costs more than "whiskey" does here, even though they make it over there.

[Br1ck]

I enjoy trying to write country songs using as many country cliche references as I can, and sometimes this takes me in a humorous direction. I sang one of these at an open mic, where if it's a slow night we may go down the list again if people want to.

I try not to be much past halfway through my first beer when I go on. Well, we had a second go around and there was a couple that requested I play my song again. It went way better after two more beers. So yes, if you're singing about whisky, cheating, pickup trucks, tight jeans, your dead mother, or 18 year old girls, it might do you good to have had a few.