My Papaw was one of the best dobro players. They've been trying to get him into the bluegrass hall of fame. His band was one of only two non-union bands to EVER play the grand ole opry. His name was Berl Barnes. I can't fathom how many hours he had spent playing dobro and guitar. He played by ear though and could pick out anything. I guess that's where I get it, although I'm not really close to as good at guitar as he was at dobro.
Even though I play by ear and always have, I still had to put in the time and I did. There's some youtube videos linked in NPR to me playing if anyone's curious.
Jaden
I will definitely check him out, and I hope he gets into the hall of fame.
I play by ear also, and too many people think it's a born talent, as in a magical music gene. I've done quite a bit of research on how we develop skills and talents, and though it's true that we can be born with certain talents, they are due to environmental development in the womb. In other words, not genetic wiring.
When I was in my mama's belly, she was always singing, always listening to music. And my dad played guitar every night, at least on the nights when he was home and not out at McCoy's tavern getting drunk. And every weekend my uncle would come over with a banjo, and he and my dad would sit around for hours scrubbing off one tune after another while bottoming out a few bottles of Jack Daniels.
Of course I don't remember any of this stuff from when I was kicking around in my mother's womb, but my little baby ears were picking it all up, sending those frequencies to my little developing baby brain. And so I was born with a good ear for music because of the environment I was in before I was even born.
And then that same environment kept on provided me with even more sensory information in the form of vision and touch, allowing me an advantage over someone not nurtured or raised in such an environment. A few years later, when I wanted to learn how to play guitar, piano, drums, banjo, etc... my mind was already primed for part of that process - I had an ear for music and rhythm.
I'd say anyone who was raised in a musical environment, from the womb, has an advantage when it comes to developing musical skills/talents. Having a good ear for music, for listening to and recognizing what you're doing, probably makes it easier to learn the physical skills needed to play an instrument. But we aren't born with the physical skills needed to be able to play these instruments, or to able to play pool or tennis or golf, or whatever else. Those skills are developed through conscious learning and practicing, each skill requiring its own
crazy amount of practice.