Thanks for posting your story, Carol--it is an inspiration to those of us who care about playing and learning to play music--More people than you may realize struggle with those written notes,and do exactly as you do--it may not seem very elegant, but it does work, which means that ultimately, you get to where you want to get--

And Gargoyle, thanks for your praise--it between you and Carol, I feel like it was worth bringing this up--

As to the GUEST, you prove my point--"I can't be bothered now" is the Mantra for people who don't put the effort in--thanks for not bothering to post a bunch of excuses--

Ian and Helen, I think that different personalities are drawn to different instruments, and different styles of music--I was a poor brass player, and a rotten keyboard student, but guitar seems to suit me, and study as I might, I never got anywhere at all with "classical music"(though I studied for years and am quite fond of it) I find my voice somewhere between folk music and old time jazz--