Jedi - No, I've never met Alan Parsons but I've had Jimmy Page and Chris Spedding (these guys weren't using charts either) in on a couple of sessions back in the 60's.

Magic User - Thanks for your kind comment. The odd thing is, I don't really think of these things as 'accomplishments' as such. It wasn't really all that difficult, London was such a happening place in the 60's and 70's.

Tom Cavanaugh - To answer your questions, 1. Nope, never read a note of music in my life. This is because, regrettably, I've never had the patience to sit down and study it, my ears run away with me. 2. Nope again. I've never used fake books. 3. Chords have never presented a problem for me. Maj, min, dim, aug, et cetera in any inversion come easily enough to me. 4. I can find any key on the board and yes, I also prefer play to with my fingers :-).

Uncle Dave - Good, common sense, in your post. I would agree that a combination of both a good ear and proper training is the best of all worlds (this is what I was getting at in my first post when I said my fingering technique is all wrong) and, like yourself, give me the guys who can swing or rock any day of the week over the sterility (for want of a better word) of a lot of sight readers.

Oops, I've probably offended many sight readers out there now. But to paraphrase Uncle Dave, you either swing or you don't. That is the hard truth of it, unfortunately.

But hey, it's only rock an' roll and I like it.