All that better not go out the window. If you know what your options are, you'd better damned well weigh them. You don't just play something at random and you don't just take the easiest route for the hell of it. If you want to play the same old boxy chords that I do, then you're really no better than I am. If you know more than me, you should demonstrate it by playing something I can only dream of. That's what separates the men from the boys.

You really don't get the point I'm making, do you? One takes different approaches to playing depending on the circumstances of the music. So, my approach to creating a tune for myself can be whatever I want it to be, and the beauty or otherwise will be in my ears and the ears of those to whom I play it. When I'm accompanying someone else, or playing in a band, my individual playing is subordinated to the sound of the whole - and that might require an entirely different approach.

I have no idea what you mean by "the same old boxy chords" - it's a meaningless phrase in the context of what I'm saying. As for the "you're really no better than I am" schtick, I'll resist the temptation to enter a "mine is bigger than yours" contest (and I have seen your playing on YouTube). I can only demonstrate the point I'm making by giving you an example of where I'm putting a piece together and, in some parts, ignoring conventional chord shapes to get a melody line playing against a descending bass line. The need to get these two lines together ignores any theoretical stuff about "parallelism" or any other "ism"...

42nd Street

Finally, Josepp, why be so aggressive? It's surely possible to have a civilised disagreement without waving one's musical willie around?