Grew up playing piano (12 years of classical training, including music theory)
Also grew up singing in every school chorus/madrigal group, through university (chapel choir, Gilbert & Sullivan society)
Picked up guitar at 11
Banjo at 21
Autoharp (first at 20 or so, then again more seriously a few years ago)
I can also dabble in, but don't really play dulcimer (though I still have one Tam Kearney made for me).
At one time or another I've also tried mandolin, fiddle, bouzouki, flute, but I really don't have the "feel" for these instruments, and given that I have much better feel for others I have no motivation to try to take them up seriously. If I'm not going to be able to perform in public with it my energies are better spent on instruments I *can* perform with.
The claim that hard work is all you need is ridiculous. No amount of hard work would have made my father anything but tone-deaf. No amount of hard work will make some of my friends even competent. Yes, I absolutely believe that hard work makes a huge difference to anything and everything - there's research I've read that suggests that a talent for practicing is the key to succeeding at the top levels of sport, music, whatever. But if you haven't got some natural talent to begin with all the practicing in the world won't make up for it. And, if you haven't got some basic talent even if you do try to put in the hard work you won't get the rewards (improvement) needed to bolster the motivation to keep going with the practicing.
That said, it is certainly true that one of my friends, a professional musician, has practiced hard every day for 30 years. This is someone who can't automatically sing back a tune after she hears it once or figure out chords on the fly. But by working seriously at her craft she's made herself into a pretty damn good exponent of the instrument or two she plays most. If I worked that hard I'd be phenomenal. Unfortunately, I have just enough talent to make me lazy.
wg