Oddbean new post about login | logout What are some skills that you don’t understand at all? For me music is at the top of the list. My husband can hear a tune and then with a few tries he can play the tune on the piano. He barely had any music lessons but can somehow do that. I had guitar lessons, and my teacher tried to get me to do that, but I was terrible. So not only can’t I do it, I don’t really even know where I’d begin. The inability to even see the next step. Like if I see a pro athlete do something, I know I can’t do it, but I get the basic idea of what they did to get to that stage on kind of a step by step basis. But when someone can hear music and then just play the melody, my mind is blown.
I’ve been admiring people like your husband for many years as I struggle to learn the guitar myself. My youngest brother has this skill and it’s impressive to watch.
Skateboarding. I don’t even think it’s real. Proof of simulation.
It’s 100x harder than it looks. Skateboarders are like a hidden class of mages or something. It took me 3 months just to ollie, which translates to “jump over something while moving”. I never realized how gritty you have to be to be a skateboarder
This is part of why IQ tests are so limited and difficult to create. One of my psychology professors illustrated this point one day when he asked if Michael Jordans innate ability to be at the right place at the right time on the court was a sign of intelligence. If so then how could an equation on a paper ever really test it. Fascinating stuff
opera singers and metal singers when they fry their sound. I just don't understand how they do what they do. It's truly fascinating
I'm like your husband with music, but I believe that it is somehow in everyones brain. Look at what happens in this video, is incredible. Although I'm an enginneer, when looking for a solution for a problem I need to quickly search some go-by example, and only then I can come with my own (hopefuly improved) solution. I'm amazed when someone comes an idea out of thin air, as simple as it may be... https://yewtu.be/watch?v=ne6tB2KiZuk
I can hear songs and play them on piano instantly too, but I’m baffled by advanced musical composition. You listen and you’re like “yeah, sounds incredible” but you have no clue how they made the music/where they started from. So fascinating
Macroeconomics 😜
I'm the same. I can't play music and don't understand where to begin. I've even read books on music theory recently. After reading about the circle of fifths and not understanding (unable to see the pattern), music feels further out of reach than ever. If music is an art, it is a black art.
Imagining and composing this while completely deaf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s0Mp7LFI-k
This is interesting bc I find music theory to actually be very logical (at least for guitar). Everything you do happens in scales, and what happens within a scale usually sounds good together. Hendrix mostly played pentatonic scales, so did John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They're essentially playing the same thing, just approached differently. Which goes to say that once you see the fret board in terms of scales – not disconnected notes – you'll know what comes next! Anyway I cant process auditory information so people who enjoy podcasts are an absolute mystery to me
Yes music in theory is logical and mathematical, but it feels like an encrypted language to me. Like I know the logic is there but I can’t begin to see it. And other people see it intuitively without training. I’m bad at learning other languages in general. I do like auditory information, but so far not for fiction. I like to read fiction and listen to nonfiction.
The best and most creative musicians typically had little to know understanding of music theory. It was all intuition. There is an argument to be made that the theory interferes with the natural intuition.
Interesting, this is exactly how I feel about audio info – might as well be speaking Chinese to me. I hear the words but they don't compute. The other day I asked someone for the results of the Eurocup games, and they read the stats off their phone to me. Had to ask them to repeat it four times. They thought I was retarded.
I worked with someone in a study group for advanced calculus/differential equations courses who could read a mathematical proof and then solve the appropriate problem set. I only ever understood the proof after working through some problems. It was inspiring and humbling.
Painting and drawing as an art. I have zero skill when it comes to both of these. I had to take a few classes as well for my degree (bachelor of fine arts) and it was incredibly frustrating. not being able to create "art"
Cooking. I've seen animals and plants out in nature and ostensibly the food on my plate is made from them. Yeah right. I think magic is a much more plausible explanation. That's why so-called "cookbooks" are full of magic incantations. Like adding salt "to taste". How much is "to taste"!?? That's not any reading on my kitchen scales!! I tried this incantation once and needed to flush the result down the toilet. Of course then again I'm not one from the prerequisite wizard caste so what was I expecting.
Hi mom! ❤️
I wouldn't say people don't understand this but most people really struggle with the skill of true empathy....the ability to understand another person's perspective. When you have it, it is an absolute game changer for relationships and life I'm general.
Mine too. Recently retired and starting from absolute zero, nada, created space to learn scale, structure and time. Now “playing” guitar and some keyboard. It will come…seems miraculous actually, my ear now at least conceiving the possibility of your husband’s capability. May you enjoy future duets.
I thought everybody could do that to some degree?! I bet you could if you really tried!
Anyone who can do a backflip.
Not sure why but in my experience (30 years) as a guitar player I have seen more pianists being able to pull out songs quickly by ear than guitar players. Maybe it is just a coincidence or maybe the piano makes it easier to develop the listening skills. Would love to know.
Piano is "simpler" (said the guitar player) because the chords/inversions/arpeggios are the same anywhere on the keyboard, you just have to know the key and the progression. I had a friend who would play along with us in Eb, he didn't bother transposing the keyboard, he would just play the chord progression a half-step down. It really is just learning progressions. Most modern pop music is pretty simple. What's tough is when you get into downtuned/Grunge/alternative is a bit more difficult. BTW, I am in NO WAY disparaging keyboard/pianists. Im blown away by what they can do on the fly.
Yeah, they just have some neural wiring that you don't have. I have the same experience with my inability to draw. As a child I had a friend who, at 12 years old, could draw anything he could see. Just photorealistic perfect representations of anything he looked at. No training, no study, could just naturally do it. It always blew my mind because no matter how much I tried I could not get anywhere near that ability. Eventually I realized there are just some things that some people have the neural programming for, and others don't. The great diversity of human ability makes life quite exciting.
Adopting an unknown language within a short time. I cannot understand when people say, "oh I took up Japanese last year ahead of our trip" and could somehow manage during the trip. How?
I’ve played guitar since I was a kid and i largely learned by ear. The kicker for me was that I can also sing. The ability to listen and match pitch or sing along to the radio helped a ton when I was starting out. For guitar now, I just put a record on and play along as I learn the song. The key is that playing (and singing) is as much about listening as it is about playing (or singing) You gotta hear it in your brain and connect that to the instrument! Best way to learn is to pick a song you love and try to learn it just by listening. Find out what key it’s in just by trying different keys as you listen - once you find it you should be able to follow if you learn some basic music theory. Hope this helps! My work is super left brain (investment advisor) and so having a right brain outlet for relaxation is very enjoyable.
That’s always something I think humans can learn. You should try the music IQ test online, specifically pitch matching section, to see if you can hone that skill. If you can do that you’re 80 percent there. Just then sing the individual notes of a melody and check yourself. You’ll be in the neighborhood fast
In general how well would you say you can 'hear' things in your mind 1-10? What about 'picture' them?
It’s pattern recognition, Lyn! No different than how you seem to seamlessly look at a few basic financial charts from the 70s, 40s and prior periods and confidently say ‘Yea I think we are living through a period that resembles X with characteristics of Y.’ As a musician with a finance background, that is probably the best analogy I can think of. The basic melody can be figured out quickly - for example, the progression from an E to Am to D. The details that make the song great take more work, like you digging deeper into obscure data. For example, the E may actually be an E7 hammer on or something. Anyway, funny how the human brain works. I’m more like your husband, and equally amazed at your fluidity with econ/finance analysis. On the topic of music, are there any particular artists that have your attention these days?
Me too, but then I realise that's, like, ten different Doctorates. Maybe I'll build a big capacitor instead :p