I don't have the equipment to be a purist anymore. While my guitars and banjo are still exceptional instruments and they sound wonderful I can't hear well enough anymore to hear them with out amplification and ear monitors. At home in the living room or in my shop I hear them fine but on stage with any amount of ambient noise and I am hopeless.

As long as my ear monitors isolate the audience/ambient sound away from me and I only hear what my guitars and voice produce I am fine.

I let others tell me whether I am good, bad, or so-so. Either I am pretty good most of the time or my audience and band mates are very kind in saying I sound pretty good.

A truly acoustic performance may be becoming a thing of the past.

Don