Dear Concerned in Canada. NEVER doubt your teacher! I'm certain that he has your very best interests at heart, and if he tells you that with a modicum of smoothness and simplicity in your accompaniments you can move mountains - believe him. I have it on good authority that many highly paid medical specialists (are their any left in Canada?) perform the most complicated surgery using only national fingerpicks and the very type of expertise that you are now learning. Of course there are some peripheral perques to be had as well - at no extra charge - I might add. Show me the woman who can resist the gentle touch of the man who knows how to play a proper "F" chord. Your teacher has probably yelled "Thumb, thumb, dummy", at you, well "Concerned", picture that glorious moment when the object of your deepest desires literally screams those same words (without the "dummy" part) at you, and you look into her yearning eyes and say " Wait til you see my Bm7b5!"

Your "fuddy duddy muddy buddy" (using some jerk's computer)