Marcel...

It is always such a pleasure to have you around here for sobriety, humor, and really good, meaty information and perspective! :D And at this point, anyone who plays a fraction as well as he does is a role model for me... :o

I, too, have some reservations about Jamie's approach to things at times, but I tend to be so hungry for input at this stage that I try to get out what I can from many sources, and take it "with salt".

In particular, I like your suggestion in your final paragraphs. In fact, I do this with my chordal arrangement of "When I Fall In Love". I fool with it over and over again because I just feel that I'm really making music.

Do you remember "I'll Follow The Sun" by The Beatles? I'm currently messing with that. The chords are common shapes, but I am surprised at the difficulty in making the changes remotely smoothly, since they come fast, but I am convinced that all of this helps me. I get a tyyyyyynee bit better every day...

Thanks for this valuable post, Marcel! I need to read this again...

TC