But Mr Notes, how do we know which one we are? <...snip...>
We don't unless we nurture it.
I tried to start a band with a pianist. He graduated from a Florida University with a music degree, and could play the notes on the page with precision, but no expression. He was a great technician, and he nurtured those skills, but he wasn't a great musician. Although I really liked him as a person, after a couple of months of practice, it just didn't work out.
I know a girl who has a great operatic voice, it got her into college on a full ride, but it never went farther than that because she has bad intonation and no matter how hard she worked, she couldn't defeat that.
But I don't want to sound so negative.
I worked with a guitarist who actually got kicked out of Berklee for arguing with his teachers. Playing with him, I think he was right. He had 20 pedals in front of him, which in itself isn't impressive, but the sounds he got out of his guitar were fantastic, and the melodies that soared out of the speakers were simply hypnotic. And that end result is what matters.
As a sax player who almost made it famous, and had the pleasure of working with major stars, my friend Richard (R.I.P.) was the best guitarist I ever had the pleasure of working with. Nature plus nurture wins every time.
But sometimes nature doesn't even need nurture. Muddy Waters probably never had a formal lesson in his life, but when Alan Lomax heard him on a cotton plantation, he wanted to record him, and the rest is history.
So how do you know if you have the nature or not?
Nurture what you have and if you blossom, you have the talent, otherwise you will be a good technician.
When I was a kid, I wanted to play music. My favorite toys were the ones that made music. But my parents could not afford a real instrument or lessons.
In the 6th grade I took up "tonette" - black, plastic recorder that was offered in my elementary school. I already knew how to read simple music thanks to my music toys. I was in the tonette band, and although not a star (we played as an ensemble) I wasn't a problem either.
Then in the 7th grade, I joined the school band. The town was small and only so many instruments were available to rent, so like all the new guys, I got a pair of drumsticks and a practice pad. When the tenor sax player's family moved, I got the sax. I guess I was more enthusiastic than the other newbies when the director asked.
I started sax in beginning band, skipped intermediate band and went directly to advanced, and the next year was the first tenor in the all-county band. And the year after that the same
Then in high school I became first tenor in the all-state band, plus section leader (which goes to the first alto by default) for every year that I was in school. That officially made me the best sax player in the state school system at the time.
In solos and ensembles state contests, I never got less than the highest award (superior) for my solos.
This is not to brag. I guess I had the nature because I accelerated much faster than my peers who worked every bit as hard as I did. I can't take credit for the nature, it came from my father who played violin, trumpet, uke, and organ. He made his living as a printer though, and I never heard him play violin or trumpet. Mostly uke because that's all we could afford, and later when he retired after moving up the corporate ladder to foreman, he got an organ. Thanks dad for the talent!!!
If it was all nurture, the other students who worked just as hard as I did, and those who even worked harder, would have done the same, but most of them never even made the all-state band or would get excellent or satisfactory on their solo and ensemble contests.
Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Shostakovitch, de Falla, Respighi, and many other composers have created great works that are IMO impossible for someone without both the nature and the nurture. And how else does a Stan Getz, Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, Terry Kath, Jeff Beck and so many others blossom at an early age before they have enough hours in their entire lives to fill that proverbial 10,000 hours that is so popularly touted. At 3 hours a day of practice it takes 40 years for that to happen.
https://www.fastcodesign.com/3027564/scientists-debunk-the-myth-that-10000-hours-of-practice-makes-you-an-expertBTW, I heard Terry Kath in a band before Chicago. I forget the name, playing in a night club close to the one we were gigging in, and his playing floored our guitarist. And I know our guitarist spent every waking hour he could practicing and pushing his limits.
Without the nature, you can never be a great musician, but you can be a great technician.
At least that's the way I see it.
Insights and incites by Notes
I can't use him live as he won't sing quietly or in any other way unless I put him behind me and let him warble over my Baritone voice. I keep telling him to have lessons etc or join an amateur operatic group or even learn the melodies. I really believe he could have song professionally, if he'd just get off his butt. He can sing in fluent Italian without even trying (grr). 
