Bob, scales are ONE DAMN BIG DRAG....but if ya wanna play more than Kumbaya at a campfire ya gotta practice 'em.

By the way, one of the most common "folksy" sayings I remember reading and hearing in my youth was "Learning to read music will hurt your creativity". Balderdash! If you CHOOSE to be "creative", reading will help immensely. Pete Seeger kind of underplays it, but he is an EXCELLENT sight reader.

Cheers

Rick