Do you believe in natural talent?

[Hobo]

This is definately a real thing. I have an older brother who was good at just about everything he tried.

I had been playing guitar for a few years. My brother then started playing and passed me in a couple of years.

We both practiced alot.

 

[Rush]

There is such a thing as natural talent. Mozart, Bach, and many others are perfect examples for music. Art is another as someone stated. I've known AMAZING artists that could construct the most beautiful imagery with any medium you threw in front of them. That's natural talent.

On the flip side.. you don't need natural talent to create beautiful art or music. There are tons of artists out there that are not virtuosos in ability that create amazing stuff. It really comes down to each every persons individual perception of the piece.

Sure there are gonna be guys that can do everything you can on the guitar, but better, but they will never possess your thoughts or be able to construct art or music based on those parameters.

So yes.. there are those lucky folks in all areas of life that possess the gift of natural talent, but luckily for us natural talent is not a required ingredient for creating amazing art or music. It's all up to the viewer/listeners perception of your artistic works.

 

[Spherion]

What really fries me is that it seems like every BASS player in this town plays GUITAR better'n I do!

Ha! I hear ya. I've said that a few times myself.

It's funny. I was just going to start a thread very similar just seconds before I saw this post because I am VERY confused as to where I stand in the guitar realm.

Having had very basic piano lessons starting in 2nd grade, I did as little as I could and didn't progress. I didn't really care about it. But when I was 13 I became very inspired. I went from playing "Mary Had A Little Lamb" to doing classical in less than a year, practicing 6 to 8 hours a day in the summer. I started doing regional competitions and won them all. I didn't see it as much as talent as much as someone just taking the time to obsess over other people's written music and learning how to duplicate it. When given praise, I bowed my head and put my hands in my pockets because I wasn't convinced that it was an actual talent. I found it to be quite embarassing.

I eventually tired of piano and that type of music and starting getting into metal. I gave up the piano and didn't do much until around '92 when I decided that I wanted to play an instrument that sounded more like the music of my preference. I picked up guitar and man... I put 2 years into practicing A LOT before hitting an invisible wall, and 15 years later I still sound like a beginner. I don't know what it is but I can surely verify that I DO NOT HAVE NATURAL TALENT. What is even more frustrating is you see these high school kids, barely out of puberty, gigging and shredding the hell out of their instruments like it was nothing. I just don't get it. The ONLY reason I play is because I like to--that's it.

So yes. I think people are prone to natural talent and I think it's measured by the amount of invested time it takes to master a high level goal. And by "talent" I mean to become technically proficient. To me art and talent are two separate things. Talent means you are technically proficient enough to express yourself any way you wish as an art form.

 

[JOEY B.]

I don't know about talent, but I do have an EAR. The most extreme example of this came about in a jam session many years ago. Another guitar player told me that he really liked the something or another arpeggio- blah blah that I did as a fill in the middle of a song. As a (for the most part) self taught player, I said "If you say so". Now, nearly 15 years later, I mostly play for emotional/mental release. Anything else is just too much like work. I get enough of that on my day job. :!:

 

[lesterpaul]

Now, nearly 15 years later, I mostly play for emotional/mental release. Anything else is just too much like work. I get enough of that on my day job. :!:

amen...I recently started getting into hill country blues that howl out of the northern mississippi woods..freakin' 1 chord vamps...also called "trance blues"-jamming over 1 chord with the right folks can bring about voodoo like mojo..talk about emotional release...**** near religious experience-
I recently jammed with one of the local "legends" in these parts..he doesnt mind tellin' you how good he is(was)...well, after a few minutes, I realized there would be no solo spots for me...I threw him a 1 chord bisquit and he kept wanting me to resolve the progression...I didnt, and he couldnt walk and chew gum !all of the sudden-made me realize (ONCE AGAIN) it aint about show..chops...my whammy bigger than yours...talent...it can be So MUCH MORE-I know guys who have no nat. talent, but they get so much genuine satisfaction out of playing that it knocks me out-these days, I play for MYSELF, not my ego, and that has made all the difference(hmmm...sounds egotistical...'myself??'yknow what I mean..)
-I now must take my rest...play whatever gives you the goose nipples and to hell with the rest!!!!

 

[Friedmett]

Good question!

For me I just play the guitar and it has been that way since 1988. Due to my nature I never really have to practice much to learn something its more of keeping focus as my mind switches to something else or get bored.

Once I started playing electric I founded that natural vibrato was easy to do.

As I always just play improvising came naturally and that is what sticks out in my playing. Once my general tones pleased my ears I could relax more and just go for it and never put any limits to it but playing to the song so it would fit musically regardless of the style of music.

I never really find playing guitar hard. Listning to alots of other artist/bands I could sort off play the stuff I liked and discard the rest.

I'm basically a feel player and have always done it like that.

Natural talent? I don't know really. If it sounds good it is good and few times its not worth the tape its recorded on.

Do I belive in natural talent? This may sound like an ego thing but I belive in me. Whatever I put my mind too.

And for the rest of the many different bands/artists I like I will say yes. They catch my ears of being good enough.

Hendrix, Randy Rhoads, Blackmore and so many more.

 

[Undeadpaladin]

Ok speaking of talent... i'm sure we ALL have a natural talent in something. I know it's not music for me, i love it but i'm not naturally gifted at it. My best thing is Bowling... yes the sport of bowling. I'm pretty darn good at it, and i think i had some natural talent when i was younger, but then i think of all those weekends with sores on my thumb from practicing alone late everynight.... Kinda a blurry line between talent and Drive/passion sometimes.

Though did you ever get a little bummed out thinking that what your talent was you just never found it, hell i could have a natural talent for ice skating, but i'v never been! What i mean is, i bet we all have some "untapped" ability that just never gets used, shame life is so short sometimes right?

 

[highwaynine]

Natural talent exists.

I play a lot. I love to play. As a result, I'm not too bad. But I know lots of music theory. I had to, in order to know what note was where, and when I could play it with other notes. I spent time in a rhythm section of a marching band, because my sense of timing wasn't improving. I listen to all sorts of music, because everyone is better than me at something.

And so I learn. And I get better, and it's not drudgery, because I love it.

But I have these friends...they don't know jack about chord theory. They never had a rhythm lesson in their lives. They haven't spent hours agonizing over how to build a good melody. It just. Freaking. Happens.

Now, they work hard to get better...they work hard to innovate...they even work hard to learn certain kinds of things. But the fact remains that they can pick up an unfamiliar instrument, feel it up for a few minutes, and begin to play with an ease that takes me years to achieve.

"Talent" isn't something used to demean your discipline. It's the recognition that not everyone starts in the same place. And the only people who say it *doesn't* exist are the people who have it, and don't understand what the rest of us go through.

*cough* sorry... *puts soap box away*

 

[tremayne007]

Humans are innately musical. While I agree that certain individuals excel at certain aspects more than others, its mostly when comparing types of music/musicians based on certain benchmarks that it seems so exteme.

Don't get me wrong, obviously people do have natural strengths in areas that greatly exceed others. Unfortunately, many people become disheartened by this and never discover their own unique potential.

Alot of it has to do with having enough confidence in ones own voice/gifts to develop it rather than imitate others. There are many master/pro musicians who are extremely well received/liked that would be consider down right awful in comparison to some else who has developed a different set of qualities. Think Tom Waits versus Parvotti.

I remember Carlos Santana talking about playing on tour with John Mclaughlin, he said that after John would play, at first he felt like, wow, what I am going to do after that?? But after a while he realized that his voice was unique and as shredding as John was, he couldn't begin to offer anything that Carlos had to give.

I think its really important for musicians to keep that in mind. Work to develop your sound, your own phrasing, tone, etc... quirks and all, based around your strengths. As long as you are speaking with your own authentic voice, there is no competition, really...

I personally started off as a drummer, and always had a strong sense
of rhythm. I also loved exotic (mid-eastern, harmonic minor, etc...) scales when I started on guitar. This greatly influenced my voice on the guitar. It took along time before I even became interested in the blues at all. I know alot of more well rounded players, but alot of them sound very similar to me, and I am happy to have "my own" voice so to speak...


As far as music study developing intelligence in children, along side of the reasons listed above, alot of it has to do with the way playing an instrument encourages simultaneous use of the right and left sides of the brain. If you google brain gym you will find there is a whole area of study (educational kinesiology?) that focus on these aspects of brain development.

 

[Charlie]

As long as you are speaking with your own authentic voice, there is no competition, really...

+1

 

[thetiddster]

Yes

 

[PapaWheelie]

I think 'natural talent' can be inherent in certain individuals, but it's something that can be learned by anyone with creative flair. Certainly a desire to create or to express oneself would bring forth such enthusiasm for one to hone in on their craft. If it's something one has been surrounded by in their upbringing I feel that creates a stronger awareness within the individual. That even counts for skills such as 'absolute pitch' as well. You don't have to be born with it to be able to learn/understand it.

 

[Martin]

Natural talent definately exists...not even a question. Yes possibly systematically one could learn some basic chords or drum chops or piano chops but no amount of teaching in the world could ever have you playing like Chad Whackerman or Vinnie Colaiuta if you do not have that talent in the first place....you could try from now untill the end of time and still not be able to do it....it's just the way it is.
Being a guitar player I know for a fact that you can't buy a feel pedal...know what I mean..... you can play the same notes as Dave Gilmour for example and yet still not sound like him because feel is extremely difficult to teach, you either grasp it or you don't...goes for any instrument.

 

[sjones]

Natural talent definately exists...not even a question.

Agree 100% - to get even more basic than an instrument where you have to develop basic skills/knowledge to play - listen to most of us sing on our absolute best day and someone like Aretha Franklin on her worst...some people just have a gift...or a lucky configuration of genes - whatever you want to call it...

 

[MesallicA]

I remember watching a doco on genes, and how what your parents do in there life up till your conception is recorded and passed on into your genes, so musical parents tend to have musical kids. ect. I guess this would be where natural talent comes from. But it can only get you so far, its hard work put into the instrument that really counts.

Also i hate it when people say to me that i have a gift or a talent, it under-minds all the hard work and effort i put into my art, and i bet you all the people you would say are naturally talented worked there asses off to get as good as they are.

- listen to most of us sing on our absolute best day and someone like Aretha Franklin on her worst.

the difference is Aretha would of practiced a hell of alot more then most of us too. But with vocals i think natural talent plays a bigger part, you just have to be born with a good voice, you cant buy that. unfortunately.

Natural talent definitely exists...not even a question. Yes possibly systematically one could learn some basic chords or drum chops or piano chops but no amount of teaching in the world could ever have you playing like Chad Whackerman or Vinnie Colaiuta if you do not have that talent in the first

I agree natural talent exists, but Chad Whackerman and Vinnie Colaiuta didn't start off playing like Chad Whackerman and Vinnie Colaiuta, they learnt how to play the way they play. Just like anybody can learn to play with feel or whatever, its not something only naturally talented people can do. I just think naturally talented people pick it up easier then most.