Can you be a music lover if you don't play an instrument?
 

confession time, I'm 18 and i still have yet to seriously learn to play an instrument. growing up, my brother played guitar and in my quest to be absolutely nothing like him, i (regretfully) didnt

i've just been thinking how shallow (for lack of a better word) that must make my appreciation of music, never experiencing the time and effort and blood and sweat involved in producing a song

are people who dont play even worthy of listening?

Don't learn one.

You'll just turn into a boring muso that hero worships rubbish music made by people like Steve Vai & Les Claypool.

Agreed. I don't play an instrument either, just listen to music and love it, you don't have to be obsessed about the technical part of it.

it's ok, you're worthy, but idk, i found it was easier to get more compositionally based music like jazz after learning guitar because it was easier to follow the players solos and parts when i knew what they were building it on. so idk, i guess it'd help you get music a little more if you did. not saying you have to, though. hell if you can still understand that kind of stuff sans instrument, then more power to you.


but that's just me.

when i learned how to "read a book" in english class (ie, look for character development, religious references, why the author used the word "the" instead of "it", etc) it totally ruined the act of reading for me

maybe when you learn the technicalities of playing you lose the love of wild sound in the same way

Nobody has to play an instrument.

But it's completely unnecessary to tell someone not to play one.

Learning an instrument helps the general understanding of the music.

if you need technical knowledge to enjoy a particular band or album, then that band/album ****ing sucks. music is more about passion than syncopation or any of that other bull****.

Yes, you can be a music lover and not play an instrument. To me, there are benefits and detriments to both types of listeners. I feel that the appreciation and passion for listening to music and the emotions it triggers may differ from that of a musician's; however, to define a somewhat exclusiveness that comes with being able to play an instrument and loving music is unfeasible to me.

do you need to be an athlete to like pro sports???

Christ talk about a stupid question.