I suppose I omitted the many players who simply do it for their own amusement and sense of achievement and I didn't mean to denigrate that in any way, but to entertain an audience I think you have to be principally doing it for them, not yourself. Leave your ego in the instrument case.. A good musician never gets in the way of the music.

Practise and continued learning are essential, but there are aspects of both which go way beyond conscious mechanics and harmonic theory. It all depends what you want to achieve. If you want to know everything and be perfect, good luck.. I just want people to enjoy it, though it's nice if they throw money too, obviously. I come from two lines of northern shopkeepers (think Arkwright) and skinflintery is in my blood.