And, no matter how much I progress, I still, and always will, class myself as a music lover rather than a musician.

I'm one of those people who will listen to ANYTHING. I don't care about who wrote it, performs it, genre, anything. The way it is with me is whether I like the individual song or not.

I listen to all styles of music by many different artists. I also draw inspiration from their music for my own.

However, this raises the question of whether there is a difference between being able to play a musical instrument and being a musician.

Anyone can sit down and practice and play brilliantly and with great technical skill, but if there is no emotion, or if all they can do is mimic others and not create their own sound and songs, then can they truly be classed as a musician.

Dylan, for example, wasn't a brilliant singer, yet he wrote some absolutely amazing songs and is one of the greatest musicians of the modern era. This shows that you don't have to be good at music to be a briliant musician, but also the opposite is true.

Ben

Musical ability comes from practice, but the ability to be a great musician comes from within.