Raw Talent Vs. Hard Work
by Christopher Sung
Over the past few months, I've had the privilege of
corresponding with a surprising number of older guitarists
who have recently re-discovered the instrument, or are
picking it up for the first time. This,
in conjunction with a few different FretBuzz threads
concerning the rate of one's growth as a player and
musician, has prompted me to address the issue of how much
one's raw talent contributes to reaching
one's goals, as either a replacement or supplement to
diligent practicing and hard work.
Certainly, having a natural ability to learn some of the
more common concepts of the guitar and music,
such as chords, scales, rhythm playing, soloing, etc. will
place you higher up on the learning curve
than if these things were not intuitive. This concept can
perhaps be applied to a lot of different
topics such as science, athletics, art, etc. People tend to
naturally gravitate towards things that
initially come easy to them, and parents often try to
nurture these "talents" in their children with
lessons, resources, and supplies.
However, this is only the start. To gain any type of
mastery of a specific genre, one must spend
some portion of time learning, practicing, and honing their
craft. As it relates to music, there
are those lucky few who could qualify as "musical geniuses",
but as Pat Metheny aptly puts it, "you
can be almost 100% certain that this person is neither you
nor I..."
With respect to music and when one discovers it, I have seen
too many counter-examples to think that the age
at which you start to play guitar means anything. If you
love the blues, perhaps you have heard of Ronnie Earl, a
Boston-based
blues guitarist known for his work with Roomful of Blues.
Ronnie didn't start playing guitar until he was 23 years
old
(spurred by a Muddy Waters concert), but once he began,
he went at it full-tilt as the hardest-working blues artist
in Boston. This doesn't just apply to
those who have professional ambitions. One specific
WholeNote member, from whom you may have taken a few
on-line blues lessons, also started to play in his early
20's. It did not come naturally to him, but his love
for the instrument and music, and a bit of practice, have
turned him into a fine player. The guitar isn't his
livelihood: it's
simply his main creative outlet.
When you look at the most respected players in any musical
genre, they have attained this status because they have
worked hard
to achieve their various successes. Eddie Van Halen often
relates stories of how his brother Alex would
go out on a date at 7pm while Eddie was practicing in his
room, and when Alex returned late at night, Eddie
had not moved from his spot, still practicing and working
hard. You can apply these same principles
by working with a fellow player, a teacher, a website, an
instructional book, or whatever to help
address your weaknesses and to help you achieve your
short-term and long-term goals.
Finally, I'll finish with a quote from someone with much
more personal experience with this concept than
yours truly. Charlie Banacos is one of the most respected
music teachers in the world. He has
taught many of the world's top jazz and rock musicians from
his perch in the Boston area. In the April, 1988
issue of Guitar Player, he wrote a letter to the editor
concerning some comments that a former student of his,
Jeff Berlin, had made about the importance of practice:
"[Jeff]'s right when he says correct practice is
the way to great playing; in my experience
teaching Jeff and others, it's the only factor
separating great players from others. And I'm
talking about thousands of students. I actually had
Jeff, Mike Stern, Leni Stern, Dean
Brown, Neil Stubenhaus, Wayne Krantz, Jay Azzolina, and
Bruce Bartlett on my schedule at the same time!
They worked hard for their artistry and deserve the
recognition they've received..."
So I guess the moral to the story is that if you're asking
yourself, "how far can I go?",
the answer is: "as far as you want to go, as long as you're
willing to work at it..."
