No Wonder You Spend So Much Money On Stereo Equipment

Good point. It is amazing how universal music is. Dopamine is good.

Dopamine is good.

I used to compare buying audio gear to a cocaine habit. However, I always said that audio gear compared favorably because although it has the potential to suck one dry, at least you have something to show for it when you wake up in the morning.

I never spent anywhere near as much for blow as I do for audio gear! 

RE: dopamine levels, I’d like to see a comparison between listening to music and playing it...

An excellent guitar costs less than many forum member’s dacs!

RE: dopamine levels, I’d like to see a comparison between listening to music and playing it...

@stuartk  No comparison IME — there’s nothing like playing live music when the band is locked in.  Listening is like a poor facsimile in comparison yet still supremely rewarding and satisfying in its own way.  That’s my take anyway. 

but we are not music addicts here, we are hifi gear addicts :)

RE: dopamine levels, I’d like to see a comparison between listening to music and playing it...

 No comparison IME — there’s nothing like playing live music when the band is locked in. 

I remember my days playing the cornet in our high school band . . . the dopamine was screaming through my brain!

@immatthewj 

I remember my days playing the cornet in our high school band . . . the dopamine was screaming through my brain!

How about the listeners' brain? :)

How about the listeners' brain? :)

Who knows.  We were all coked up and jamming out in our own world; we gave the "pep" in pep rallies a new meaning!

The gig is up…

@soix 

"When the band is locked in"...

Yeah, I haven't played in a band in a long time but I know just what you mean -- there's a mysterious force that steps in  and "takes over" when everything is just right and then "the music plays the band"!  

"the music plays the band"  ...I love that!

"the music plays the band"  ...I love that!

Me too!

but we are not music addicts here, we are hifi gear addicts :)

I hope this is a poor attempt at humor cause otherwise it’s just really sad.

@mitch4t, ​​@soix

I can’t take credit for that phrase. It’s an excerpt from the Hunter/Garcia tune "The Music Never Stopped" that appeared on the Dead’s "Blues for Allah" record. I haven’t , so far, encountered a more apt description of the experience in question. BTW, I've also experienced it playing in a duo, whether or not that constitutes a "band".