Rick we obviously have a diametrically opposed view of the term "musician."Your words "scary and forced and AK47" applied to the SIMPLEST of theory....is truly scary.
Just because someone creates pomes-fritz at a MickyD's does make them a "chef."
Just because someone plays with a group or produces a record doesn't make them a "musician."
A man with a wrench... isn't a tool and die maker... anymore than a person dressed in white with a scalple... is a surgeon.
A "musician" should be a master of their field...they should read, they should write, they should transpose, they should improvise, they should accompany.
A person that cannot play by ear is no more a musician than the person that cannot read music. Illitacy abounds in all fields and many of the quacks sqwack the longest.
A child with a coffee-can drum knows what FUN is....he doesn't give a hoot about syncopathic rhythms....he has fun. When music becomes, scary, and forced it ceases to be fun and the spirit of play is lost.
For most of us .... music is an amusing toy; and few have the talent, ambition, discipline, opportunity to become "musicians."
Most "three chord players" have a lifetime of pleasure ...And This Is As It Should Be.........
as long as they don't meet up with a "professional AKA 47 approach teacher" that scares them away.