Backwoodsman, I think you are making a big assumption about musical ability. Not everyone can understand music theory or be sure of recognizing when the chords are right.

   Many of the old songs survive only because people who were unrecorded played them and taught them to each other across a few centuries, maybe just for the joy of it, maybe for a bottle of something, or for a meal.

So now that process is supposed to stop. Learning should take place only via purchased recordings?!

Sure it's right to support those who make the CDs,--of course. but--pass on the tradition only via purchase of CDs?! No thanks.

    Music and other arts are always a gift that transcends their commercial value. That does not mean they should be free, but that they should not be REDUCED to being done, exchanged and transmitted only via market forces.
    If you say people should only get the chords by buying them on a CD , or that trying to learn without doing so is trying to avoid buying the CD, you are commodifying the tradition in a way that will ultimately undermine it.


   The kindness of people who have helped me get chords is something I will always be grateful for. Without it, I would be restricted to song books.