Beautifully put, Bill. Unfortunately, most folks here can't handle the truth, which is why there is so little honest (truthful) critiquing going on here. Obviously, many here value 'niceness' over honesty, and maybe that's a good thing; however, it renders most critiques completely valueless. This is especially true when it's 'best buds' critiquing 'best buds'. It also explains why most musical postings here are YouTube postings of total strangers that most of us could care less about (what's up with that?).

Let's face it, only 2 or 3 people on this entire board really play at a high level. Most nursing home players would have a difficult time making it in any other venue and many of the rest would have a difficult time working ANY kind of a gig without the help of SMF's, backing tracks, song-specific registrations on arranger keyboards, three finger chords, and a transpose button.

If you're 55 or over, check out where you're currently playing. You should then be able to critique yourself. Cheers everyone.

BTW, I won't be rebutting your rebuttals, but I promise to read them all.

chas