Are Prog Fans Musicians or Not?
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Forum Name: Music and Musicians Exchange
Forum Description: Talk with and get feedback from other musicians on the site
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=50914
Printed Date: November 23 2024 at 07:12
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Topic: Are Prog Fans Musicians or Not?
Posted By: Q6
Subject: Are Prog Fans Musicians or Not?
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 12:24
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I hope this question gets you clicking. Here's what I've noticed..., 1: Most of my friends who like prog music play an instrument. 2: Most of the musicians I know like prog music. 3: Most of my friends who don't play an instrument don't get prog. So are Prog fans musically bias? Does studying an instrument enable you to appreciate more complex melodic / harmonic and Rhythmic structures? Or am I just hanging about with the wrong people? I wonder  .UPDATES TO POLL: 14 August 2008 - Only 33.3% don't play an instrument. ------------- http://www.paulcusick.co.uk - www.paulcusick.co.uk |
Replies:
Posted By: fusionfreak
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 12:41
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7 years earlier I began to learn how to play the guitar but I was too lazy and I stopped within a week.I never
tried again since 2001 but my friends think I'm an accomplished air guitarist mostly on heavy metal stuff
(Number of the beast is one of my "best" performances).But being a non musician doesn't prevent me
from enjoying prog,avant,jazz fusion or psych and as says Hughes from Anthurus d'Archer(crazy avant music)A listener who enjoys demanding music,making stuff in his own brain does as much as a musician. ------------- I was born in the land of Mahavishnu,not so far from Kobaia.I'm looking for the world of searchers with the help from crimson king |
Posted By: song_of_copper
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 12:45
I can 'sort-of' play piano, but only stuff I've made up myself.  I would, however, consider myself a singer - not magnificently technical, but able to carry a tune, hit the high and low notes, and 'put it across'.  I've written songs pretty much all my life.  Utterly clueless on theory (despite doing A level Music and various singing exams down the years), but 'instinctively musical' to a considerable degree. And in relation to 'prog' music... I have to say that I've always avoided basic pop music etc., because if I want a pop song, I might as well write one of my own (which will be more relevant to me anyway!). I'm well aware of my personal limits and this helps me to really appreciate the skill, inventiveness and virtuosity - and the occasional touch of innate genius - of my favourite musicians (mostly 'progressive' types, it has to be said...). If nothing else, some level of musical skill/experience helps you be more discerning, I guess. |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 12:51
| I played drums at a very mediocre level many years ago. I'd love to start playing again and maybe take lessons but don't have time. I'm content being a non-musician. |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 12:54
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I'm an amateur musician. I studied piano and trumpet/ French horn, and my old girlfriend, and books, taught me the acoustic guitar (but not very good). The only instrument I was ever good at was the trumpet (youth orchestra) but I've barely played it in twenty years. I wouldn't describe myself as a musician, but I guess I could count as a poor one. My favourite instrument to play is the xylophone. Let's have a brass option. If I could be good at any instrument, I would like it to be piano. I am good at playing the rhombus -- triangle proved to be too much of a challenge. It's shame that musical talent seemed to skip me. My father was a wonderful amateur pianist and composer, his father was a flautist, and my bother's a multi-instrumentalist and composer (can pick up any instrument so easily and play be ear), but me... nah. Decidedly untalented. I don't think my studies were advanced enough to really appreciate prog. I think it's more that I was raised on classical so I'd come to appreciate more complexity (especially harmony) in the music. ------------- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcp9fYc6K4IKuxIZkenfvukL_Y8VBqzK" rel="nofollow - Duos for fave acts |
Posted By: Luke. J
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 12:57
I have been playing keyboards since I was five or six years old, in the last six years I focused on piano but now get back to more synthesizer-stuff. Since about one year I play the guitar, but fail terribly on barré - some training will do soon, I am sure 
Also, I have an acceptable knowledge of music theory, the only thing I totally lack is complex chord progressions. Simple movements, yes, but no challenging patterns. It is enough for an ordinary jam, though.
Do not ask me about my singing voice until I have finished my teenage years
 |
Posted By: Q6
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 13:00
So many talented people. It looks like my theory may be true  Should I add air guitar???------------- http://www.paulcusick.co.uk - www.paulcusick.co.uk |
Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 13:33
Not a musician. I picked up a guitar and tried self-teaching myself when I was 15 or 16 but never got much further than Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jimmy Cracked Corn plus a couple of well-known but probably fairly simple riffs such as Smoke on the Water and Paranoid (not the whole songs, but just the famous riffs). I was learning on an electric guitar and when I broke a string trying to tune it, my dad gave me one of his acoustic strings to replace it since I was just learning. It sounded pretty horrible though, and I couldn't talk him into getting me a new electric guitar string so I pretty much quit at that point and haven't picked up a guitar in the 20+ years since then. Those were the pretty rough teenage years where father and son couldn't seem to have a conversation without it turning into a pretty heated argument so we were probably both at fault for the end of my rock star career.  ------------- 
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Posted By: Ricochet
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 13:35
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I'm a pianist.
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Posted By: Zargus
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 13:52
nope, I don't play any instruments.  And i only sing in the shower...  ------------- 
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Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 13:57
| I play the drums, although it's been many years, so I'm probably pretty bad these days. I've never played in a prog band, though. Mainly Indie and Metal in my youth. |
Posted By: laplace
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 14:02
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I've been playing keyboards badly for years and I can meow tunefully down a microphone.
honestly I'd never consider actually joining a band - I'd want to mastermind everything. All I do musically that gets shown to people is make messy, noisy chiptunes; I am told that that's a waste of talent but I almost certainly don't care. ------------- FREEDOM OF SPEECH GO TO HELL |
Posted By: sleeper
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 14:05
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Bass player here, but didnt take it up until after I started listening to prog.
------------- Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005 
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Posted By: The T
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 14:29
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I'm a self-taught drummer. Ask me to play metal or hard rock and I'll deliver in every area (double-bass drum included). Ask me for jazz/fusion or more complex rhythms and my performance will not be as impressive. (I don't know more than a couple rudiments, imagine that).
I enjoy prog as much as any other I guess. But it's true that musicians tend to like prog more than non-musicians. And here I give this meaning to the word "musician": person that needs to understand the music he's hearing, at least on a rudimentary level, person not content with just "listening". ------------- 
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Posted By: Q6
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 14:57
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Now then "The T" I'm glad to hear it's not just me who has noticed that pattern in my peers. Not sure what you mean by "understand the music" in a "rudimentary" way? I suppose it helps if you can recognise the individual instruments in a mix. This helps separate the spectrum of sounds down to their separate constituents. I suppose that's why pizza tastes better as a pizza, with layer upon layer of tasty goodness, rather than a blended mush of bread tomato and topping(s). ------------- http://www.paulcusick.co.uk - www.paulcusick.co.uk |
Posted By: The T
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 15:14
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^Exactly. The pizza example is quite good. What I mean is, the average person likes music (most people DO like music) but just as background, or for dancing to, or to create moods, whatever. It's not the music itself but what it can generate in their senses, feelings, etc. In most prog fans' cases, they also want to enjoy the music just as music, trying to understand at least basic things as which instrument this is, what is harmony as opposed to melody, how on instrument is doing this while the other does that, what is a concept, and so on... things that most non-musicians (or "musicians" according to my definition above) really don't care about. Which is another valid, but different to most prog fans, approach to music enjoyment. -------------
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Posted By: MikeEnRegalia
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 15:15
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I play electric guitar ... several other instruments too actually, but the guitar is my favorite instrument. ------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Mike" rel="nofollow">Recently listened to: 
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Posted By: Q6
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 15:24
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If you've ever read "Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance" you can see there are two types of people. Those that ride motorcycles trusting that all the intricacies and mechanical bits will just work. The "romantics" treat the bike as a whole machine. The there are those "classical" individuals who need to know what a spark plug does, or how to tweak the carburetor to improve performance. I would therefore say most prog fans are adopt this classical approach to their music. Perhaps thats why there's no category as Romantic Prog - It's an oxymoron. Right I need a beer. ------------- http://www.paulcusick.co.uk - www.paulcusick.co.uk |
Posted By: Negru Voda
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 15:38
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I can whistle. No, seriously, I would like to learn to play a musical instrument (I was thinking about bass or sax or acoustic guitar), but unfortunately I'm going to get a job in september and I don't think I'll have time for it. |
Posted By: Q6
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 15:42
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Sounds like an excuse Negru. Lifes no rehearsal. Go buy yourself a 6 string.
------------- http://www.paulcusick.co.uk - www.paulcusick.co.uk |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 16:09
| i can play like basic stuff on the guitar, but i suck. and i think i am a good trumpet player. |
Posted By: listen
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 16:40
| I play set drums and a load of percussion. started 8 years ago. I would love to learn to play practically any instrument-especially acoustic/12 string guitar, piano, harp, and some kind of wind instrument-oboe, flute, bassoon? Isee my love of music as a strong common element in both my interest in wide varieties of musically interesting/engaging music and in musical instruments. |
Posted By: TGM: Orb
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 16:41
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Not really. I started learning piano/keys a few months back, but that's it. Wouldn't consider myself a musician by any stretch of the imagination. |
Posted By: alanerc
Date Posted: August 13 2008 at 16:49
| I don't play any instrument |
Posted By: Syzygy
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 05:21
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I have played acoustic guitar since my teens, but since an accident in my late twenties I have had resticted use of my left hand. I still play, because it keeps my hand supple and functioning. I don't play much prog though - mostly fingerpicking versions of Beatles, Neil Young, Dylan and the and I like to strum my way through some old punk/new wave favourites as well.
I also play reasonably good blues harmonica, although I really need to find some other people to play with to take it to the next level.
Finally, I took up the ukulele a couple of years ago and that's probably the instrument I play most these days. There are all kinds of online resources and I particularly enjoy massacring the likes of Hendrix, Metallica and suchlike.
I had a mandolin years ago and I may well take it up again in the near future.
The closest I have come to playing prog was in my late teens and early twenties, when I played in a few post punk/avant rock bands, only one of which ever got as far as playing an actual gig, and I also used to mess around with reel to reel tape machines - all thankfully long since consigned to oblivion. ------------- 'Like so many of you I've got my doubts about how much to contribute to the already rich among us...' Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom |
Posted By: Roj
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 07:40
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I'm not a musician, I wish I was, it just hasn't happened for me. I would love to be a top notch keys man, ala Rick and Keith, however.
I do follow the drift of this thread. I take a keen interest in the instruments played and their individual contribution to a piece of music. I note that we proggies also tend to listen for the proficiency of the musicians and compare and contrast them and their abilities.
However, by way of comparison, you don't find people comparing the prowess of the musicians of Culture Club and Wham.
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Posted By: Q6
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 15:26
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So far only 1 in 3 of the proggers replying say they don't play an instrument. So the majority do? I know I was suspecting this sort of result but I think more votes are needed. If you walked into any pub and asked who played an instrument I don't think 2/3rds would say yes. Is it that the non-players are keeping mum? 66% musicians??? MORE VOTES NEEDED!!!! ------------- http://www.paulcusick.co.uk - www.paulcusick.co.uk |
Posted By: YesFan72
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 15:50
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I play bassoon! I also play alto saxophone and clarinet, and some piano and guitar.
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Posted By: LinusW
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 15:53
| Bass guitar for me. |
Posted By: Bj-1
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 18:09
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Self-taught drummer. I play everything from Prog and Fusion, to Blues, Hard Rock etc. My favorite prog albums to drum to are:
Genesis - Selling England by The Pound, Gentle Giant - In a Glass House and Present - Le Poison Qui Rend Fou.
------------- RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on! |
Posted By: MovingPictures07
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 19:50
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I play the drums, but I also compose for keyboards in my band. I simply like to think of myself as primarily an expert on rhythm. For some reason though, it says I can't vote in this poll.  ------------- 
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Posted By: tszirmay
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 20:01
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I was fooling around with a synth back in the early 70s and singing (Stairway to Heaven and Roundabout were my first 2, damn falsettos! ) , all my mates in bands (Maneige, Men Without Hats, Rational Youth, among others) , so I decided that I would become a musicologist , collector and fan instead . ------------- I never post anything anywhere without doing more than basic research, often in depth. |
Posted By: cobb2
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 20:09
| I like to think that prog fans are just more intelligent... |
Posted By: Q6
Date Posted: August 15 2008 at 02:55
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Now that's another poll, IQ =Music taste??? Einstein = Classical S. Hawkins = Prog .. .. .. .. President Bush = House/Garage  ------------- http://www.paulcusick.co.uk - www.paulcusick.co.uk |
Posted By: cobb2
Date Posted: August 15 2008 at 21:43
| ^ I'm sure if you searched the forum you'd find this has been done before- because we're all smug conceited b**t**ds (sorry ladies) as well. |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: August 16 2008 at 02:25
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Indeed, I remember there being a thread, as long as 7 pages where musicians on PA would mention what instrument they played, what genres etc, but I can't find that thread anymore. I play guitar, write my own music from time to time, so I consider myself a musician. ------------- 
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Posted By: The Pessimist
Date Posted: August 16 2008 at 07:50
I think i did something similar as well. PA is getting very predictable these days I play keyboards primarily (piano, harpsichord and synth, not organ sorry to say), but i study classical guitar and a wee bit of drums as well. ------------- "Market value is irrelevant to intrinsic value." Arnold Schoenberg |
HughesJB4 wrote:Posted By: Statutory-Mike
Date Posted: August 17 2008 at 01:33
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I play guitar in a prog band so...yes. ------------- 
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Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: August 17 2008 at 01:50
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i played guitar in my last band http://www.myspace.com/bogdanovichband - http://www.myspace.com/bogdanovichband We were very good. It was prog rock with a lot of jazz-rock and funk influences. In fact Im trying to start a new band. Looking for a bassist, drummer, and keyboardist. Anyone interested and live within 30-50 miles of central New Jersey??? ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm 
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Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: August 17 2008 at 13:10
| I play solo piano, and synth in a band. |
Posted By: Jozef
Date Posted: August 17 2008 at 21:15
| I play bass and keyboard along with a little guitar, mostly rythmn. I'd like to learn violin or saxophone though. |
Posted By: JBassFox
Date Posted: August 17 2008 at 22:09
| 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. |
Posted By: topofsm
Date Posted: August 18 2008 at 22:28
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I started out on piano at about 6. I learned drums about 5 years later, and last year I started playing percussion in my local symphony and I started singing. So I'm a keyboardist/percussionist/singer and I definetely think that it takes a musician to appreciate prog. ------------- 
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Posted By: Q6
Date Posted: August 23 2008 at 10:03
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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..
------------- http://www.paulcusick.co.uk - www.paulcusick.co.uk |
Posted By: Easy Money
Date Posted: August 23 2008 at 10:20
| I play kybds professionally, click on my member profile and then click on my homepage, or just go to myspace.com/zazerac |
Posted By: PinkPangolin
Date Posted: November 23 2008 at 04:38
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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? |
Posted By: Visitor13
Date Posted: November 23 2008 at 04:43
| No, I don't play any instrument and never have. Though time permitting I will buy an instrument (no idea what, tbh) and make noise just for myself (and the neighbours). |
Posted By: PinkPangolin
Date Posted: November 23 2008 at 04:52
| 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) |
Posted By: Visitor13
Date Posted: November 23 2008 at 05:06
| Well, I could always emulate Derek Bailey and improvise to the music I listen to. The obvious difference being that Bailey could actually play his instrument and had talent. |
Posted By: song_of_copper
Date Posted: November 23 2008 at 05:12
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!!). |
Posted By: J-Man
Date Posted: November 24 2008 at 08:05
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Guitar, Keyboards and Alto Sax. ------------- 
Check out my YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: November 24 2008 at 08:30
| 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... |
Posted By: Q6
Date Posted: November 25 2008 at 05:39
First question... Yes I think you need to have a measuring stick to appreciate how good someone is on a technical level. But on an emotional level you just need good ears and an open mind. Second Question... Again I think you can only measure that which you have a point of reference to. If you play no instruments then that's your starting point. If you play one then you can compare others abilities to your own but you are left guessing at unknown instruments. Therefore you appreciate them from a listeners point of view. ------------- http://www.paulcusick.co.uk - www.paulcusick.co.uk |
Posted By: Guy-McPerson
Date Posted: November 25 2008 at 12:01
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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. |
Posted By: LanceFortune
Date Posted: November 26 2008 at 09:19
| Several instruments. Stuck to classical G quite a few years ago. Bought myself a synth a few months ago. |