HOLY CRAP!

[Incidents Happen]

What a Scam! got ya lookin! now read the rest

what do you think the probability of a guitarist to become a really great guitarist, like at Jerry Garcia's level ( almost at least) if the guitarist plays for 7 hours a night, every night, from the age of 14 until whatever?

i mean truthfully music is my passion and playing to people and having them smile, bring joy to them, is the most important thing in the world.

Im working on it, working on it , working on it...getting better, everything is cool.

and i realize that its very time consuming but i can do it, because i never have homework in school ( dont ask, im the only one in school with no homework ever)

[pstring]

As technically skilled as JG, chances are good, as famous as JG, chances are not good, but somewhat less than 6 billion to one

[chris mood]

I'm convinced anybody can become good at the guitar if they put in the time and effort, your on the right track.

[Incidents Happen]

alright- sounds cool

[Led Zeppelin]

Talent helps

[Incidents Happen]

yeah, it does

[chris mood]

how do you define talent?
Is it something your born with or can you achieve it?

[msula]

I think you can achieve tallent over time, but if you are born with a "talent" it makes the process a lot easier. For instance, I was figuring out songs I heard in church on a fisher price piano when I was about 7, playing things like joy to the world, etc etc.. So that obviously set off a red flag to my parents, who made sure I signed up for band in 5th grade. Played trumpet, I was always first chair, I hardly had to practice, it just seemed easy. Then I started playing harmonica for fun.. that too, could play w/o much effort.

So, as I get older I wanted to play guitar.. no problem, started that, and within a month I could pick apart songs and slowly figure the notes out. The only thing that took time was learning good technique, learning where to place my fingers and training them to do it quickly.

So yeah, if you are born with somewhat of a musical talent, that's great and it will speed up the learning process with any instrument. But say someone who has never touched any instrument before, can't read music, and doesn't even listen to music that much.. chances are it will take them a lot longer to progress the same because they need to learn the other stuff.

I guess you can't really say you are "born with talent" because to some degree you really only develop the necessary brain activities to trigger a talent at a very young age. So I think it has more to do with what you were doing when you were really young and what exposure you had.

[jack7]

Originally posted by chris mood
how do you define talent?
Is it something your born with or can you achieve it? My talent is my heart an soul!
:cool:

[Branislav]

I think there are no such things like talent. Not just with guitar...
It's all related with IQ and how fast you get some things, and how fast you learn.
Maybe there's some sence for music, but I don't know...

[Led Zeppelin]

It may eb alot of things but its not IQ I can tell you that for sure. Havin a high IQ just makes you think your better than everyone else.

There mightnt be a natural talent for guitar but for music definitely. If you have a talent for music and can pick notes out easily, it makes playing alot easier. Thats why pros always say the best way to be a great guitarist is to learn to read music and to learn how to tune. Technical ability is nothing if your musically dunce.

[canuck01]

I.H.

I believe someone in the forums once said that it isn't quantity but quality of practice. That should be the goal. Make the most out of your practice time.

[Incidents Happen]

ya-

i'd say that noodling around scales, DEVELOPING improvisational material and getting great on the scale is not wasting time.

now, i think that IQ has a little to do with it, but its more of your MUSICAL DRIVE. what pushes you to play as long as you can? you can be smart as hell, but if you arent playing, your not getting better. simple as that.

[chris mood]

Charlie Parker was atrue musical genius, he had the IQ aquivelent to a 5th grader! From what I understand there is a specific part of the brain that deciphers music, and some peoples are more developed then others.
As far as natural ability, I once read an article by a music critic who said he would rather listen to someone who put a lot of hard work and research into his playing then some prodidgy, according to the author the musician who worked hard all his life played with much more enthusiasm, passion, and integrity then the natural born player who never had to work hard or practice.
so.........what is talent?

[Bardsley]

So do you have a problem with Charlie Parker's I.Q? For me, I don't really care about what Bird's I.Q. might have been, but rather the fact that he made music no one else had before. Do we care about his I.Q. when he played in a way that made many people change the way they thought about jazz? After a criticism of his playing, Bird spent twenty-four hours in the woodshed correcting his apparent mistakes. I am rarely prepared to make that sacrifice. My I.Q. is certainly above that of a typical year five student, however, if I could make the same impact on Jazz as Bird, I would surrender my brain. My mind may not be what is required for a Jazz great, but to argue about I.Q is to sugges that I have more of a sense of music than Bird. Much as I would like to be told so, I find such a suggestion almost offensie to my concept of music.

[mamamalabass]

they say that it is not practice that makes someone good it is PERFECT practice.Nayural talent does help though

[spliphiticus]

My opinion. My father was a semi successfull musician and worked with the Allman Brothers for near 30 years before he died. So I always took what he told me to heart, especially about the music business. He told me once that talent can only carry you so far that most of the very intense guitar players he knew where not born with it. They worked harder than the average talented musician because they wanted it more. He said those born with a knack for music seldom developed it fully because they thought it would come to them. But on the other hand talented musicians that worked it hard became monsters. As far as fame goes I have seen many a musician that I thought should be famous and are not. I belive it is part right place right time, Marketable material (very marketable) and severe tenacity and dedication to the point of starving sometimes and it still may not come. It fully depends on the person and the mastery of his craft whether simple or complicated.

[Incidents Happen]

its also a little bit about ego. and character. if nobody wants to play with ya, then your ****ed before you can get started.

[templd50]

You need to PLAY great. Have other great players in your band. And be able to live POOR while waiting for your "big break"

[Axl_Rose]

Wot a cool post.
I come from Scotland, a place called kirkcaldy, a town of a 40,000 population. So what are the chance of I becoming famous? Not a lot.
But its prolly 10% talent and the rest image and personality. Think about it, take slash my hero, theres thousands of better players than him, my dads pal is just as awesome, but Slash has a unique image, a distinct look and thats one of the main reasons hes so famous. so when me and my pals sit in the pub talking bout one day being in an awesome big band , its the stuff we get up to, the things we learn, the crazy nights out that shape us as people who are more likely to become famous!!!
LYRICS!!!! are so underestimated!! Guns n Roses and Aerosmith are the best in that department, all the songs have cheeky lyrics and talk of crazy goings on!!! "pretty tied up" or "you could be mine" or "fever".
It seems to me that being a good player is obviously important but you've gotta have lived an interesting life!!
I dont think you guys out there really know just how awesome guns n roses were/are!!!
Anyway, duno i the post has any relevance to what you were talking about!! sorry

Torby

[Incidents Happen]

yeah, it is a pretty cool post i made eh?

well im better now than i was a month ago (by probably 25 percent better(!!!)) i went through a huge breakthrough on the guitar, and now, i think i can play a whole lot better.
im going to start jamming with a friend...im a bit better than he is, but he still has a cool style. its like beatles, very interesting style. i have a free-form inprovisational style, so that should be a wierd combo.

i came to that conclusion too, that you have to lead an interesting life because your emotions in your life are brought out in your guitar playing.

[chris mood]

Bardsley - I think you missinterpretted my post, Charlie Parker is a big influence to me and I only mentioned his IQ to prove a point, that a high IQ doesn't necessarily mean above average musical intellect.

Spliphiticus - who was your father?

[spliphiticus]

Joe Dan Petty

[Bardsley]

Yeah, sorry about that. I'll admit, I was quite drunk when I wrote that, and then forgot that I actually had. I'm surprised I was so articulate though, despite missing the point completely!

[mamamalabass]

an interesting life definitly gives alot to what you have to say in music.Thank god someone cursed me with an interesting life.You knoe that is a very ancient chinese curse lol