Emotion when playing.

spirit

Senior Member
When I play the drums sometimes I find myself getting emotional-- I have done some gigs and left the stage after and thought to myself, man that could in no way have been better! Do you know what I mean.....when everyone in the band plays the very best they can, nothing goes wrong and it works with amazing accuracy.

A fantastic feeling of elation, pride and a very real buzz that the whole band feels its the best!
 
That's the Zen moment. It's pretty much the reason why I play. When I'm playing with a group of guys and we're all feeling it...there's nothing better than that.
 
great topic.. I think that is precisely what every 'real' musician plays for. Period.

Sure you can add, money, career, fame, adulation yadayada.. but yeah, thats the kill zone.
 
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Agreed...man there's just nothing better. When you can relax, open up your ears and mind, and just let go into the music...it all seems to come together.

It's amazing when a group of people all achieve this at the same time and everyone can "read" each others' playing.

Groovy gravy...
 
I used to get too emotional when I played, to the point where it was over the top and it didn't sound good. Recording myself and listening back cured that. I have the attitude now that I don't allow myself to "get into it" too much. I have to remain a little detached so I don't get consumed by the emotion and am able to accurately listen to what's really happening.
If I "get into it" too much I have a great time but it sounds like poo
If I keep myself in check, I play more appropriately, and am happier when I listen back.

But you guys are right, there's few things in life that are as satisfying as a great "Zen" gig
 
I can agree 200%. Went over to a friend's hosue to "jam" with a rhythm and bass guitarist. Both were older and were brothers. We started by playing older rock-Buddy Holly, Elvis, Carl Perkins, Beatles, and such. Wow! That first song went very well. We all just looked at each other in amazement. We got a lead guitarist and started rehearsing for an upcoming gig. After every rehearsal all 3 guitarists said that was the most productive rehearsals they've ever had.

It's a great feeling - ZEN - when it all comes together and everyone is on the same page!
 
When I play the drums sometimes I find myself getting emotional-- I have done some gigs and left the stage after and thought to myself, man that could in no way have been better! Do you know what I mean.....when everyone in the band plays the very best they can, nothing goes wrong and it works with amazing accuracy.

A fantastic feeling of elation, pride and a very real buzz that the whole band feels its the best!

yeah i can relate to that. it is the best feeling. i did a gig two weeks ago which was very much like that. some really great memories come from playing. i always get emotional when i play.
 
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THAT is one of the greatest feelings in the world. For those that have never experienced that feeling it is difficult to explain. I wish I could bottle that. I noticed that I have also experienced something a bit similar when I am watching a great band perform. Everything on stage is jelling and sounding so good I get goosebumps and the emotion swells up.
And oddly enough I find this to happen mostly with instrumental music like fusion. It has nothing to so with any lyrics, purely the music. Anyone else?
 
THAT is one of the greatest feelings in the world. For those that have never experienced that feeling it is difficult to explain. I wish I could bottle that. I noticed that I have also experienced something a bit similar when I am watching a great band perform. Everything on stage is jelling and sounding so good I get goosebumps and the emotion swells up.
And oddly enough I find this to happen mostly with instrumental music like fusion. It has nothing to so with any lyrics, purely the music. Anyone else?

Yup- the cream reunion gig at the Albert Hall- does that for me!
 
Last week's gig was like that. We were the third band up of 4. The crowd the whole night had been pretty much dead.. When we got up we didn't care if the crowd would like or not. We just played the best we could and we played for the joy of it. When we started playing the mood in the room chanced and people just crowded the front of the stage. It was a college gig so there was a lot of people. It was one of the best gigs i had in a while. Specially when you can look across a packed room and see people getting into the music and being touched by it. That adds to the whole zen feeling that much more! They even asked for an encore at the end!! = D
 
Oh yeah. Yesterday my friends and I were rehearsing and we could totally tell when everything just clicked and everyone knew what the band was doing. When everyone's on the same page like that and just feeling it it's like nothting else.
 
I get emotional sometimes. I always cry when one of my band mates plays a song in the wrong key. I also cry when I count us in and everyone comes in at a different time or when my bass player just has to put that last lone note in after a stop! The thing that gets me the most emotional is when my bar tab is twice as much as my gig pay for the eve!
 
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