Hi Christopher and Poundhound.

Hence the, paraphrased, 'had it been a timed link' suggestion.

What I took from that "Crossroads" clip was the name of the piece which sent me on the search revealing that meat 'n taters amateur performance of it which supported one aspect, the point of your comparative argument Poundhound. If the first, it mightn't have been the best link I might have found, but was adequate to get the point across. And yes, I admire, envy in the flattering sense, the technical tenacity and skill involved. Steve Vai's attitude, ethos, and communicativeness I equally admire, although any aspiration to shredding in that style however poorly executed is denied me by the lateness of the hour and 'privilege' of age. So if accidentally, it's fortunate I don't aspire to what would now be a recognised unrealistic, unachievable objective.

I actually prefer classical music to contemporary popular music. Always have. But my exposure and predilection for what I do like is pretty broad as illustrated in my signature line link featuring a popular song of the day whose philosophical lyrics resonate with me as they did with audiences in its time. In particular the style, feel and timbre of British Swing from the 1930s totally engages me, with Carroll Gibbons and his Savoy Hotel Orpheans accompanied by Anne Lenner's vocals are mesmerising for me.

The 'best' music provokes passionate feeling, evokes contemplation or reflection, or if nothing else is pleasing to the ear if only to make one feel good as so much of the simply lyricised The Beatles early material did. And who doesn't feel good listening for instance to America's "Ventura Highway" on a sunny day cruisin' the 101 to Camarillo or Ventura with the tonneau down?

If discussion of guitar evokes extremes of strong personal opinon, it's a relative minor skirmish compared with classical compositions and their composers which would present as the equivalent of opinionative virtual nuclear war, as I dare to suspect Christopher might corroberate? Other than knowing who and what I prefer aurally from many many years exposure, technical discussion of it is beyond my erudition, my life specialisation expertise lying elsewhere.

I so wish our conversations could be spoken with all, the supplementary expressiveness of body language, facial expression and vocal inflection that medium offers, as frequently, hyperbole for exaggerative effect or even strongly expressed view can provide offence when none is intended. If I've given any, belated apologies.