Do you have natural talent for guitar?

I am a mediocre guitarist at best and it falls off pretty damn quick if I don't practice often. I've always had trouble getting a large repertoire of songs in my head. I can handle a gig's worth of tunes at a time and the rest fall out pretty quick.
 
I take it that your Dad is/was musical? If so, it can tell us that the genetic component of music skill acquisition overrides the environmental.

There are many studies that have been done with twins where their mental development owed far more to genetics than to their environment.

If you mean "musical" as in playing a musical instrument, then no. Doesn't play anything, couldn't sing his way out of a paper bag.
 
Hmm, tough , few very talented musicians in my family, but Id say mostly not. Started in 4th grade with an acoustic crying often trying to play through mel bay books, when all I wanted was an electric guitar to start playing KISS. 2 years later received on from my parents, the rest is history. Like others have said if I devoted time to truly study it, I could be "there" but life, school, reality got in the way!
 
If you mean "musical" as in playing a musical instrument, then no. Doesn't play anything, couldn't sing his way out of a paper bag.

That's very interesting! With no musical element in the genes maybe it demonstrates that talent doesn't exist as a genetic component, if at all.
 
It is a matter of dedication

Music is a language. If you can learn a second language, you can learn music. However, if you don't have any original thoughts, nobody is going to want to listen to you speak in any language.
+1
Wow dude, i said the same thing a week ago to a friend. :encouragement:

The term talent is something that i couldn't get along with very well. Everyone around me is thinking that i am a talented guitarist, cause they had to explain my fast progress. In reality i just was obsessed and played 4-8 hours a day. I am not seeing myself as talented cause i easily hit a brick wall and have to work hard to get over it.

In terms of drawing i made a different experience.
After drawing this i couldn't help myself and just had to accept that i have a "natural talent" cause i draw like once a year for about 2-4 hours(completed about 4 drawings in my life) :lol
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I had to explain it to myself cause i am not satisfied with just being "talented". I remembered that i began painting with some watercolor at the age of 4-6 and when i was 8 i drew some Nintendo game heroes with my sister. I think that everything you do in your childhood where you learn a shitload of things, affects how "talented" you are at something. At higher age you need a lot more dedication and have to put more effort into it to achieve something you could easily do if you did learn it as a child.
Nonetheless i am not excluding the advantages you probably get with genes. I have no clue if it affects us, but imo it's playing a negligible factor in having a talent. All in all, it is too complex to understand due to the quantity of variables.
 

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as a teenager i was obsessed with girls.
so i picked up the guitar to impress girls.
after i got the girl, i became obsessed with the guitar.

i'm not a guitarist, but i play one in real life.

oh and no, i do not have a natural talent for the guitar, or anything else for that matter, sadly.
 
as a teenager i was obsessed with girls.
so i picked up the guitar to impress girls.
after i got the girl, i became obsessed with the guitar.

i'm not a guitarist, but i play one in real life.

oh and no, i do not have a natural talent for the guitar, or anything else for that matter, sadly.

Everyone has at least one talent...
 
If you mean "musical" as in playing a musical instrument, then no. Doesn't play anything, couldn't sing his way out of a paper bag.

Perhaps there were family members, other than your father or mother, who had a special aptitude/talent for music. Not that I am talented and my parents certainly did not do much to promote music in my immediate family (although my father did enjoy singing, which helped me develop my ears and pitch), but some uncles, aunts and cousins in my family showed a special interest in playing music, a factor that influenced me to discover music as much as I could.

Take for example, Trevor Rabin, would we objectively say he is talented? I would have to answer yes to that question, yet at the same time, he lived/breathed music within a very musical family. So what is the split, genes or environment?
 
The notion of "natural" musical talent is grossly overrated, IMHO. It's not completely unfounded but if you think most of the really epically skilled players did not woodshed @ retarded levels you are kidding yourself. So, "natural" talent may help motivate somebody or keep them on the true path; but for the most part we are talking about practice.

I highly recommend this book if you want expand your thinking about Mastery of any skill. It is short, well written, and will change your life: Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment: George Leonard: 9780452267565: Amazon.com: Books
 
I don't believe I have a natural talent. I believe as human beings we are very fortunate to have very adaptive anatomies & physiologies that will respond to repeated activities by making new neural connections, growing new connective tissue, increasing muscle mass, etc. which ultimately results in easier, faster, and more precise skilled movements. The key component to development in all the great musicians is the amount of time (quality time) they spend with their instrument. The one thing that has kept me "working" at it over the years is that I love music and I actually have grown to love the process of practicing because I know it yields measurable results. I don't care whether I have any more aptitude than someone else, I know that I love music and will keep working to improve my weaknesses. I'm firmly in the nurture/environment camp when it comes to the nature vrs nurture argument in this context.
 
All that said, I don't even know about the idea of "natural talent". Is there some kind of genetic reason for some being better at it than others, or is it more to do with the environment?
I have found talent is more about developing your timing and skill sets, then learning to let go OR not think>> Like riffing and singing the same lick THEN >> sing a riff you have never heard and play it at the same time as a exercise.
I've been Lucky (opportunity surrounding skill) to work and jam with talented people in NYC. Here are few things they said to me that stuck.
Will Lee - Don't try to make your friends more talented, make more talented people your friends. Try to jam with people who have better skill sets or different skill sets than you. The talent in you will make you want to rise to the occasion.
Ray Gomez - "If you think you will stink, if you play you'll be OK, if you burn you will earn." Thinking makes you late for the creative moment. Think before or after you play. when you play push yourself.. burn. Ray taught me to growl instead of saying any words when I hit clam. Keeps you from thinking and falling off the bike so to speak. Keep the momentum going.
Am I talented? They say I do things easily that they struggle with. I say the same about them.

That being said. Your natural and learned talents WILL wither unless polished and maintained(practice and jamming)
One last thing, as humans we have good days/bad days.


You must be able to close the mental door on the things that keep you from being in the moment I.E. like owing back rent, your ex leaving a strange message or that hang nail. If not, you will not be able to access your "talent"... Avoid thinking when you play!
 
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I suck by nature, so i hate measuring.
In my head, i am the finest, i played on all stages all over the world, while groupies like Evangeline Lilly waiting in my dressig room ....

So what ;)
 
Most of the musical geniuses throughout history have had a natural talent with music.(There are anomalies also.) Understanding music is easy for them, very intuitive process.
But remember, when something comes easy, it is also taken for granted.
Now take a someone with a small amount of musical talent, but with a lot of determination.Spending hours and hours to achieve that same level.
1 had the easy road, the 2nd had the hard. In the end, they both achieve the same result.
(at least until that son of a bitch Age strips away the things you used to be able to play.;))
 
In regards to physical abilities to play music

naturally talented is a myth (in my opinion) as depend what aspect of music your categorizing, there are too many variables too measure no one is good at everything

Though every body gets there in the end (where ever there is), if you put in the effort

I've known enough guitarists and musicians to know if good people stop playing bad people get better than them, the people who are not "talented" be come the talented

talent is a skill and skill is something you learn

Now that's not to say 2 people who play the same amount of guitar will have the same skill, nor will 2 people who flip coins constantly have the same hit rate

Another analogy, who is more naturally talented, the stock broker who earns 1 million dollars a quarter, or the garbage man, who dodged the out of control bus that killed the stock broker

In regards to people liking what you do, ie lady gaga vs old mate who plays the flugelhorn in his basement, there is a lot more going on than just talent

my 2 cents given
 
Now that's not to say 2 people who play the same amount of guitar will have the same skill, nor will 2 people who flip coins constantly have the same hit rate

That, to me, says that talent is aptitude, which comes from both the physical and mental parts of a person.

For example, my father played instruments and sang, not to a high skill level, but he played in bands in his youth. The generation before him, nobody played because they didn't have the time or money to invest. My dad actually built his first guitar. About the generations before I have no idea. However, tracing my lineage back yields an interesting ancestor. I'm a direct descendant of a famous (in Irish music circles) harp composer from the 18th century. Now this could be coincidence that I picked up instruments and taught myself to play, and I know I'm no ground breaker, but it seems to me that the inclination to be musical has stemmed from there.

Now, on an evolutionary level we have no idea of the function of music. Studies have shown that chimpanzees prefer silence to music and have very little engagement with any form of it (with a few odd exceptions). We don't know if it's a vital aspect of complex language acquisition as it doesn't stimulate the same areas and doesn't have a neurological centre in the way that language does. It stimulates a lot of different areas all across the brain, notably those associated with motor function and emotion. We don't know where this fits in on a survival level.

So, the discussion will go on and on. One thing is for sure. Potential (which is what I regard talent is) is nothing without utilisation.
 
I think there are differences in the way brains are wired.
I can throw and aim pretty well without practise. But I can't catch worth ****.
I had a buddy that played darts in a darts club regularly. I never even practiced. I would beat him so consistently he wouldn't play against me any more.
Also being 6'6" I tried out for basketball and the guys didn't want me on the team. I couldn't catch. When playing soccer I will consistently kick the air behind the ball. I'm just too slow.

I think that works against me with playing as well. It's the way my brain is wired. I am pretty sure some of it can be influenced and trained to some degree, but some things are just the way they are.

I've been playing over thirty years now. I still can't play Eddie's solo in "Beat it" anywhere close to passable. I know of people that can play circles around me just a couple of years after picking it up, not to mention the foetuses on youtube that haven't been alive that long... There is this dude that misses one hand on youtube, he has this stump he ties a pick on to. He took up guitar and within two years plays the "Beat it"-solo better than I can... And yes, they always claim they've practiced 8 hours a day for those years and anyone can do it. I don't buy it completely. I've got a couple of hours under my belt too. Still nowhere near their skill.
Some people are wired to be able to concentrate for 8 hours a day and some have ADD. Like me.

I'll have to make do and lift the enjoyment from what I cán play.
 
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