Are Prog Fans Musicians or Not?

I play the drums and bass. I'm almost positive I became a musician before discovering prog rock, so I guess I pretty much support your theory.    

Just a thought but if any posters do have samples of their skills and talents then they should get a myspace page, put the link in their signature, an post them for all to see. I have .... and I can spend hours checking out myspace pages. Better than TV..

Guitar (acoustic)

Two questions - do you reckon playing an instrument makes you appreciate the skill of others (an obvious lead into Prog as it requires skill)?

- Do you tend to appreciate most the instrument that you play in the music that you listen to?

Cool... maybe you shouldn't give yourself the stress!   Play an instrument, and you'll find you listen to a lot less music (it's a free time thing)

PinkPangolin wrote: Guitar (acoustic) Two questions - do you reckon playing an instrument makes you appreciate the skill of others (an obvious lead into Prog as it requires skill)? - Do you tend to appreciate most the instrument that you play in the music that you listen to?

With me, it's the compositional side I am listening for.  The ideas, more than the execution.  I am a terrible pianist, a decent singer and, at times, a good songwriter/lyricist.   It's the 'having ideas' part of the process that I'm best at, and I'll admit that it takes quite a lot to impress me (if I want dumb pop music, I'll make my own!).  So, what little skill I have at songwriting definitely informs the way I listen to and adjudge the quality of others' music.  When it comes to instruments to focus on, I often tend to focus on the stuff I absolutely cannot do or have no experience of trying - excellent drumming will always grab my ear, vocals that do something special or unusual, levels of intricacy in the arrangement that outpace anything I could ever do... right now I seem to be focused on those wonderful tasteful subtle layers of analogue synths in 70s Italian music.

This has definitely affected what music I listen to, i.e. prog.  'Normal chart pop' and mainstream rock: I can do that stuff - so it can't be that good, right??!!  I feel much happier listening to music that wows me with how unattainably amazing it is (rather than making me feel annoyed that someone is making millions being worse than I am!!).

I used to play acoustic guitar and sing my own songs until I got a writer's block. Soon after I became a family man and my guitar playing fell into decline...

Classical Guitar, Electric guitar, Saxophone, and picking up trumpet soon. (hopefully.)

I definitely think knowing music and how to play music gives an appreciation to prog music. Part of the fun of listening to say a Mars Volta song is just counting along to say the crazy time changes and such.