How much do you believe in guitar player "naturals"

[Mr. Jelly]

It really just boils down to if we enjoy playing guitar. And we do.

[Texsunburst59]

Originally Posted by min7b5

Well, I guess I would ask, respectfully, what does “daily practice” mean? To some of us that means four to six hours everyday. To others it might mean a half hour or less a day. If your son is truly playing many advanced classical and jazz pieces after a year and half of playing a half hour a day or less, that would be impressive, and I’d be frankly a little skeptical Maybe he’s working when you’re sleeping –which is what I did as a teenager… And I will say also, my guitar teaching practice has evolved to a place where, for whatever reason, I’m seemingly a guy in my city that gets a lot of the “prodigy” students. They’re a rare and exciting group (I have one right now that is blowing my mind every week), but there are actually a lot of them out there. And many of them in a year or two have gotten to a place that takes others five times as long, but I still contend it is very explainable, and not supernatural or a “gift” or whatever.

I will say –perhaps controversially - that the one trait I see that makes a big difference is apparent high intelligence. I have had many adults that are just obviously just very high functioning people, like surgeons for example -for some reason I’ve many of them over the years. They do pick it up fast (and I usually figure out they’re excelling at all kinds of other things). But there again, I’d probably say that people born with neurons that fire a little faster or whatever, but also really know now to focus and process information… So there is that.

Anyway, I don’t want to argue the point with you. I am okay with being wrong too. The bottom line is I am very happy your son is playing music, and progressing nicely, and that he loves it. You’re clearly doing a great job.

He's VERY intelligent and grasps musical and random tasks quicker that most people can.

He can be shown some type of task totally unrelated to music and will be able to handle complex the task at a beyond normal level in a VERY short time.

With music it's even way faster that other random tasks.

For reference, he picked up piano on his own and had been playing for about a year.

He ended up enrolling in a piano class in college.

The professor thought he's been playing already for 5-8 yrs.

He still didn't put in a lot of time, as everything just seemed to simple for him to hear and learn hard piano passages.

I know you're skeptical,but it is what it is.

[HAPPYDAN]

Here's a big "gear shift". Chuck Yeager said there are no natural born pilots, just men and women that love what they do so much, they will endure any hardship to be the best at their game. Maybe the same applies to guitar players.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by HAPPYDAN

Here's a big "gear shift". Chuck Yeager said there are no natural born pilots, just men and women that love what they do so much, they will endure any hardship to be the best at their game. Maybe the same applies to guitar players.

I really think love of the art has a huge impact on what kind of time and effort we players are willing to put into learning the guitar.

Still, very few pilots were as successful as Chuck Yeager. Certainly he worked hard over his career But also, he was born with terrific eye sight, which helped him greatly when it came to combat and seeing the enemy a long way off.

Part of "talent" is the willingness to put in the time and focus one's efforts. I really think that good musicians have to be more than a little obsessed with learning to play well.

I think there are musicians with natural talent, but none of them become particularly good musicians until they work very hard at it over time.

- Glenn

[Nailpicker]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

I really think love of the art has a huge impact on what kind of time and effort we players are willing to put into learning the guitar.

Still, very few pilots were as successful as Chuck Yeager. Certainly he worked hard over his career But also, he was born with terrific eye sight, which helped him greatly when it came to combat and seeing the enemy a long way off.

Part of "talent" is the willingness to put in the time and focus one's efforts. I really think that good musicians have to be more than a little obsessed with learning to play well.

I think there are musicians with natural talent, but none of them become particularly good musicians until they work very hard at it over time.

- Glenn

I certainly could not have said it more concisely, nor better. To me this is it.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Nailpicker

I certainly could not have said it more concisely, nor better. To me this is it.

Well, thank you Nailpicker!

Great to see that you are still out there!

- Glenn

[tbeltrans]

The sad fact is that in reality, none of us really plays guitar at all. It is an illusion we create for ourselves. As the Buddhists would say, we create our own reality. Unfortunately, some of us have much better imaginations than others, so we consider those folks "gifted". It is all nothing more than a great, big, cosmic conspiracy, and one day we will wake up and realize none of this ever happened.

Geez, did I really say all that?

Tony

[Denny B]

A stage mother cornered the concert violinist in his dressing room and insisted he listen to a tape of her talented son playing the violin.

The man agreed to listen, and the woman switched on the tape player.

"What music!" the violinist thought. A difficult piece, but played with such genius that it brought tears to his eyes. He listened spellbound to the entire recording.

"Madam," he whispered, "is that your son?"

"No," she replied. "That's Jascha Heifetz. But my son sounds just like him."

[wdean]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

The sad fact is that in reality, none of us really plays guitar at all. It is an illusion we create for ourselves. As the Buddhists would say, we create our own reality. Unfortunately, some of us have much better imaginations than others, so we consider those folks "gifted". It is all nothing more than a great, big, cosmic conspiracy, and one day we will wake up and realize none of this ever happened.

Geez, did I really say all that?

Tony

Yes...and this is just another piece of Fake News! lol.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by wdean

Yes...and this is just another piece of Fake News! lol.

Are you REALLY certain? Better check with Rod Serling, we could be in the Twilight Zone.

Tony

[guitar george]

Originally Posted by Denny B

A stage mother cornered the concert violinist in his dressing room and insisted he listen to a tape of her talented son playing the violin.

The man agreed to listen, and the woman switched on the tape player.

"What music!" the violinist thought. A difficult piece, but played with such genius that it brought tears to his eyes. He listened spellbound to the entire recording.

"Madam," he whispered, "is that your son?"

"No," she replied. "That's Jascha Heifetz. But my son sounds just like him."

And I sound pretty much like Chet Atkins!

I wasn't a natural, so, I just need a little more practice.

[wdean]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

Are you REALLY certain? Better check with Rod Serling, we could be in the Twilight Zone.

Tony

OK....beam me up Scotty!

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by wdean

OK....beam me up Scotty!

Dang it, Spock, I'm a guitar player, not an engineer!

Tony

[morfi]

Have not seen if its mentioned before but an interesting book worth reading regarding this matter is "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle

[wdean]

Originally Posted by morfi

Have not seen if its mentioned before but an interesting book worth reading regarding this matter is "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle

I haven't read Coyle's book. I have heard Coyle's theory is that "practice" is the real key to being "great" not innate talent. I have read Gladwell's "Outliers" and his theories of both talent and hard work (10,000 hour "rule") is what success is made of which seems intuitively right from what I have observed.

But I am going to read Coyle's book and if he has some "secret sauce" that will move me from an OK player to a very good player in my life time, I'm all ears!! But only one problem, I'm no spring chicken!! I will report back if I get some "astounding" rseults!!