Regarding "crib sheets", it was only recently that a fellow guitarist showed me three discrete sheets of paper sellotaped to the top of his guitar, letting me in on the secret that thousands of guitar players use. When he played, you didn't even notice – whenever he looked down you just assumed he was looking at his hands as he played.

He mentioned it was something John Lennon used to do. When I mentioned this to other guitarist friends they looked at me like I was a bit slow for never having heard of this; it was something they all did.

Now I do it with new songs I don't know well yet. It's like having a prompter at the side of the stage. I'm willing to bet that people who've disparaged use of lyrics, "cheat sheets" and "crutches" on this thread have seen hundreds of guitarists using this trick and never realized.