Do people in certain professions find playing the guitar easier than others?

[TJE"]

My take on acoustic guitar is that it involves a combination of manual dexterity, the ability to think about more than one thing simultaneously, and the capacity cope with time pressure.

I would have thought that certain types of training might be more pre-disposed to being 'good' at the guitar like for instance pilots or professional drivers, mechanics, certain types of builders, dentists, surgeons etc.

Or is this an unfounded prejudice?

As someone whose never really worked in a challenging manual trade, I find the guitar quite difficult - but for me this makes it educational.

[Silurian]

Personally, I don't believe this to be the case.

I am predominantly left handed. I write with my left hand and use it for anything that requires dexterity and precision.

When I started playing I made the erroneous assumption that this would give me an "edge" for performing quick, fluid and precise chord changes. This is not the case. In fact chord changes are one of my weaker skills.


I am primarily a finger picker partly because my right hand appears to have a level of dexterity, precision and speed that surpasses many naturally right handed players, who may struggle in this area.

This has led me to the conclusion that fine motor skills in one area do not necessarily transfer to guitar.

[Wade Hampton]

Interesting thought. I used to be heavily involved in the home brewing of beer, to the point where I was competing and winning beer contests - I’m a former Alaska State Home Brewing Champion. And when you’re around other home brewers, like at the meetings of the Great Northern Brewers Club in Anchorage, there is definitely a large percentage of those guys who are engineers, high level computer dudes and other number crunchers who are comfortable with enormous amounts of data who get involved in brewing.

Because making your own beer so that it’s not only drinkable but palatable definitely requires extreme attention to detail.

I was a rarity in the brewers’ club because that’s not my background AT ALL.

But I haven’t really seen a similar pattern in guitar owners, with no one way of life or brain organization pattern predominant.

Now, singer-songwriters often tend to come from liberal arts backgrounds, as I do myself. I’m also a singer-songwriter, but of all the various types of musicians out there, singer-songwriters are probably my least favorite type of musician to hang out with!

But other than that, I don’t see any particular set of tendencies that are common to most guitarists.

There is one tendency that is very obvious with most of the folks in this forum, and that is that we’re deeply interested in almost molecular level discussions about acoustic guitars. But in that regard we’re not even remotely like most people who own and play the instrument. We are really among the tiniest of minorities.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Ozzy the dog]

I tend to find people who are good at Math(s) and Art are good at music related pastimes. I suppose this could be reflected in their occupations because these skills are more likely to steer their choice of work and therefore might make it appear their jobs suggest an apparent link between job and Guitar.

I have been a Miner, Driving Instructor, Ambulanceman and Computer software developer - read into that what you will.

[TJE"]

Originally Posted by Ozzy the dog

I have been a Miner, Driving Instructor, Ambulanceman and Computer software developer - read into that what you will.

I guess at least two of those jobs involve the frequent need to get it exactly right within a fixed space of time.

Personally although I have had jobs that involve pressure, fixed timing has never been a necessity(other than when I worked in Mcd's as a somewhat unmotivated teenager).

It's the timing which still challenges me.

[srick]

I don’t believe that playing is all about the dexterity. I think that it has more to do with the ability to mimic progressions and sounds. As such, there’s a feedback loop that develops from your ears to your muscles in the hands. As a dentist, a lot of my hand’s manipulations for work are precise and powerful. But the feedback loop (for error correction) mostly comes from my eyes to my hands.

The connection with mathematic ability is very common. (Side note: Math ability also is implicated as an asset in coding\programming - many in the computer field are also musicians.) IMO, what musicians and mathematicians have in common is the ability to remember riffs and string them into a larger program. And both of the aforementioned feedback loops come with innate desire to get it ‘just right’.

But of course, there’s more. I’m merely talking about the mechanics of things here. The next level of music is channeling emotion into your playing and as such, influencing others to feel what you are feeling. This is what takes a skill and turns it into an art.

The question of what makes a good musician and how to make one, is one of those unanswerables, as so much of the result is due to one’s desire and perseverance.

[Bob Womack]

There are different skills involved based upon the type of guitarist you are. I worked in a band that had three guitarists, each with different skills. One had marvelous music theory chops and switched between guitars and keys. He was also one of the vocalists so he ended up being the one who arranged the four part harmonies of the group. One was a very steady rhythm guitarist. I was the third one. I was creative. I wrote harmony leads for songs, developed fills, and improvised solos. In another band I worked with a bassist who seemed able to pick up any string instrument and play it to a high standard in a matter of months. The next thing I knew he was building and playing hammered dulcimers. He ended up a renowned boutique banjo luthier who supports his brand by doing IT for Verizon.

If we broaden the discussion to include electric guitar, there are certain types of minds that seem predisposed to handle certain versions of instruments well. Technical people tend to be able to handle the signal chain aspects of electric guitar well, for instance. I began playing guitar and mixing audio fifty years ago. The two interest areas always co-existed in me. Ten years after I started I studied music composition, electronic music (synthesizers), and recording studio techniques in grad school. I've worked as a recording engineer/producer and sessions guitars ever since. As a result, the world of modeling technology is natural and organic to me in a way that it wouldn't be for a non-technical person.

Other people are natural live performers and have the ability to communicate with the audience. And other people still are natural teachers who can catalog and pass on the skills necessary to play the instrument.

The skill sets involved are many and varied and different skills occur in different people.

Bob

[Tadmcd]

interesting...

i'm a volunteer EMT and work under significant pressure all the time. patient care requires a lot more than "doing" something...it's also understanding the physiological components of the human body (and mind) and how the various systems "work" (independently and/or in concert) which leads me to "do" something (re-actively or proactively).

i feel no such pressure while playing guitar, but, like playing the guitar, i learn something new from every patient encounter that i can apply later.

granted, i'm a newbie, but the physical act of "playing" seems very different than "understanding" what i'm doing and why. over time (less than a year, but getting there), i've been introduced to music theory (and use it when i write a song), but i don't truly understand music and/or the guitar (yet). frankly, most of the stuff i read on this forum goes right over my head.

i totally sucked at math(s). but, my early years were spent as a programmer. and, to be honest, i was really good at it. upon reflection, i think i was good at it because i had analytical skills which allowed me to identify and solve problems; the act of programming ("playing") was just using various languages to implement the solution. but, again, i "understood" what i was doing and why; the programming (writing) was just the "doing" part.

aside: a dear friend is a neuroscientist and he can pick up a guitar and play almost anything. he knows what note/chord does (or should) come next and how it all "works." that said, his playing has no soul (see: Guitar George). there's no emotion (him) or visceral response (audience); he's just playing the notes/chords. my songs/playing almost always elicit a response, usually crying and/or folks running from the room screaming, "MAKE IT STOP!"

so, i've got that going for me...

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by TJE"

My take on acoustic guitar is that it involves a combination of manual dexterity, the ability to think about more than one thing simultaneously, and the capacity cope with time pressure.

I would have thought that certain types of training might be more pre-disposed to being 'good' at the guitar like for instance pilots or professional drivers, mechanics, certain types of builders, dentists, surgeons etc.

Or is this an unfounded prejudice?

As someone whose never really worked in a challenging manual trade, I find the guitar quite difficult - but for me this makes it educational.

Humm interesting question, never really thought about it .....

I'm guessing as far as just the physical "Craft" of playing it is more about muscle motor control level and that the more natural dexterity and agility one has, the easer it would be to play. But its still a matter of converting intentional muscle movement into muscle memory (which takes copious repetition) and a matter of mental focus
As to how that relates to occupation I don't know ? perhaps it may be that people with more predisposition for dexterity and focus lean towards certain professions ???

In my life I spent the most amount of time as a framing and trim carpenter. But have also periodically been involved in sales (at which I was so so) and also horse training (at which honestly I was pretty good ) But have no Idea how that relates to my adequate if modest playing ability

[Earl49]

I would say that certain personality types might draw one to music, and also to certain occupations. As an engineer and amateur musician myself, I see a lot of parallels between music and math. Time, pitch, chord construction, chord progressions, harmony - these are all applied math in a very practical sense. But you don't need math skills to enjoy and make music. There is more to it than that, and uses a whole different part of our brain.

Let me relate a guitar teaching story. I once had a newbie student who was a master plumber and toward the end of his career. He had real trouble with finger independence and control, such that basic open chord shapes were rather difficult. Add to that decades of physical labor that had taken some toll on his hands. It finally dawned on me that everything about his work - grasping tools, holding pipe, or whatever - had his whole hand closing at once as a unit. His wife did all the business books, because he had trouble with things like typing or emails. So nothing about his lifetime of work had demanded independent finger motion. We had to approach guitar differently with dexterity exercises to build some finger control from scratch. He was a very good pilot and I flew with him many times on wheels and floats.

[1neeto]

I’m a mechanic and if anything, my profession hinders my guitar playing because my hands are constantly being beat up on a daily basis. I also do think that guitar playing has helped with my left hand dexterity. You do train and develop some unusual forearm muscles when you play guitar.

[Jim Owen]

Originally Posted by 1neeto

I’m a mechanic and if anything, my profession hinders my guitar playing because my hands are constantly being beat up on a daily basis. I also do think that guitar playing has helped with my left hand dexterity. You do train and develop some unusual forearm muscles when you play guitar.

If you beat your hands, wrists, elbows, and shoulders up daily, practice is hard. I’ve been a manual laborer, moving heavy stuff all day long. Getting in good practice was hard. (Yes, I’m well aware that John Hurt pushed a plow and mule for decades—I truly admire him.)

I am a good typist—which eventually landed me a desk job. Typing helps dexterity. So maybe that gave me an edge?

I won’t run a chain saw or do major labor on days I’m gigging. Now, there ain’t any gigs.

[Acousticado]

Originally Posted by 1neeto

I’m a mechanic and if anything, my profession hinders my guitar playing because my hands are constantly being beat up on a daily basis. I also do think that guitar playing has helped with my left hand dexterity. You do train and develop some unusual forearm muscles when you play guitar.

Yep, that’s how the Pops did it!

[Denny B]

I've met some really talented players in my life, and have never noticed that they leaned towards any certain walk of life...

Some of them were and are successful, professional musicians...the rest are all across the board in professions, interests and life skills...

[Wengr]

Well I have changed professions many times in this life, and always still found playing to remain quite difficult. So I'm going to say the answer is no.