Does being a musician affect the way you hear/enjoy music?
 

There are a few budding musicians on here and I was wondering whether this affects what you listen to. Do you listen to chord progressions, arrangements and general musicianship first? or doesn't it matter at all?

As a non muso I would like to think I can tell good composition from bad but does being a musician benefit you in this?

Not really on a composition level but on a tonal level there are certain things I can pick out as a guitarist that really bug me.

Lately, now that I've started seriously making music, I seem to have started mentally deconstruct music way more. It makes simply enjoying music with friends a bit more difficult but when arranging your own stuff the knowledge is helpful because you know what to avoid or what you want to. I've grown to really like melody and weird chord changes lately, which has been nice. I have a better understanding of what in music I look for now.

For me it sort of worked the opposite way. I really used to like listening to technical stuff and trying to pick it all apart - but as soon as I started learning guitar I lost interest in that and just started appreciating songs for the songwriting rather than musicianship.

Not too much I don't think. The better I've become at making music the easier it's become for me to kind of pick apart the pieces of a song but aside from that I still appreciate music for creativity over technique.

Definitely, I can easily appreciate certain types of music more which triggers me listening to them a lot more. I doubt I'd ever listen to Porcupine Tree if I had no musical knowledge.

Not saying only people with musical knowledge listen to them, just they are not my style and far from it, so it's just personal.

I've been playing music for a while (piano and just started guitar) and I can't say it has affected me too much in the way of listening. Even if I notice something I wouldn't normally notice it doesn't really effect how I enjoy the music. However, learning an instrument is fun because then you can play your favorite songs yourself.

i've gone through university, in which we've been taught to predict the patterns of typical music, as well as the emphasis on studio production and fx. now i find myself deconstructing all aspects of music without really thinking about it. however, most of the musicians i've met usually pay more attention to their predominant instruments; i.e. i'm mainly a singer, so i place more importance on melody and especially lyrics , while a drummer would focus more on percussion...etc.

Deconstruct is the word that sleepy jack used and that's what I often do when I listen to music. I like listening to individual parts, especially the drumming.

Indirectly. I started studying music theory because I'm a musician.

And then I started analyzing music.

Now I always analyze music. It's a gift and a curse.