Look, I'm not looking down on, making fun of, being mean to, or doing a disservice to, John and I apologize if I came across that way. However, when someone, by their own admission, is "just starting to transition from one-finger chords" and then in the next breath is asking about the appropriateness of wearing a tuxedo to the gig (yes, GIG) in order to appear more "professional", it's bound to uh, raise some questions. Also, on most any board such as this, with old, opinionated, battle-hardened, veterans, any 'newbie' that comes in on day one and proceeds to give us all a morality lecture, is likely to come under some fire. It would not be unheard of for someone to suggest that they "get a feel for the board first". One aspect of that is to realize that there are all levels of players here with varying temperaments, playing a wide variety of instruments. What is common among us is that we all own and play arranger keyboards. This equates to a vast amount of knowledge with a huge potential for learning and gathering information and opinion.......but probably not if you walk in the door on day one and proceed to lecture this wonderfully dysfunctional family on how it should act. I can just about guarantee that someone will rise up and find a nice way to tell you to 'go smack it'.

By and large, this group is as accepting as most special interest groups, and most are willing and eager to help neophytes get up to speed. The secret, I think, is that if you're a neophyte, stay out of the little 'side wars' and by all means, don't precipitate one (unless you've REALLY got the stomach for it ). Some will disagree with me on this, but that's ok; I'm confident that truth will prevail .

chas