I think of the relationship between talent (or whatever you want to call natural ability) and hard work/practice like a rubber band. Everybody is born with a rubber band of a certain size for a given activity. Practice and hard work stretch the rubber band, but if you start with a small rubber band you have a limited potential for the eventual size. If you start with a larger rubber band you have a greater ultimate potential, but if you don't put in work you can be outperformed by those with less ultimate potential who put in more work.
Eric