Here’s my first attempt at memorizing and recording a song:
2023-07-15 - Bob Marley - Three Little Birds
That was my 17th recording take of it while trying to get the sound recording settings right (with an external mic and my phone) so it’s a little sloppier than usual 
Still not quite happy with the recording sound, but that’s an adventure for a future weekend 
That being said, please feel free to provide any comments or feedback.
Other songs played in July:
Firas, I’m impressed! Clean and smooth chord changes already, steady rhythm, strumming pattern on point and with feel and some percussive elements, nice tone
and prouction, you can really be proud of yourself!
Sounds great Firas.
More than 10 takes and still not happy is part of the life of a guitarist I guess 
I think we all have that problem.
Great job with alternating between the strumming patterns.
Keep up the great work.
Thank you so much for the detailed feedback and kind words Andrea 
All the consolidation practice and additional Strumming course practice is starting to pay off 
Thank you Sebastian. Yeah it’s the perfectionist in me
Thank you for noticing the changes in strumming, trying to vary it to both get out of my comfort zone and to feel the music more rather than being strictly rigid with the strumming patterns.
Quite enjoying winging it a little
Congrats on the making and sharing of a first recording, Firas.
All good and keep on keeping on. Bonus points for playing over a drum beat.
I thought recording quality was fine, the tone, level, and balance.
Bravo
Thank you David, especially for the recording audio quality feedback. I think I heard the distorted recordings so many times before that final take that they got stuck in my head
I’ve been putting the Zoom Multi-Effects Processor to good use. It’s a really versatile little device. Playing along with a drum beat while practicing songs is so much more enjoyable than just a metronome (although I still play with that for my strumming practice).
Really good job Firas, as others have said your chord changes look on point, rhythm nice and steady and really nice to mix up the strumming, that adds a great deal to holding interest for the listener.
You generally kept you strumming hand moving to keep tempo which is good practice, I can really lapse from that in some songs!! One little thing to give a go, when you played the off beat section in theory it should be upstrums. Playing as you did still sounded great but give it a try sometime as it sounds quite different.
Congrats on your progress! Oh and never tell us how many takes you’ve done, how are we to know you didn’t smash this first go! 
Thanks Mark! Guess I gave my secret of perfection away. Will have to keep it to myself next time
Thank you for the recommendation of trying upstrums. Is that the section with the single strums with the palm mutes? I’ll add that into my song practice and see if I can manage that.
Apparently my playing was good enough to be recognized by YouTube as the intended song as it was flagged with “Copyright Claim”. Initially it freaked me out until I understood what it meant thanks to the great discussion and explanations in this thread
Yes that’s the section, towards the end about 2mins 10sec in.
Sure you’ll be fine with it, it may even feel more natural as your strumming hand basically isn’t changing it’s movement, upstrum is on the “and” normally anyway. It may mess a little with your palm muting from what you may be used to but it’s useful to be able to mute whichever way your hand is moving.
Have fun!!
Thanks for the clarification. It’s always good to add new skills & tools to our playing. Much appreciated Mark
Well done Firas, that was a good debut AVoYP. A reggae beat is surprisingly difficult to master but you’re on your way.
Thank you Gordon! I was thrilled when I came across Bob Marley songs in the early lessons of the course, and had to have a go at playing them
I’m really glad that I did. It taught me different strumming patterns, off-beat strumming, and palm muting, among other things.
Congratulation on posting your first recording. Seemed good to me you kept your strumming hand moving all the time so the rhythm was good.
Much appreciated Trevor
Having Justin repeating “keep your strumming hand moving” in almost every lesson of the Strumming SOS course must’ve sunk in 
Very good basics, strong sense of rythm, and a great benchmark song for you to revisit as your technique progresses! looking forward to many more recordings from you Firas!
Thank you Ian! I do love how Justin introduces us to these simpler versions of the songs that we can start playing early in our learning journey but can revisit as we grow in our guitar playing skill.
Hello Firas, I think you’re doing a very good job and I enjoyed the listening. About the quality of sound it was quite fine to my ears…there’s one thing I noticed but please do take it with an abundant pinch of salt, and that is the way you hold the pick, as it is something I’m still working on and still struggle a little bit with: I see your fingers are closed like in a fist and I remember Richard posting pictures about this and saying something like that the fingers should relax down and not be in a fist. I’m saying this because I know how it can influence the sound. I don’t know if it’s your case or on the contrary you feel relaxed in holding the pick and you’re referring only to a technical gear aspect with the electric guitar and amp and stuff. Please ignore this if it’s not the case, I just could relate a lot about not being happy with sound and rembered Richard’s tips on the pick holding
Hi Firas,
Congratulations 
…your first video is a very big thing to do ,and you did it well
Greetings and keep on having fun
Rogier