To: Dr. Guitar

From: Dr. O.M. Dreadnought

Dear Esteemed Colleague,

While you are, of course, absolutely correct in stating that a large number of jazz chords may be produced using no more than the first five frets of the guitar, said statement does not address the all-important visual aspect of guitar playing. Sadly, many guitarists are addicted to using higher-fret positions, not because of any true superiority to the voicings hence attained (as compared with lower-fret voicings), but because it "looks cool". Most guitarists are not going to throw in a perfectly superfluous G9 chord fingered 320301 when one fingered X(12)(11)(12)(12)(12) is even more obnoxious plus it makes it appear that the player has accomplished a higher degree of mastery of the fretboard. As the radical massive fretectomy procedure as discussed above removes the player's tendency to attempt to inspire awe from other guitarists vis a vis playing in high-fret positions, we have found, in our practice, that it tends to make egotistical show-offs into more-or-less reasonably decent human beings.

I am enjoying our correspondence immensely, and await your further comments and insights.

Sincerely,

Dr. O.M. Dreadnought