[zyxley]

> Meanwhile, the return on a minimal investment in guitar playing and a bit of singing is almost comical.

To elaborate on this, all you really need to play a substantial amount of popular and folk music is to (a) memorize 4-8 chords and the transitions between then, (b) memorize strumming patterns that go with the songs you want to play, and (c) practice until your fingers stop hurting from holding the frets (substantially easier with nylon strings than steel strings).

For some examples, you can play "Free Fallin'", "Bad Moon Rising", and a bunch of other songs with a capo and just A, D, and G chords.