How to Critique Music if You Are Not a Musician

Decide what sort of music you'll offer critiques on. You don't have to pigeonhole yourself, but you do need to make a set of parameters for yourself: Will you critique classical music? Rock and roll? Jazz? Folk? Metal? There are some bloggers who have "listening blogs" - they listen to a variety of music, post links to it, and then comment on it. They don't have a set type of music they listen to. There are others who are known for being classical music critics, rock critics, and so on. All you have to do is say what you intend to critique: Rock? Jazz? Film scores? Everything?

Form an opinion before saying it out loud.^[1] Refrain from talking off the top of your head as you listen. Your critique might change as you get deeper into the recording. Wait until you have listened carefully to the entire recording, and think about it. Once you've let the ideas percolate a bit, you'll be better able to articulate them.

Refrain from presenting yourself as an expert on playing techniques. Since you aren't a musician yourself, it's probably best if you make sure you frame any reference to the musician's skill or talent as your opinion, only. Those who would like to disqualify your opinion because you aren't a musician will pounce on statements like "he's not that good a player." Instead, use phrases like, "Personally, I like the way Van Halen plays better, but this guy does as well as he can."

Use your knowledge of similar music. Draw comparisons between bands or musical styles when you hear the similarities. Doing this can help illustrate your opinion for people unfamiliar with the new act you're discussing. For example: "My Chemical Romance channels Queen's 'A Night at the Opera' all through its epic 'The Black Parade.' Listeners to both will hear similarities throughout - while Queen's style is a bit smoother and more eclectic, MCR's heavier, more abrasive drums make for good over-the-top fun."

Do your homework. Read other music reviews. Find out if the music you're listening to "sounds like" anything else - when several different reviewers draw a comparison like the above, it might be helpful to listen to that record too. Playing an instrument may qualify you to discuss tone, or embouchure or harmonic techniques, but the only qualification you need to critique is familiarity with the music - and being familiar with other, similar stuff is half that battle.

Trust your own memory. Perhaps you saw something obscure once that comes to mind when you hear this music. See if you can contact the band to ask about it. For example: The aforementioned album, "The Black Parade" contains a song called "Sleep." In it, a part of the lyric mentions "...all the good guys and the bad guys, all the monsters that I've been..." One critique remembered a line from a song in a movie from many years earlier, "All the good guys and the bad guys that I've been... all the devils that disturbed me, and the angels that defeated them somehow come together in me now." Later, Gerard Way confirmed that he had taken great inspiration from Phantom of the Paradise - the movie in which the song appeared.

Encourage others to discuss the music with you. This is the most fun of all. It's fun to talk music with your friends. The best way to do it is to never say "That sucks" or to allow others to say it. Instead, head off fights by saying, "Whoa, whoa - wait. It doesn't suck. You may not like it. I may not like it. But somebody likes it, and it's disrespectful to anyone here who might like it to say that. Instead, let's just say "That's not my cup of tea" or "Not my taste" when we don't like something." Or perhaps just agree. Either is completely valid.