Listening to Leadbelly play piano...it's like somebody falling down stars...flubbed notes, sometimes out of rhythm..but god he sounded like he was having fun...it's always been a part of his music I've enjoyed. No WAY a classically trained pianist could allow their hands that kind of playing, is my guess. My mother was a classical pianist and went crazy trying to play "boogie-woogie" back in the late 40's (at my dad's insistence). She could get all the notes, dead simple compared to Rachmanianoff (sp), but dead, dead, dead.

Leadbelly's guitar playing wasn't all that great either, but it fit his music perfectly. On the other hand, I could listen to Julian Bream or John Williams play classical guitar all day, as well, and enjoy both equally.

I can't read a note, have never taken a lesson, and have always been a bit shy and hangdog about my simple guitar playing. But I really love the music, the stories, the feel of folk...and there have been times when I've been accompanied by a much better guitarist than myself...and been unhappy with the result. I think it IS hard not to use all of one's nifty, hard-won tools all the time. It takes not only sensitivity but valiant restraint to give a song just what it needs (as as the performer perceives it)...and nothing else.

But oh, to be ABLE to pick well, do barre chords, etc. And I love to hear music theory expounded, tho I don't understand one word in 10. I feel really fortunate to love so many kinds of music...classical, folk, blues, jazz...and I don't care if there are crossovers. As far as I'm concerned, the only time crossovers work is when you have to be TOLD it's a crossover.

Very interesting thread, lots of good, thoughtful posts.