My girlfriend picked this book up. It assumes the player will be using fingers rather than a pick. On the first exercises, the half note and whole note studies have down stroke symbols on the first measures, but it also designates picking fingers with one or two dots. It is the only time the symbols are used anywhere, and there's not any explanation other than calling them down strokes. Why the distinction, when, aside from popping, which isn't covered in this work, there's only one way to finger-pick, and it's not literally a down stroke anyway?