Board Thread:Theories and Speculation/@comment-32742265-20180119154238/@comment-734582-20180119204246

Madara copied Hashirama's wood release abilities. Yet, since he doesn't have wood release, he is physically incapable of using it. Once he acquired Wood Release, he was able to use these techniques.

Simply put, i can teach you to fire a gun, but if you don't have a gun, then you can't fire it. You know how, but lack the physical capability to do so.