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The guitar is such an emotional instrument that I think it attracts people of a highly sensitive nature. Because of this, I think we can fall prey to a few psychological conditions that make our progress as musicians much more difficult than it needs to be. One of these conditions is the chronic mood of doubt, which manifests itself as the question of "Do I have any natural talent for this? Can I learn to play guitar or am I kidding myself here?”

Over my forty years of teaching guitar I have learned a few things about this subject of "Natural Talent", and I think they would be useful things to share with the aspiring guitar players out there.

You Too Can Be A Superhero!

My first insight was when I observed how I reacted to my first experience in taking guitar lessons. I was practicing five or six hours a day. As a result of this, as well as having a degree of "natural talent", I got pretty good pretty fast. My guitar teacher was amazed, and would show me off to everybody as his "star pupil". He would always say, "Tell them how much you practice, Jamie". Now the funny thing is, I would lie about it, and tell them "Oh, maybe two hours a day". I didn't want anyone to know how much I was working at it. I'd rather them think I was some kind of genius who was divinely inspired!

Now, I forgive myself for this character flaw because I understand why I felt this way. This was the first time in my life I ever stood out at anything. People paid so much attention to me and it made me feel special. It was a good gig, and I didn't want to blow it. Besides, my fondest desire as a child was to be a Superhero like in the comic books, and this was the closest I had come so far to fulfilling that career choice!

Learning What Being Special Really Means

When I started teaching, I got the opportunity to see large numbers of people attempting to learn to play the guitar, and I started to investigate this idea of natural talent. Was there such a thing? What were the reasons some people got really good, and others did not?

I noticed an interesting thing. A very good percentage of the students I was teaching seemed to have at least as much talent as I did. But very few had the burning desire that I had and few were practicing the number of hours I did. I noticed that there’s a whole lot of natural talent going around, but that there is not a whole lot of love, dedication, and hard work.

I started to see how immature and downright incorrect my old way of thinking was when I was trying to be a Superhero. I began to realize how beautiful a thing it was that someone would love and need to play the guitar and would give so much of themselves to it. I am always moved when I see so many of my guitar students, some school teachers, landscapers, office workers, mothers and fathers, who make such a commitment to keep up their efforts to learn the guitar in the midst of an otherwise very full and demanding life. Maybe they only get to practice twenty minutes a day, but it’s important to them, so they make the necessary sacrifices. I saw that love, dedication, and hard work were the really "special" things.

Okay, So What Is "Natural Talent"?

Natural Talent is a pre-disposition in the mind and the body to do the right thing. When a person who has natural talent for singing hears someone sing, their body and mind "know" what that person is doing to get that sound. And their body/mind knows how to do it too, or how to begin moving in that direction. (They don't have to know this consciously; they just “know”). Some students come in for guitar lessons, and they tend to do everything right, from sitting comfortably with the instrument to positioning and using the fingers. Others do everything wrong, and must be shown every detail on what to do.

Understand that most students fall somewhere in between the two extremes, of total clueless-ness and being a genius. They have some talent, but, if they don’t have the strong desire and work really hard, it will get them nowhere.


Summing Up

With the right approach, anyone can learn anything. In fact, the more you really try, the more "Natural Talent" you will discover in yourself. It is like having a little voice in your head guiding you in the right direction if you will listen. You will find the more you listen, the louder that voice gets, and you will hear it more often.

Having "talent" is not the primary factor in whether or not you will become a good or great player. Your burning desire and desperate need to play, coupled with the correct understanding and approach are the most important things you must have.

There are lots of people with talent, but not a lot who allow their desire to grow and become powerful. If you can allow yourself to feel this need and desire, and use the power of that to overcome all the obstacles you might encounter along the way, you will find all the talent you need to be the guitar player you are meant to be.