[jarjarguy]

hey, im an intp and i play the piano. im actualy quite good at it, and am fairly talented. i was just wondering what personality types are generally good at playing music, and if intp's are or are not. im wondering if there is any correlation between type and musical ability. any thoughts and opinions would be cool

[TrailMix]

When I was in high school, I learned to play the piano for my senior project. I picked it up very easily to be honest and although I have never played an instrument before that, I am actually very musically inclined. Its one of those things that just comes easily to me.

That probably sounded kinda boastful, but whatever. lol my b

[Owfin]

Some type XXXXs are really good at it, but I've also met some really tone deaf ones...

[shadowcookie]

I've recently begun learning the piano, but after a year of lessons, I decided I learnt best by teaching myself. As for which types are good at playing musical instruments, I personally think that all types can be great at playing a musical instrument/s. In my opinion, it depends on how much time and effort you're willing to spend, as well as how much patience and interest you have for the particular instrument.

[dejavu]

I doubt that there's a correlation to type and music ability. I've seen plenty of people of any given type who have talent, and then plenty of people who don't.

[Finagle]

It's improbable that type and musical ability are correlated.
There might be a link between type and the way they play music though, and the number of persons of that type that choose to become musicians.

[JungyesMBTIno]

No correlation.

[Hosker]

There may some correlation between type and which instrument they choose to play. I've noticed that most pianist come off as introverted, which I could understand seeing as it's a solo instrument, mostly.

[ManWithoutHats]

I doubt that certain types are inherently better, but I think different personality types might learn and play differently. I'm an intp and I really enjoy teaching myself how to play instruments and studying music theory, and consequently I've come to be quite good at it (in my humble opinion). However, my style of playing and writing music is really different from other people and I have a very analytical approach and I sometimes just noodle on subtle variations of a melody until I realize that I'm boring everyone with what probably seems (and very well might be) repetitive dribble. I think teaching myself almost everything I know (with books, records and the internet of course) has given me a pretty unique style, although others don't seem quite as fond of it as me. Also, I recently took up the piano and have found it to be the ideal instrument for an intp, like Hosker said. It's very logical in its layout and really facilitates theoretical and concise playing; I only wish I'd picked it up much sooner as I'm still really mediocre on it.
As far as others go, my infp brother taught himself to play the guitar as well- but his approach is entirely different. He doesn't know anything about theory and often doesn't know the names of the chords he plays, but his is nonetheless really original and emotional music. His music is often very melodic and "airy" with lots of sus-chords and open voiced triads; versus my music which is often steeped in reduced tonality, staccato, key changes, chromaticism, etc.. Also he almost exclusively plays melody over the chords himself and doesn't know how to jam, where as I prefer trading solos with other musicians in a group or playing free-form, improvised rhythm stuff.
Then my enfp brother plays the guitar as well and his style draws heavily on the music he likes. I think he's more consistent than me and probably even a better musician (also has a few years' more experience), but he is also much more conventional and not as interested in "playing outside", so to speak. My ISTJ dad is also much more conventional, albeit much more consistent. He is excellent when it comes to playing or improvising over songs with set chord progressions (even very complex ones) but he has trouble fitting in on the free-form on the spot improvisation that me and my brother delve into without discussion. I'de be really interested to hear any observations about other types if anyone has noticed any.
As far as famous artists go, I think Frank Zappa and Thelonious Monk are very characteristic of what I see as "intp music". I think that Nick Drake or Joni Mitchel might fit my view of infp music, though I'm not nearly as sure of that. Not really sure about examples of other types though. I guess many are probably ISFPs.

P.S.- as far as being better musicians, I think any introvert has an advantage in that they are more likely to dedicate time and effort into practicing by themselves and good musicianship is ultimately the result of thousands of hours of practice. They're also less likely to be be derivative or stereotyped in their playing, though not everyone considers that a good thing.