• From: tennessee
  • Registered: 2007-08-02
  • Posts: 176

Re: Reality or Mith?

BBDGus,
It's all myth. There are those that can play better. Some of us don't play as well because we don't get to practice as much, or maybe tone deaf, or physical limitations, or what have you.
Some people are born with a natural talent towards something while others of us have to work towards it. Good fishermen are good because they get more time to fish, good hunters are good because they get more time to fish. There is of course one more thing involved, Knowledge. The best fishermen, the best hunters, the best guitar players are the best because they not only practice, but they study. They study everything about what it is they are doing. Then they know their limitations and have learned to work around them. Last they all know that somedays, it doesn't matter if you've done everything write, sometimes you just won't get it right.

Don't give up, and don't ever let someone else stop you from playing.
I'll never be good enough to play to a sell out crowd, but it doesn't really matter.
I play for me. I play because I can. I'll never play back up. I'll never have my own band. I don't care. I do it for me. It's my time.

If you're not happy with what you have...
Then you'll never be happy with what you get...
  • From: Laredo, Texas
  • Registered: 2009-01-24
  • Posts: 38

Re: Reality or Mith?

I know this is an old thread, but since I am new to Chordie, I thought I would weigh in with this. I believe in both. There are prodigies in any musical art. On you tube I once saw an eight or nine year old play  Stairway to Heaven better than Jimmy Page. Now I could practice that song for eight hours a day, for eight years, and still not approximate the great talent of Jimmy Page. Is it reasonable to assume this child practiced for eight hours a day for eight years? Of course not. He has an inherent ability and affinity for guitar. On the other hand everyone from beginner to professional can, and will get better with practice.
     One should not get discouraged because  they are not a prodigy. As someone once said, practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Here at Chordie we all love the guitar. Some have greater abilities than others, but we are all united in the love of the guitar. Discouragement never one the day, so I say keep practicing for the love of the music and the guitar.

But, here's the secret about the guitar: It's defiant. It will never let you conquer it. The more that you get involved with it, the more you realize how little you know.
                 Les Paul  March 2007

skydivr103's Website

  • From: Alabama Gulf Coast
  • Registered: 2008-06-24
  • Posts: 1,819

Re: Reality or Mith?

You have it or you don't? Great question. You can't answer that about yourself. Teachers, fans and loved ones have to tell you.
All a player can perceive is the burning in the gut to make meaningful music. If your devotion is true, you will spend the time to become competent.
There as many ways to make music as there are musicians. A simple taste and style of playing should not draw condemnation from hot lick artists and aficianados. Tiny Tim was a weird geek who became nationally known. We all have something to offer.
Music is a language we are lucky to speak. We miss it if we don't.

We pronounce it "Guf Coast".
Ya'll wanna go down to the Guf?

tubatooter1940's Website

  • From: Western Oregon,US
  • Registered: 2008-07-22
  • Posts: 2,498

Re: Reality or Mith?

Hi Skydivr103, and welcome aboard!

  This is an older thread, but with some very interesting posts worthy of revisiting now and again if for no other reason than to bring oneself back to "earth" so to speak.  The talent/practice aspect is worthy of discussion....  to my mind the talent part makes the practice part easier and more understood.  But in the end it is the practice part that differentiates between exceptional, mediocre, and so-so.

  Been practicing for more than half my life and still mired in mediocrity.....
still having fun with it though!


Take Care;
Doug

"what is this quintessence of dust?"  - Shakespeare
  • From: Laredo, Texas
  • Registered: 2009-01-24
  • Posts: 38

Re: Reality or Mith?

Thanks for the welcome Doug. You hit on the point exactly. So long as you love what you are doing, everything else is an abstraction. I don't mean to stray too far off point here, but how many types of music would not exist, if it did not conform to a standard idea of what is acceptable? I say play to your hearts content, practice full of enjoyment, and enjoy life!

But, here's the secret about the guitar: It's defiant. It will never let you conquer it. The more that you get involved with it, the more you realize how little you know.
                 Les Paul  March 2007

skydivr103's Website

  • From: New Hampshire
  • Registered: 2007-02-17
  • Posts: 845

Re: Reality or Mith?

So many good replies and so much I agree with.   I also play for me and for fun, playing guitar is a good intellectual and psychological/emotional lift for me.  I only wish I had started long before I did.  But, better late than never!

"I don't have pet peeves...I have whole kennels of irritation."  --Whoopi Goldberg

ozymandias's Website