Absolutely nailing your consolidation Firas, another very fine performance.
Had you played some before starting with Justin’s course may I ask? Only reason being your thumb position more than anything? Justin’s quite resolute in its positioning especially through grade 1. But you seem really comfortable with it over the top and I presume muting? Just curious 
Thank you Sandro for the kind words and the extra tip. I’ll be sure to try adding the G in between to make it sound even better. I love this song and any extra flavor is welcome 
Thanks Mark
I only dabbled a little over 20 years ago. Only managed to play a few Metallica riffs. Not enough to learn chords or chord changes though, so no habits formed from back then I don’t think.
I did notice how much emphasis Justin put on keeping the thumb behind the neck instead of over the top for Grade 1 (in preparation for Barre Chords if I remember correctly?). That’s how I still practice my Perfect Chord and One Minute Change exercises. However, the minute I start playing any songs my thumb gravitates over the top naturally. It just seems more comfortable for changing chords while keeping rhythm and as you mentioned it helps with muting the low E string. The sound of playing the low E string when I shouldn’t drives me crazy and is distracting, hence muting it with my thumb. Only strumming the higher strings on the down strum still eludes me and I hope that it’ll be covered in later lessons so I can work on improving that.
Would you recommend I keep playing this way (with thumb over the top) or should I slow down my song playing and try to play with my thumb behind the neck? I don’t want to build wrong habits that will be more difficult to relearn later down the line.
That sounded great, Firas.
Based on your reply to Mark, I’d suggest keep doing what you are doing. It sounds like you do sufficient practice to build the strength needed for barre chords while benefiting from the muting and in due course being able to fret a bass note with your thumb which will become a beneficial technique to have in your toolbox eg D/F# (a normal D chord with the addition of the F# as the low bass note fretted on the E string, F# being a note in the D chord)
All I might suggest for the sake of practice is to keep your strumming hand moving at the start of the song when you are playing only one beat in the bar. Not that you lost rhythm/timing, just think it is a good habit in the early years and some pros tend to retain it (Justin often mentions Neil Young in this regard).
Keep on keeping on!
Thanks for the detailed advice and preview of what’s to come David
Also thanks for pointing out the arm not moving at the beginning. I tend to bob my head or tap my foot and forget the arm when I’m not strumming. It’s a good habit to build now keeping the arm moving regardless.
I really appreciate all the nuances and advice offered by everyone here!
Another good one Firas. Wow you’re prolific at the moment! 
Keeping your strumming hand moving has already been mentioned.
As for your thumb position, I never came to grips with keeping it behind the neck and have always played open chords with thumb over the top. I felt it gave me more control. I certainly wouldn’t contradict Justin but if what you’re doing works then stick with it.
Thanks Gordon Only seems that way cause I’ve been working on those 3 songs in parallel over the past 3 weeks or so (and earlier throughout the course too). I just got to grips with how to record the audio & video so they came out close to each other.
The next 2 songs will need a few more weeks of practice cause I’ve just started learning them (Old Time Rock n Roll & How to Save a Life hopefully).
Like you, I feel that forming the chords while strumming more natural with the thumb over the top for me when playing songs. Will just have to keep practicing seperately for barre chords. Thanks for your support!
That sounded really good, Firas. Nice steady beat, nice transition to the 8th note strumming as well.
Well done, Firas. I see you’ve gotten some great advice already. Now I’m looking forward to hearing you play HOW TO SAVE A LIFE. That’s one I have on my own Set List.
Sounded great, and good strumming, too. Makes me want to go back and try that song again. Nice looking guitar, too.
Hi Firas, I think David’s covered exactly where I was coming from so all good 
Thank you @Mari63
Thank you Pamela. I’ve been working up the confidence to start learning that one. It’s an old favorite of mine, and would love to learn & play it 
Thank you Rebecca! I’m really grateful for this course introducing me to this song. It’s become a favorite of mine
@Notter Great minds think alike. Thanks again for all the support and helpful advice
Some nice playing there 
Thank you Aurimas
Another great performance, Firas! 
You’re doing really well on your consolidation of Grade 1. Pretty much every point, I would have advised, was already given.
I don’t remember, whether there is a lesson specifically on that. But somehow seem to recall Justin mentioning in a lesson that one should try to aim for the higher strings only in case of D, for instance. But not to completely focus on that in the beginning.
From my view, it probably will interfere with developing that natural “feeling good”-thing while strumming. It’s more important to get that arm movement down and kind of getting used to the whole strumming motion as such. If you bring in too many other aspects to soon, it’s just too much to handle. But the more natural and automated the whole strumming gets, the easier you can try aiming for only the higher strings. This skill is likely to take time to develop, at least for me it did. But this is just some reflection on my experience, maybe others think or felt differently on that.
You’re on a very good way, Firas! I’m looking forward to your next recordings!
Thanks Lisa
That makes perfect sense. Reminds me of what my Jiu-jitsu coach always reminds me of (serious paraphrasing here): “Don’t try to learn too many details too soon, master the basics before learning the advanced techniques. By then you will realize there are no advanced techniques, only the basics”.
Well done. I love this song, and you sound great!
Thank you Greg
Great rhythm and sound!
Thank you Jimmy