The book arrived safely. Thank you for being so prompt. My first impression was one of abject despair. Perusing the pages and seeing such things as "Phrygian Km7b5dim resolving to a QAug7susRbdimL" led me to my bottle of single malt. After a couple of sips settled in, I returned to the book and actually began at the beginning. By starting on page one, reading slowly with concentration, things got better almost immediately. For the first few years of playing I did scales for twenty minutes every morning and included my little finger in the workout. So the initial FFcP exercises were not that difficult physically. More importantly, I began to understand the value of using my little finger to move through moveable patterns that did not always begin with the index finger. I suppose the disparate parts were already there, now I had an image, a conceptual framework, within which to work. Admittedly, it was a very tiny epiphany, but a delightful one nevertheless.

I have decided to make the exercises part of my daily practice routine. I'm headed for the pickin' chair to practice (without the scotch this time). After reviewing pages 5-7 I will launch into page 8. Progress will doubtless be slow, but I am determined. Thanks for the inspiration.