...was thinking about this thread last night - something about it pissed me off. ..Then I remembered that when I was a kid (and this is reaching back), some local, he came-up to me after hearing me play and said roughly the same thing.. “you don’t have natural ability” ..just out of the blue.. I don't think I was ever really known to kiss an ass, so, he went away pretty quick.. About three?? years later?, that exact same person came up to me after a set and said I had a lot of natural ability and started comparing me to other players.
Well .. I guess it takes about three more years to get "natural ability" in some people's view.
Point being, of all the things a person can say in judgement - them judging "natural ability" shouldn't be too high-up on the list of things to pay attention to. It's a catchall put-down for lazy people. If it was constructive criticism - and I have heard, and actually appreciate that kinda thing - hell, If I can learn from something, that's one thing. But don't listen to catchall bullshit thrown out there to bring somebody down. Brush that off.
The first guitar teacher I had, a professional musician, he referred me to a couple of bands looking for a guitar player when he thought I was okay-enough to hang with them. I will always remember what he said.. "You'll get up there, and you'll be nervous because you know that eventually you'll make a mistake .. But when you do make a mistake, 95% of the people in the crowd won't know - they'll be there to have a good time. 3% might have noticed - but they will just appreciate you being up there and will forgive you practically anything as THEY will be there having a good time.. and then there will be one or two miserable c**** who will want to judge you for it. ..You don't listen to that type, as, usually, they don't have the guts to stand-up in front of a crowd and put themselves out there" he said, "they're the type who just lift themselves up by criticizing others, and anybody who would put you down for the fun of it, isn't exactly good friend material are they? ..So brush it off, go home and practice."
..not verbatim, but pretty-damn-close. And true enough. He also said that if you don't practice every-day, you are just spinning your wheels.. You don't easily get better. which is also true-enough :0)
Thanks, Ian! :0) ..a good guy was Ian. ;0) :0)
Knowing I was a Huge Fan, he also threw-out Gary Moore as an example of what a "Working Man's Guitarist" should look like. "Gary makes lots of mistakes" he said .."his recovery is always flawless. Nobody dwells on his mistakes" ..and that's true-enough! :0) I saw Gary, live, a Bunch of times.. He occasionally dropped the ball - a stray note here or there, but, man, you had to scrape your jaw off the floor after a show. The guy was brilliant.
Nobody is perfect.
Practice. And Learn-a-little every-day.. Enjoy it. Have fun with it. A person does that, and they will do fine.