@suzieq yes good basic strumming advice for free during the beginners course but the premium stumming course focuses on rhythm and strumming. Not everything is given for free but the lifetime subscription costs less than a couple of coffees.
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@Socio I will probably purchase some stuff off this site eventually instead of just donating. 
This week though my spare coffee money went to some care for tigers. 
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@JammasterDee3000 @artax_2 @direvus
Sharing the sentiment of the post, don’t despair! It will come with time. Also don’t hold back too much, you can always revisit modules if you find you’ve skipped on too much.
Specifically for Dm, (which is a pain) you could try learning the main rift of paint it black, the whole song lesson is grade 4 but the rift is fun to play. I found this and drive by REM to be most helpful in getting to grips with that pesky shape.
PS: the Song app teaches paint it black in the key of Em 
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Hey, there. It’s cool to know that you found my post useful. I guess everything with time? It definitely requires patience. And your note about Justin and his advice to us in each Module was also helpful, thanks and all the best on your guitar journey too 
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Hey, Notter. I really appreciate you sharing your experience with Grade 1, and that you’ve had similar problems with consolidation. It helps to realize I am (of course) not the only one, lol.
Good luck to us both and may we keep pressing forward with these things in mind. 
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Hi, Julie. Thanks for the encouragement. And for the advice and recapping past lessons as needed. I sometimes also search for songs on Ultimate Tabs to play around with and get my mind off the things I’m hung up on with my practice.
I didn’t realize how difficult playing guitar is either! I foolishly saw people play and assumed it would be easy as cheese, haha, how silly I was. Now I realize the people who make it look easy either started pretty young and/or took many years of work to get to where they are today.
Reading comments like yours has already helped me feel more positive about my progress so far 
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Hi, Julie. “Don’t let the perfect get in the way of the good” is such great advice. Thanks a lot for sharing!
Also, I haven’t watched any of Nitsuj’s practices in full haha, I guess I really should spend the time doing so. I still find Justin’s commitment to that so amazing. He really is awesome and and goes above and beyond to help his student.
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Hey Nicole. I also relate on playing/strumming with more confidence. It really seems to be a matter of improving and starting to recognize your mistakes (?) more than you did in prior weeks. I’ve decided to follow what you said you’re doing which is to spend some more time on consolidation work while starting ear training and music theory. The time and effort we put into the fundamentals will be sure to pay off in the long wrong
Thanks for your kindness, you keep the joy alive too!! maybe we could be Grade 1 Consolidation Buddies or something, lol.
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What a great idea!
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Danielle, I found your post and all the responses very useful. I am on the final module of Grade 1 and was thinking to myself I am regressing. What I realized from reading some of the responses is that I probably rushed grade 1, completed it in 12 weeks. I recorded myself two weeks ago and thought I sounded pretty good! I don’t seem to be that same person. My chords sound kind of wonky now :). I decided to take a break and work on theory and ear training as well before moving on. I will look at the strumming lesson as well, didn’t realize there was a stand alone course. C chord is my nemesis, fingers are too fat and short! I also press too hard which seems to flatten the fingers even more, have to work on being gentle I guess. Good luck!
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Hi @rlegault,
There’s often a lot of encouragement not to rush - which is true! - however I wanted to provide a counter voice in not holding yourself back, either. Which I have seen people do.
It’s about skills attainment, not time.
12 weeks is not too quick for Grade 1. Many do it in less. Some take longer. Dont expect to be a guitar master of all the grade 1 items before you move on to grade 2. You’ll continue to use those skills - loads of songs have those chords.
However it’s important to assess yourself against the benchmark Justin provides at the end of grade 1. If you don’t meet that, keep consolidating and learning new grade 1 songs. If you do meet it, move on.
And on the topic of the thread. Regressions are totally normal.
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Hi Jkhan, thanks for the useful information. My concern is that I move on and take bad habits with me. Justin says don’t practice bad so I’m trying to get things right. I am taking my time and as Justin says slow is good and it’s the journey not the destination. I really felt I was ready to move on to grade 2 but now not so sure. I’m retired and at this pace I may run out of time to finish all the courses:)! I do practice quite a bit and assume it will all fall into place. Thanks again, much appreciated!
I agree with @jkahn that it’s about skills attainment and not time. Everyone learns at a different pace, some people struggle with this and others struggle with that… that’s why I think its difficult to say precisely how much time an individual requires to spend on a lesson/grade. To me you are right that it’s important to have a solid basis of the foundations before moving on. You are also right that practicing slowly and accurately is important to get things right. What I believe JK is saying is that providing you meet the benchmark criteria Justin provides for passing Grade 1 that it is OK to move on whilst still consolidating a particular technique or chord that you may be struggling with. For example you might get to the end of Grade 1 and that Dm chord is still giving you a bit of grief but everything else you have learned you have attained a solid foundation. So rather than lingering on Grade 1 consolidation you could move on but keep the Dm chord practice in your practice routine.
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I do sometimes feel I need to look ahead a little, just not to get bogged down.
Right now, I have been working in some classical technique lessons and have been at the end of a level for what seems like forever. I am itching to move forward and if I don’t, I feel I will start losing interest.
I have set a goal that is simple. When I hit that goal, I will move forward, but keep working on the previous level as well until I am satisfied with it. As I reach the end of the next level, I expect to have gotten to the point with the prior level that I am reasonably satisfied.
Overlapping levels or grades like this makes sense and slows some sense of progress while still working on earlier material.
Additionally, I have found in both Justin’s course and my classical course that, as I move forward, I discover something that needs more skill from a prior lesson than I developed. That gives me incentive to go back and work on it again because now I see purpose and am excited.
We can’t perfect every little thing before progressing, otherwise I would be stuck doing scales and finger stretching for the next few years…
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Hi Roch.
+1 for what @jkahn, @socio and @jamolay said.
It’s all about learning new skills, applying them to playing music and deriving enjoyment and satisfaction from it.
I think your statement
was meant at least somewhat humorously. I’m in a similar place on the life timeline so I’ll share my view. My goal is to become as good a guitar player as I can be and get as much enjoyment from it as I can in whatever time I have. The courses are just a means to achieve my goal.
If I can inspire my grandson to play, even better
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Thanks all for the excellent advice, it’s much appreciated. And yes my comments are tongue-in-cheek. This journey all started several months ago when I took my granddaughter in for lessons and I ended up buying a guitar and starting the journey myself. I just finished recording mad world including the intro and it sounded beautiful. That was much much more than I ever expected to be able to play and in such a short period of time. It’s all about the enjoyment I agree. Thank you all again for the support.
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You can’t go wrong if you are having fun!
Here, hold my beer….
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@sticktothemuse How old is your granddaughter and when did she start taking lessons? It’s great that you started learning with her. My grandson is only 3. He likes to sing so I try to learn songs that he likes to sing along to. It’s a start.
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My granddaughter is 12, but we’re at complete opposite ends of the spectrum on music. But anyway it’s nice that we’re both learning to play an instrument at the same time. Grandkids are great, enjoy!
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Maybe you’ll find yourselfves working on Christmas songs together. No matter how different your preferred music styles may be during the rest of the year, Christmas might have a uniting effect 
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