Hi Li'l Neo.....

That's one of many benefits of a uniquely helpful and educational forum like this...you can ask a question and the pros more than willingly share their expertise - expertise gained more often than not a millimeter at a time through long and arduous hours of practice - at a price that other, less gifted professionals charge exhorbitantly for.

As I am not in either category, I don't purport to be of much help to you. But your thread sparked some thoughts and observations - revived a smidgeon of otherwise copiously dormant grey matter - and for that I am always grateful.

I figure over the millenia the cowboy chords have been done to death, so anything I aspire to contrive with these chords is going to fall far short of "listenable." Not to say that something fresh can no longer be achieved in the G-C-D genre; I defer to the more creative amongst us to accomplish that.

Therefore, my approach to the fretboard is to try to uncover one of the myriad, as yet undiscovered chord progressions that lurk somewhere just below the surface of my perception: sort of like 'Spaw's friend, I know it's on there somewhere, I just have to find it. Odds are I won't ever hit pay dirt, but the fun is in the searching.

To that end, I consciously twist my fingers into pretzels in an attempt to forge a new chord, or purposely modify and juxtapose two aberrant chords whose attraction to each other is as unnatural as the like charges of two magnets. Most times what is wrought is the aural equivalent of a gondola with a "flat wheel" rolling through a railroad crossing. Occasionally, I get rewarded.

Sometimes when I pick up the guitar and contemplate the fretboard thusly, I am reminded of an apropos observation made by one of the great chess champions (Spassky or Kasparov? Maybe Fisher...currently experiencing a mild CRS or CRAFT attack). Anyway, aforementioned chess whiz was pondering the chessboard before the first move and waxed philosophically: It's all there - all the mistakes just waiting to be made. *BG*

If playing a musical instrument competently were something acquired with relative ease, then we wouldn't be so much in awe of those such as world-renowned thumbpicker Chet Atkins (or any other accomplished musician in any other musical genre, for that matter. I only mention Chet because he was worshipped as a god around our house when I was growing up) playing 9ths and 11ths and 13ths with suspended 4ths, flatted 5ths, major 6ths, diminished 3rds and the kitchen sink thrown in for good measure, making it look as easy as breathing and smiling serenely as if he were casually fishing off a pond bank on an early September sunny afternoon. Maybe in his mind that's exactly what he's doing. In my mind a personification of ultimate musical integrity and professionalism.

In the unlikely event (yeah, right) that I never discover a unique approach to guitar playing, I'd settle for a dram of ability, or talent.

In search of the Lost Chord, Neil