Weird musical stuff

[sugarbee]

Hey, thought I'd start this thread after reading one on aural hallucinations. It got me to thinking that maybe some of us who have been playing and performing for so much of our lives have experienced stranger aspects of music, tricks or skills our subconscious has, like a solo that "played itself" or a strangely musical sound coming from a non musical object, you know, like wind playing sound tricks, or more personal experiences. Myself, I have this fascinating but terrible problem in that I sometimes write songs in my dreams, and they are really great songs but I can never remember them! Anyone else have interesting stories to share?

[Skeletor]

I play best when I'm dead tired, sitting with my acoustic on my lap, with my head rested on the side and my eye's closed. I come up with my very best material like that.

[Slaindude]

Yeah me too. But you know, some dude named Rene Descartes who was some kind of a philosopher (and a mathematician i believe) once said that reason only comes to your mind when you are really tired cause you only focus on what you think and nothing else comes accross our mind or influence you in some way. Kinda like the truth serum effect.

I wrote some of my best stuff when i wake up in the middle of the night, being unable to sleep, i sit down with my guitar and play.

P.S.: Oh, and about Rene Descartes, i think its the only intelligent thing he said, otherwise he kinda is the most pathetic philospher ive ever studied i think.

[mjo]

I hear voices in my head - :eek: .........oops, wrong forum :D

I have a cabin, next to a creek. the sound of the water rushing past the rocks can provide some, pretty cool rhythms.

[Koala]

I have a cabin, next to a creek. the sound of the water rushing past the rocks can provide some, pretty cool rhythms.

You know? You shouldnt say things like that when theres people from very very very very very big cities around ..... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :D

Umm, music can really do werid stuff to my head. Many times when I jam at clubs and stuff I swear i actually forget about playing. If the crowd is really lit up and were having fun and its all tight things just flow, i just close my eyes and listen to the music, as if i were listening to someone else play, it pretty weird. A couple times weve been shown videos of us playing and ill play real cool things i had never even thought of + ill be so tight with the band (ive been playing with the same bass guitarist [nosey, here at the forums] for over ten years) that we´ll play exactly the same lines every once in a while, real long runs weve never played or even thought about. Its crazy. maybe music opens up some sort of telepathic communication channel in our heads or somn...or maybe i should go to sleep. Who knows?

[steve0192]

The same thing happens to me sometimes. I kind of drop into "The Zone"
and almost feel like a passenger along for the ride. Its a great feeling
but very surreal.

Steve

[Black_the_Sky]

Heh.. reminds me of a great Kings X song off their second album..

Over My Head

Over my head i hear music in the air
Over my head i hear music
Over my head it's loud and clear
It's going to my head
Music music i hear music
Music i hear music music music oh! oh! oh! lord
Music over my head
i! i! i! hear it so clear
i! i! i! hear it so dear
i know i know i know i'm not crazy
It's going to my head
Grandma used to sing
Grandma used to sing
Everynight while she was prayin'
Over my head
Over my head i hear music oh lord

On another note I too have a strange level of clarity when I'm just waking. It's almost as if I can see what's truely important in life and everything else is rubbish. I feel like I know exactly what it is I'm supposed to be doing and then I wake and completly forget what that was. :(

I've also had some dreams where I've heard/made up some really awesome songs but lost them when I returned to life :confused:

[SkinnyDevil]

This is one I don't tell much....and if you guys laugh, I'll go shoot a puppy.


Anyway, I had been working on this song and wasn't happy with the solo section. I spent hours & hours of intense practice trying to come up with something I liked. Gave up. Totally gave up. Went to sleep, had a dream that I was at a concert. I'm right next to the stage, I look up and it's Jimi Hendrix. He's in drag...dress, bolo, the whole nine yards. He comes up to the rdge of the stage right in front of me, leans over and says "dig", and burns into this solo. Just teaches me the thing. I wake up, grab my guitar, and played it to the song I had been working on.

Recorded it note for note, too.

(Thanx, Jimi!)

[Guitardeth]

I really support the idea of that when two or more musicians have been playing for several years they start to understand eachother in a different way. It's like when you hear that old couple that have been living together for more than 60 years. When they talk it's like this:

Wife: "Maybe we.."
Husband: "Yeah, we really should."
W: "And.."
H: "Yes, but.."
W: "Of course, and.."
H: "You're so right."

They know what the other will say next. And sometimes the same thing happens when you play. Probably because of a lot of reasons (just my guesses). Lets say you smell something that you refer to something significant, a person, a place, a festival, a band, anyting. And at least I think that music is a way to express feelings and thoughts, so maybe you play a certain lick that is your way to describe the thing you thougt of and your fellows may subconsious remember the smell aswell. Like a code for the lick. And the next time the smell comes, the other bandmembers play something that fit in with the lick, allthough they may not understand why.. :confused:

Or, maybe it's just something paranormal... :eek:

[EricV]

This is something I can definitely agree to, that communication between musicians who have been playing together for a long time...
Take Satch and Vai. Sure, throughout their careers, they have been touring and recording a lot, and I´m sure they were out of touch in between, and didnt get to jam a lot in privacy.
However, whenever I hear them jam, like in that Harmony Hut-video, or on the most recent G3-DVD, you can tell that they know each other, and actually communicate, trying to push each other. After all, they´ve known each other for so long, Satch taught Vai for a while, and back then, they jammed a lot. And met up several times later to jam.
It´s ver ymuch evident on that DVD... those two seem to actually communicate and "musically agree" to each other, while Yngwie isn´t quite as integrated ( still, a great combination and a fun jam to watch )
Eric

[sugarbee]

I'm also in agreement. There is one person I have this incredible music connection with, he's the guy who helped record all the stuff I have on Show & Tell (well, that and most of the other stuff I have recorded) he could always listen to a tune I had written once and immmeadiately know what would work, we had an incredible vibe. I really miss that, he's far away now, married and expecting his first child, but still plays, and everytime I write him and ask his opinion on something musical (which I still do quite often) he'll write back and say something like, "it's weird to hear from you, cause I was just listening to the CD we did..." or, more recently, "I still actively practice your songs, cause I have a feeling I will be playing them again someday." It's hard to explain, but there's a feeling between us, even though we aren't playing together now that it's not over. I guess maybe it's because neither of us has ever found that "groove" with anyone else. I hope it's a feeling that means something, we always worked so well together. That's something not so easy to find. So I don't want to lose it, know what I mean?

[Axe-aholic]

Yeah, it's great to have someone you have a musical connection with, especially if you're beginnerish like myself. My cousin and I are always jamming. We know each other's weak point ands pet peeves ...and again with beginners like us, it lets you know you're not alone in the whole 'music race'. And it gives you someone to learn with and to do 'Who can trill the longest' competions with :D

[forgottenking2]

I know exactly what you guys mean and I agree, there's some kind of "chemistry" involved... it's kinda like a relationship, if things click and you stay together long enough you develop some kind of "telepathy", in two of the bands I've been, the musicians there and I have had very good chemistry (well, he happened to be drinking partners and friends for a long time before we started playing together) and after a year or so (sometimes just after a few months) you can really feel that conection... it's really amazing. Someone in the audience (another musician) once said to us that you could never tell when some of us messed up 'cause it was like if the entire band would follow the mistake and kinda hide it... it was pretty neat.

SO I believe it, it's true. It's buried in deep within the mysteries of the human mind.

[sugarbee]

....SO I believe it, it's true. It's buried in deep within the mysteries of the human mind.
I love how you put it....think we could get them to create a spooky Discovery channel documentary on this kinda stuff???:eek: It's gettin spooooooky in here...lol...:D

[forgottenking2]

I'm sure Koala will be thrilled with the prospect... Koalas haven't been getting much attention from Discovery Channel here lately :p

[sugarbee]

I'm sure Koala will be thrilled with the prospect... Koalas haven't been getting much attention from Discovery Channel here lately :p

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

It's a good thing I'm laughing my a** off at home, cause at least here only my husband thinks I'm nuts! (and it never surprises him):D

[Gunnan]

I find that I am better able to make things up after I meditate because I can concentrate on things more, also a good ( well not so good ) fight with my girlfriend will usualy give me an idea or two, I also find writing in natural settings a bit easier for me because there is nothing to make my mind stray to far. Sometimes il come up with stuff when I come home real drunk and stoned because I just start playing instead of thinking about what to play. Anyway just my 2 cents.

[jade_bodhi]

Hey, thought I'd start this thread after reading one on aural hallucinations. It got me to thinking that maybe some of us who have been playing and performing for so much of our lives have experienced stranger aspects of music, tricks or skills our subconscious has, like a solo that "played itself" or a strangely musical sound coming from a non musical object, you know, like wind playing sound tricks, or more personal experiences. Myself, I have this fascinating but terrible problem in that I sometimes write songs in my dreams, and they are really great songs but I can never remember them! Anyone else have interesting stories to share?

Duane Allman claimed that he learned "Little Martha" from EAT A PEACH, and the tuning for it, from Jimi Hendrix during a dream after Hendrix' death.

[widdly widdly]

For aural halucinations, find a place where you can hear people talking but you can't make out what they are saying. Then imagine they are talking about you. You will start to hear your name being said. The same things works in big crowds.

...or maybe it's just my paranoia

[Madaxeman]

On another note I too have a strange level of clarity when I'm just waking. It's almost as if I can see what's truely important in life and everything else is rubbish. I feel like I know exactly what it is I'm supposed to be doing and then I wake and completly forget what that was. :(

This may be dark or enlightening...but maybe that's what you feel right before you die, only instead of forgetting, all of life's mysteries open for you.

[shyboy12]

Hey, thought I'd start this thread after reading one on aural hallucinations. It got me to thinking that maybe some of us who have been playing and performing for so much of our lives have experienced stranger aspects of music, tricks or skills our subconscious has, like a solo that "played itself" or a strangely musical sound coming from a non musical object, you know, like wind playing sound tricks, or more personal experiences. Myself, I have this fascinating but terrible problem in that I sometimes write songs in my dreams, and they are really great songs but I can never remember them! Anyone else have interesting stories to share?

Wow, That's exactly what happens to me! I often have dreams where I write musical masterpieces with intense solos and beautiful melodies and about a dozen different mood changes, the only problem is I forget them immediately after I wake up!

[Lowthorpe]

I don't get that feeling of clarity in a morning, or my best ideas from being really tired..I'm just..well..really tired, at those times. :D

Rather, my best musical ideas come when I am at the very extremes of my feelings. I don't feel 'moved' towards releasing my creativity in everyday life or the moods I'm in, which means generally speaking, when I'm writing something song-wise, it will be 'same old, same old', unoriginal type of stuff. I am moved by things in particular, such as hearing a beautiful piece of music or feeling a really 'extreme' emotion; I get in one of those really thoughtful moods and that's the point where I pick my guitar up and do something a bit special. Granted those moments are few and far between, but when they do come, I'm on fire. ;)

Sometimes I don't actually know what it is that moves me. Over this last year or so, I keep getting these weird feelings and sensations in my mind, just from looking at things or thinking things or whatever. They don't appear to be conventional feelings like fear, sadness, hapiness and so on, in fact, I don't have a clue what it is I'm feeling at those times. I just know it gets me in a 'deep and meaningful thinking' mood, perfect for song-writing.

Nick

EDIT: Just as an example: Sure some of you have seen Kill Bill right? Well at the bit where O Ren Ishii's past is explained in that cartoon, where she's hid under the bed - that little snippet of music in that scene is brilliant. :P

[CaptainCaveman]

When I was a kid, I had this repeating nightmare. It was a sort af bright purple kaleidoscope-like picture (a purple haze, perhaps). Then I heard this one note, that repeated itself, gradually becoming more and more powerful. Louder and louder, until it was totally deafening, and I woke up screaming.


Recently, a part of "Frances the mute" by The Mars Volta, has ben showing up in one of my nightmares. That was really scary, and I didn't dare to listen to the album for a month or so after that.

Later, I had a similar dream, with the intro of "Disappear" by Dream Theater. Strange, because back then i didn't know the song!

[Degu]

I'm the same with writing songs in my dreams. And forgetting them 99 times out of 100 when I wake up. Or getting a really good idea when I'm just about to sleep (and I have isomnia, so it's typically when I finally am about to sleep, and I end up having to wake myself up! :rolleyes: :p ).

Though in my dreams they songs aren't mine - so I'll be walking around singing something in my dream which, in dream world, is someone else's chart topping song - but I've really composed it. Does that make sense?

Oooh I do have another kind of weird music thing. I'll hear songs that I couldn't possibly have heard before and sing along with them. I even wrote a song which a couple of months later, was released! OK so it was by Lolly (remember her? ;) :p) and it was only the chorus, and the lyricsa were different... but still, it was pretty weird!

Eek sorry rambled a bit there.:rolleyes: :)