Exactly, Bob.

And to say Paul McCartney doesn't know theory is silly. He knows it like the back of his hand. He just says that to be cute. I have heard him talk theory on countless interviews. He may not know it in the the "college" way but it is in his DNA.

When they were practicing for his current tour, they said the band got tripped up on an old tune (I think it might have been Hard Day's Night) because Paul couldn't remember if he was playing a ii, a IV or a vi on the bass at a certain spot and the recording was muddy. So they sat there and kept listening over and over and over until he was sure he had found the EXACT note he had been playing. He is OCD as all get out about the precision of notes and harmony and that's kind of what theory is, no matter how you learn it.

What drives me crazy when I am jamming with some people is when they play the same old tired blues scales over and over and over, and they shoot the cannon off in the first minute. No build. No strategy, just musical porno.

Classical sensibility (which the Beatles have in their DNA whether they admit it or not) is just that--a sensibility. It is all about the FEELING. The slow build. The foreplay if you will. Mediocre guitarists just have sex with their instrument, in the crudest way.

Great guitarists make love to their instrument.

It's the difference between...well, strike that, strike that too...night and day?

If you are a genius you can feel free to do it naturally, but if you aren't, hey a few classical lessons won't hurt!!

smile

David Snyder
Songwriter/Renaissance Man
Studio + Fingers

https://davidsnydersongs.com/
https://spoti.fi/359Gigs
www.davidsnydermusic.com/
www.reverbnation.com/davidpsnyder
www.soundcloud.com/davidsnyderchannel
https://www.songtradr.com/user/profile/david.snyder