That's a good point Billy, and reminds me of an old comedy bit by Pete Barbutti. He tells a story of a guy who is the leader of a big band who is the leader only because he owned all the equipment and a station wagon with a luggage rack. He would sit in a chair with the trumpet players and the song in the bit was Little Grass Shack. Pete just sat there and snapped his fingers and when the came to a break he played the 2 notes he could play. (Pete was a very good musician, by the way.) I am as guilty of gear hoarding as the next guy with my 10 guitars I can barely play and that rack full of synths to go with the 5 keyboards I have. And I am pretty much retired from music. I am also lazy, and I have like 5 or 6 things started that I lost interest in. My focus has turned now to learning how to fly my new drone so I can put it to good use on this upcoming road trip. Then my attention will turn to things I need to do on the house and yard. I doubt if I will play in the band I was in last year unless they can deliver 22-25 dates over the summer, as it is a "festival" kind of band. It's not worth the trouble to be tearing my studio apart to go play a random gig here and there and then having to bring it back and rewire everything again.

Here's the bit

As much as I enjoy having this software it has the potential to cheapen and water down the songwriting. When people who know zero about music, chord progressions and the like, can use PG demo songs and create music it takes something away from actual musicians who have paid the dues.

If you have people come in and build a house, and you do nothing more than serve as general contractor and never drive a nail, did YOU "build" a house?

That's PG software and some undetermined number of people here. Just another example of the microwave world we are in where shortcuts matter more than learning.

I told the story recently about the kid who turned in a song in college claiming that he wrote it, and I busted him because what he turned in was the demo that comes in a Yamaha DX7. I knew that because I also had a DX7. That kind of thing is why I don't listen to a lot of the songs in the songwriter's forum. I have my selected dozen or so goto people I listen to because I know they have actually entered a chord chart based on their musicianship and music knowledge. The "demo grabbers" I don't have much respect for. And I can usually spot them.

One of my bandmates from a long time ago started posting about how much he loves cooking, based on him using one of those services that sends you portioned ingredients and instructions on how to be the hands that does someone else's cooking. I told him that those things are the food version of a copy band. LOL!!

So, Billy, answer your own question. Are you a better guitar player because you own X number of guitars? In my case it means I am a mediocre guitar player on my choice of 10 guitars.

And it comes down to this. If it's the stuff that makes the music better, is it YOU making the music better or the stuff?