A Word About Talent and Persistence

Eddie Adcock told me that there is no such thing as talent. There is only motivation, desire, and persistence. I believe him. He also says that you should not let ANYONE tell you that playing music is difficult. Music making is one of the most natural things that a human can do. Our bodies and souls resonate with the frequencies of the music of the spheres, and to vocalize, digitize, and/or otherwise enable those frequencies in a medium that other humans can perceive should be second nature to any member of the human community. Maybe I should say "Creatures", since all the neighborhood birds come around when I pick on the porch.

At any rate, don't ever sell yourself short by saying that you are tone deaf, or have no talent, or no hope of improvement. This is true of physical limitations as well-(case in point-Barry Abernathy plays the banjo like a maniac without the usual number of digits)-It is simply NOT TRUE. Great players like Jerry D or Rob I did not start out being able to play the way they did. They got to be among the best players in the world because they want to be the best players in the world more than anyone else in the world wants to be the best player in the world. READ THAT AGAIN. That means that they worked at it every day, they thought about it, they dreamed about it, and eventually, with drive and persistence like that, they got GOOD. REALLY GOOD. And you can do it too.

15 years ago there were very few dobro players in the world. You could take a dobro to a festival, and most people wouldn't even know what it was. 20 years ago you could not find an instruction book or album that had dobro on it. 25 years ago you could not find a dobro without moving heaven and earth. Today, it is probably the most popular instrument in bluegrass, next to the mandolin.

What this means for you as a new player is that you have a tremendous amount of material to draw from, great players to listen to, and you can literally "stand on the shoulders of giants" and techniques that took them years to develop--you can learn in a much shorter amount of time. You have the benefit of people to show you the way.

With this information in mind, one can foresee that the future of the dobro is very bright indeed. Now the trick for us is to focus our motivation, fuel our desire, and make our practice our routine,  and remember-you can be "the Best" by wanting to be the best more than anyone else wants to be the best. Yep, you've got some catching up to do, but now you know that it isn't talent or gift, its practice, practice, practice.

just my .02 worth. Your mileage may vary.

-Tab