I always find this approach strange, for me lyrics are an integral part of music, because when lyrics (such as those from bands like Sunset Rubdown, Neutral Milk Hotel, Radiohead etc.) are poetic in themselves they conjure in my mind imagery that interacts with the music itself, like the emotional reaction to a powerful poem in a literary sense with the more visceral and primal feeling music gives you.
When those two things are happening at once in a song is when music is at its most powerful to me. The downside of my ears is that bad lyrics grate on me like bad musicianship, and songs with clever melodies and good sound have been ruined by, I loved a girl, boy I want her back, lets go for a ride down the booolevaaaard, I mean if thats the image that your guitar chords are trying to portray, I am just not sure I can groove along.
But yes, your approach is the same as alot of my friends, an old girlfriend didn't even really like vocals in any tracks, apart from ella fitzgerald she basically felt they all ruined the music. As is shown so many times as with the different reactions we get to different gear, the way we listen to music differs in how we mentally approach it as well as what our ears can hear.
