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Location: south east Michigan | It's not all one way or another but I do beleive that some people are just wired different in the womb and are accuratly described as "gifted". |
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Location: Orlando, FL | Some are born gifted, some have to work to become gifted... |
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Location: south east Michigan | Well said! |
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Location: SoCal | I've seen people who can pick up a guitar, having never played before, and within a week, be playing rings around me. There is some amazing talent out there.
But in hearing some people talk about how they learned, specifically, I remember reading and hearing from Roy Clark and Jerry Reed. Clark said that he used to practice 'til his fingers were bleeding, then soak them in ice water and go back to practicing. Reed said that he'd practice until he fell over asleep, then wake up, have some coffee and start all over again.
Maybe most of those who appear to be the most talented are mostly supremely talented in desire..... |
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Location: Midland, MI | Originally posted by Slipkid:
It's not all one way or another but I do beleive that some people are just wired different in the womb and are accuratly described as "gifted". You may be on to something. A lot of people say I have a gift for p1ssing off those around me.
Maybe in this case I should be hiding my light under a basket, eh?
;) |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | There seems to be a fair amount of evidence that children frequently exposed to music form more neural pathways in the brain. Much like a very detailed road map where you can find a great manys ways from point A to point B...as opposed to a less detailed road map that might just show the interstate highways.
Children exposed to music through playing and frequent listening develop an apptitude for music (much like children exposed to multiple languages)in essence they develop a musical brain.
Since as children our brains are in a period of rapid development neural paths are easily formed when stimulated. As we age the process slows dramatically though it doesn't stop. The difficultly in learning music (like a new language)later in life is because we have not developed those neural paths and because our brains are not in a "growth" state it is slower to develop those new pathways. It's analagous to using your non-dominant hand for things you've always relied on your dominant hand to do.
Music therapy in patients with brain damage demonstrates some remarkable results in helping patients recover function by creating new pathways that "detour" around the damaged areas.
That's my excuse... |
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Location: North Texas | I must admit to some skepticism towards these multi instrument natural talents. There is sometimes more to the story. Like maybe they've only been playing for a week, but come to find out, they played piano, or clarinet, or whatever when they were seven....
I believe that most of the great instrumentalists have been exposed to music at a very young age. From what I've read, there are developmental, and physiological changes in the brains of people who have studied music before the age of 11 or 12 years. Fluency in language follows the same guidelines. In a sense, the brain shuts down at about twelve years of age. Any normal child can easily learn, and be perfectly fluent in multiple languages, if immersed in them before the mental shutdown of pre-puberty. Musical abilty might be similarly enhanced. Once a brain has been "wired" for music, it is not much of a stretch to learn multiple instruments. Natural talent is a nessessary ingredient, of course, but, environment has to be given some consideration. Also, persons with an obsessive, compulsive personality profile tend to, in some cases, be very talented. The Roy Clark type, who will play endlessly, with bloody fingers, is likely to become exceptional in any endeavor. For some of us dull, normal types the road to proficiency is more difficult, if not impossible. As far as guitar playing goes, for most of us, being pretty good is a realistic goal, and it might be pushing the upper limits of our abilities. So, don't quit, for heavens sake, keep playing. You will improve, to some degree, without a doubt, even though it may not be blatantly obvious. Like the old George Strait song says: "I'm in too deep to pull out now". Cheers, Buckaroo |
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Location: North Texas | Wow Jeff, we have almost the same post. The real question is; who has presented the most psycho-babble? I guess it's a push. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | great minds an' all... |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | You just hit an old raw nerve, Brian. I agree with you on the voice, because a lot if it is based on physical attributes. I have been lucky enough to have been called gifted or talented on a couple of fronts. After working my ass off, I was told I was lucky to have been born with brains. I was even told many times that I should share my guitar talents with more people. On that score I knew I had no talent. I gained what little talent I had by driving my college roomates nuts by practicing the same thing over and over.
One of my partners is married to a piano virtuoso. Even though he is incredible, he practices 8 hours a day. Some gift. |
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Location: North Texas | That dogged determination is a major facet of the gift. Virtuosos are not regular folk, they are truely extraordinary. Reading that thread a few days ago about the Martin guitar dude, who was a creep, made me think that he may be so gifted. I'd never heard him, or heard of him, but my impression is that he may be one of those 8 hour a day practicers, at the expense of his social skills. That tradeoff is one I have no desire to make. Perfectionism is fine for some people, but not for happy nincompoops, like some of us, perhaps. When I started playing guitar people would more their chairs away, but now they move them closer in. That has to be a sign of improvement, or a hearing disorder.
That reminds me. What ever happened to Dr.Demento? His young sidekick, Wierd Al, is still around. |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | Buckaroo
Mark in Boise
I had the good fortune and maybe the bad fortune to have grown up with a younger brother who was close enough in age so that we were as close as twins. He had the "natural talent" to play anything he pickd up, he played accordian when we were teens in Ohio so we could play polkas and waltzes for the dances attended by the Polish and Ukrainian refugee farmers in our rural neighborhood. He could do Chet Atkins on the guitar quite well, and became a championship fiddler, playing in Cleveland on a TV country show with the likes of Dottie West and other well known country stars in the 60's and early 70's.
Was it easy for him? No, he practiced,practiced, practiced. Was it easy on those around him? No, you had to be as dedicated as he was to play with him. Did he get rich with his talent and association with other very successful musicians (I have a studio tape of him and Jesse McReynolds backed by some top Bluegrass musicians made in Nashville)? No, it was all instrumentals and they sell like cold soggy hotcakes.
He died a few years ago from cancer, and I talked to him a few days before he passed away. There was fear in his voice about the impending end, and he had lost all interest in music but was thinking about the future that he faced. I think he had some regret for not enjoying the talent he had by making some family members part of it.
The message, enjoy pickin' but don't sell your soul without knowing the consequences.
Pick but don't become a fanatic, the Lord will be waiting for that final cry "The Devil Made Me Do It"!!!! |
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Location: Isle of Man, UK | I think that you're all right!
Maybe it could be said that virtuosity is a blessing and a curse. After all, if you can play virtually anything that's put in front of you (blessing part), then people expect you to be able to play everything they put in front of you...
One other thing that caught my eye was:
Originally posted by Buckaroo:
at the expense of his social skills. which made me think: Maybe it's not that these dudes have lower social skills because they practice 8 hours a day, but that they practice 8 hours a day because they have lower social skills... You can't have everything, and in these extreme cases of talent, maybe the offset is being lost in the music. (promise I'm not picking on you, Buck, just wanted to use the quote).
Just a few random thoughts from a friday-morning, no-coffee, oh-heck-I've-got-a-gig-tonight, try-and-keep-mind-on-day-job mind...
JB |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | OK, you all have me convinced. I agree with all of us. Except cruster. I don't think he has a gift for pissing people off. I wish I didn't have such a gift for wasting time. |
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Location: Midland, MI | You'd probably revise that post if you worked with me. ;) |
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Location: North Texas | JB, Don't worry about picking on me, being married, I'm used to it. Good story Bailey. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Well, cruster, I've spent my life arguing with other lawyers. You may fail miserably in a pissing off contest with me and the people I work with. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Coincidently, I was just talking to a coworker who bought her son an Ovation. She said I should share my talent with others like her that weren't born with a gift of music. Fortunately for her, I had already vented here, so I didn't punch her out. She thinks her son inherited his musical gift from the other side of the family because she was really impressed with him when he first brought home the flutaphone. I've heard him play and he's pretty good, but not "gifted". And no amount of hard work will give him a singing talent. |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Bailey,
Sounds like you may be "ready". If that's the case I would enjoy sitting with you and spending some picking time on secondary concerns!
While the instrument exists for the Player, who does the Player exist for?
If I can ever get to Less Crucial, NM I will bring a 12 string... or two!
M in B,
The shingle should read:
"Attorney at Law"
"Guitar Lessons/Talent available, bring your own container."
($750 Retainer, $200/hour for both) |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I'm still up for hosting a Northwest OFC meeting in McCall, Idaho, but I think I better make it conditional on no talking about lawyers, (jokes or otherwise). |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | As in, "some of my best friends are".......? BTW, the Fall-run steelhead......aren't. |
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Location: East Tennessee | They have the speed, but not the musical know-how.
Some of us have neither, but boy do we have fun! :D |
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Location: Midland, MI | Originally posted by Mark in Boise:
I'm still up for hosting a Northwest OFC meeting in McCall, Idaho, but I think I better make it conditional on no talking about lawyers, (jokes or otherwise). Can't make a NWOFCG, but I don't have a problem with lawyers. In fact, I recently engaged in a nice exchange with one of your fellow LLBs out of San Francisco. I laid out the justification for a class action law suit, complete with cites and fulfillment of Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a)(1-4). We were going to move forward, but I no longer own the product in question. :rolleyes:
Nobody likes lawyers...until they need one. ;) |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by seesquare:
BTW, the Fall-run steelhead......aren't. Friend of mine, camping and fly fishing on the Clearwater for a month, said the fishing was slow too. I was going to go out, but I couldn't arrange the time before the "Alumium hatch".....
feeling a little better about missing it... |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I don't fish anymore, but you can all come up and complain about how bad the fishing is and I'll make up stories about how good it used to be. I was kidding about the no lawyer joke requirement. As I indicated, my skin is thick. But the next time somebody asks when I will get a real guitar, I might kill him.
The lake is walking distance, if you want to fish. Golf course is walking distance the other way if you want to do that. I just want to see a few more Ovations and get a few lessons. If you could talk my wife into getting anything on my wish list, I won't charge you rent. |
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That's it, I quit
