By coincidence, I was viewing one of Justin’s song lessons yesterday in which he explicitly, but briefly, makes it clear to switch away from Old Faithful when two chords per bar comes along in the song.
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I’m into the guitar journey about one year now and many topics that completely confused me at the outset are now much better understood. This strumming issue was definitely one of them when I began following the program. I was one of the people that asked for help and you suggested that I write to an Administrator raising this concern which I did right away. Never heard back and many people seem to be struggling still with this same question.
Since the program lends itself to many beginners, this issue is not a trivial one. Recommendations are made almost daily to learn songs. Well, songs include left hand (chords) and right hand (strumming). The songs in the app show the chords as well as the strumming patterns. If the strumming patterns are wrong, they should be deleted or provided with additional guidance for the novice. I think enough time has gone by such that this could have been addressed. Having students search out additional lessons for each song or just listen to a recording may just add to someone’s confusion.
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Well I can’t speak for others.
But for me it is really about a matter of practice slowly and perfectly because practicing perfectly makes permanent! This should be imbedded in your mind!
Once you know old faithful without thinking of it, missing a beat is nothing in the end. May not sound exactly as the record. But as a beginner we stick with beginner things. (Now, I rarely use Old Faithful to be honest now, but that was after much practice in my end and i stayed away from mid changes) In my mind that was still beyond my skilset. If you can’t switch it up. You may not be ready to bump it to strumming patterns and keep with all downstrokes on the beat. Or go with 1/8 notes and then you can hit all the beats and is excellent rhythm practice.
Often the pattern doesn’t much up “exactly” as the song, Justin mentions numerous times that it is a “suggested” keep it simple at first til you get the rhyrhm and feel down a bit. Will still work but not the same feel. Alot of this comes with practice. Start simple, then add all the extras as you get more aquinted to strumming patterns. Remember, Rhythm is King! This has alot to do with your on the beat rhythm. As @Richard_close2u has mentioned Old Faithful doesn’t jive for all but is used alot.
Perhaps you missed this Grade 1 Module 3 course.
That would help a lot of peoples scenario knowing a few of these by heart.
My thoughts and hope this helps a bit with your journey!
Rock on!
Darren
I was just watching a lesson I am in the process of learning and when you get to the end you often get a choice of other lessons so occasionally I just pick one at random really to see what strumming patterns are suggested . This time it was The Travelling Wilburys - End of the Line. One of the patterns is Old Faithful and Justin suggests how to do this when the is a chord change in the middle of the bar, see below and about 8.50 in the video. Another lesson to the one above where he deals with it, change to all down strums.
Just thought this might be of interest.
Michael
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When you have two chords in one bar how does that change the strumming pattern?
Hi Bill, welcome to the community.
Oddly, someone else just asked that question a few days back. hopefully it will give you the answer, but if not, clarify the question some more.
Did you ever get the answer to this?
Hi @Zen1th, this question has been posed and answered several times in the past. If you use the search function, you can find the different threads. There’s already an example cited above. Another one is this, towards the bottom:
If you don’t find your answer there, feel free to ask again of course!
Thanks.
I’m still struggling and can’t seem to be able to get all the strums in.
I’ll keep looking and using google.
Yeah it’s hard at first, takes a while before you can maintain a strumming pattern and change chords in the middle of it. If you have to think about the chord change (this finger goes there etc) or have to think about the strumming pattern at all then you probably won’t be able to do it - yet.
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Thanks. That’s probably the stage I’m at, as there doesn’t seem to be enough time to both strum and change chords.
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Tim… In that case it will help to slow the song down. So much until it feels comfortable for you. It does not have to sound anything like the original song at that stage really…
Say you have a one bar with A and E. Slow it down. Start as simple as possible. Four downstrums. Two downstrums for A , two for E
Or if you are coming from strumming once per bar, you can do the same with beat 1 and 3. Strum A on the one and E on the 3. For example. Once this feels comfortable, you can increase the speed.
Is the there a certain song you need help with?
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Tim, this is normal - everyone goes through this phase. As Nicole said, the key is to slow things down to a tempo you can keep up with. Then gradually speeding up will learn you to keep up, all the while making sure your playing is clean (well, a ‘ding’ here or there is no drama 
). You will see that you will get the hang of it quite quickly and in a couple of days you’ll be miles further in this aspect then you are now. It just takes a bit of time, you’ll get there!
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Hi Tim @Zen1th,
As others have said, this is an almost universal challenge for beginners. I face this each time I learn a new chord and try to play it in a song. I’m curious, are you following Justin’s lessons from the beginning? If yes, you can stop reading now. 
The lessons in Grade 1 Module 1 begin to address these issues, and Justin continues to address them throughout the lessons in Grade 1. (An exercise you’ll use throughout your guitar career is One Minute Changes. But be sure to do all the lessons, even if you feel you know the material!) Justin does a fabulous job of breaking things down into small pieces…work through that bit and you’ll get a new challenge soon enough. The biggest challenges for me were - still are - slowing down and learning to be patient. In my experience, Google is a good source for isolated information, but not to learn how to advance, using good technique, as a guitarist.
Keep us posted on your progress!
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Thanks for the reply.
Yes, I’m following the app from the beginning and doing every module.
Think I just need to slow down.
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Thanks.
All songs to be honest.
I follow Justin’s module or lesson on strumming, but when it comes to put it into practice with the songs he provided I fail miserably.
There are modules showing strumming, and modules showing songs.
Shame there aren’t any modules showing the strums being used with songs.
Know what I mean?
Patience, grasshopper, it’s coming. 
I think the app lessons are organized the same as the lessons on the website…if you haven’t gotten there yet you might take a peek at Grade 1 Module 4, especially the lesson on THE Strumming Pattern.
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I do understand what you mean. I have used the app for some time (though I don’t use it anymore) and I know it can be confusing in the beginning. For me at least it was at times because I concentrated much more on the screen and the chord changes displayed there than that I listened to the music.
The app suggests strumming patterns for some songs, but they can be challenging at the start of Grade 1. May I ask what module you are in? Has “Old Faithful” been introduced already?
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Justin often goes over the strumming pattern for his song lessons. Listen for that next one you try out.
Also, modules are generally technique lessons and songs are just song lessons (not modules). If you call a song lesson a module, you may create confusion. There are certainly song lessons associated with modules, but they are, to the best of my memory, their own lesson, not part of the module itself.
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I’m pretty sure what he means is the song practice at the end of each practice routine as provided by Justin. What he’s struggling with is combining everything learned in the different practice items (chord changes, strumming pattern, rhythm) in that song practice.
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