Not exactly. I'd like to think I have the music in me and can just play an instrument without much effort. It doesn't work that way for most people, of course.
It's not like other "arts." It's not like being a writer. You know what you have to do to be a writer? Write. It took me about five minutes to set up this blog, and since it is technically "published" when I hit that orange key at the bottom, there ya go. I'm a writer. I do have some experience at writing though. All my life, writing stories, diary entries, manifestos, confessions, complaints, poems or other such nonsense has been natural for me. I studied English and journalism in college, and I spent 12 years in newspapers. But still, writing is only writing. You can always write even if it isn't particularly great in somebody else's mind.
Music isn't like painting either. I do some painting too. Van Gogh said, "If you hear a voice inside you saying 'you are not a painter,' then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced." Painting is just that easy. And who cares if it's "good?" Just like writing, whether good or bad, you can paint for your own pleasure and that is its greatest value.
But music requires talent and discipline and some training for most people. You can't just pick up a guitar and turn into Eric Clapton. If you could, I'd be an orchestra by now. I have a bunch of instruments, each one purchased because I thought "this should be a snap to learn." To date, I have purchased a harmonica, recorder (flute), bongo drums, ukulele, dulcimer, electric keyboard, guiro, tambourine and accordion. I have even constructed an Australian lagerphone from a board, a hoe handle and beer caps (Here is a picture of one. Mine isn't quite so fancy. http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3063082 ) In spite of this array of instruments, I have yet to play a single song fit for even my own ears.
I'm getting a guitar next. That's the one. Hell, everybody plays guitar. It'll be a snap.
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