Is welding a skill or a talent?

It indeed is a combination. The tests you list never frightened me fifteen years ago. Today I never feel comfortable testing out on wire feed of any sort. Almost anyone can weld but to pass extremely stringent requirements needs a bit of talent. You also need to be a bit sly. My lunch buddy in a shipyard was one of the top aluminum welders. He and another had figured out the machine settings and gas flows to get flawless welds in over 100 feet of butt joint averaging one inch thick. This was on a square to round transition. He told me his settings and flow tricks but they never told anyone else and would change settings when people were hanging around. I was a fitter so I was no threat to all the overtime they logged. That bit of sly fox attitude made them thousands of dollars ... possibly tens of thousands. Yup a bit of talent and keeping your cards close to your chest. Randy
I have wondered this. Is welding something that you can learn, or something that you just have a talent for? Galileo said, "We can teach a man nothing, but only help him discover it within himself."
I always wanted to play a guitar. When I was about 21, a friend had a Martin guitar he was selling. It was nice. I gave him $125 with all intentions of studying hard and learning to play it. A year later I traded it for two Campagnolo bikes. I just didn't have the talent. Or maybe I just didn't practice enough.
I have seen many people who could weld. And then I have seen some REAL artists. I have seen many people who could play a musical instrument, and then I have seen some REAL artists. Can anyone learn to just be proficient, but not excel into what is called a "good" weldor? Come to think of it, I can remember a few who never mastered any type of welding at all.
Is it something that you learn or something you have a talent for? I think that welding is a lot like drawing. You have to make little circles and zigs repetetively. Some can, some can't. During WW2, women welders were touted to be some very good welders because they had the patience to do long boring welds better than men.
I know that there are 1,000 other things to welding than running a bead.............. measuring, cutting, grinding, lineup, fitup, trig, and 994 others. But I am just talking about running a bead.
Let's say, like a 6g 6010 root, 7018 cover x-ray test. Or a 1" plate 6010 open root, vertical up, with 7018 fill vertical up.
Steve

I have to tell my students every quarter that anybody can learn to weld, but how fast you learn and how good you get, has more to do with innate ability than how well you listen.

Welding, like many other trades, is a combination of skill and knowledge. The knowledge comes from study, and the skill comes from a wee bit of study but mostly practise.
Practise.
You can teach anyone the skill. Eventually. There is relatively little judgement required in actual bead-running. If it was that hard then you couldn't program a machine to do it.

There's one element that you've not mentioned - passion. If no passion for making good welds or music, you'll do neither well. If passion is present, the student will build the skill to whatever level his talent will allow. Without passion, he'll likely never get past mediocre. It is the thing that makes a few students worth teaching in spite of those just putting in time regardless of the subject.
Mike Graham wrote: snipped

I mostly agree with this one... passion implies a plethora of practice, so in that respect it works with what I said before. However, you have a point in that if someone is apathetic about it they may no learn from their experience (in a case where they are paid to do it, don't really *want* to do it, but have to).

I have a cousin who plays piano. He does it well enough I would consider him an artist. One day I heard a lady say that she would give anything to be able to play like he can. His reply, "IF you really meant that then you could".

Maybe so and maybe not. I took violin lessons for a few years when I was a kid. I never was really good. Later I took some aptitude tests. I scored well in all the music skills, but really poorly in finger dexterity. And was told that I would do well as a conductor, but not as violinist ( or as a typist ).
I was surprised that I did well in a different dexterity test that involved using tweezers. Aparently I do well in hand to eye coordination , but not with my fingers. So welding is okay, but I don't do well putting nuts on bolts where I have to do it by feel.
Dan
cousin who plays piano. He does it well enough I would consider him