Why is this lesson 17 MINUETS long you are kidding me right he literally said there wouldn’t be anything longer then 5 minutes
Hello @SportGuitar15 , and welcome to the forum! Justin takes the time necessary to explain things clearly - that’s not always possible in 5 min, so you will encounter a lot of lessons that are longer than that.
I don’t remember Justin saying that lessons wouldn’t be more than 5 min, and since most are in fact longer, I’m pretty sure my memory serves me right. What he did say, is that it’s a good idea to limit technique exercises to max 5 min each and build practice sessions from those different blocks of max 5min. If you look at the ready made practice sessions Justin provides at the end of each module, you will find that these contain indeed a number of technique exercises of 5 min max and, a 10 min song practice for fun.
Have fun!
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Hi Ronnie and welcome to the Community.
Els is quite right in that Justin is referring to recommended practice unit being a maximum of 5 minutes long. That is the time of intense focused practice. I’ve been learning with Justin for over a decade and not once in that time has he commented on the maximum length of a lesson.
You will find many lessons of varying length throughout your guitar journey and lots of additional text information on the website. Study it well and you’ll reap the benefits in time.
Just enjoyed the ride.
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What works for me is using the middle fingers nail for the down strum and the nail of the thumb for the up strum.
I do like the sound of finger style, however, I prefer to use a pick as my goal is to play electric guitar. At the momento, I have a steel-stringed acoustic. Any tips on changing chords fluidly? I’m having a bit of trouble with it.
This lesson can really get deep. Playing without a pick can also be about preferences. I visited this lesson to just give it a go even though I can already strum with my hands. With all the tips justin give in this lesson, nothing really feels right to me, except doing what feels comfortable to me already and what feels right, I think focusing more on doing what is taught perfectly will take you out of the bigger picture, and it’s about observing yourself as Justin mentioned, I never had access to this lesson before I found my own way of strumming with my hands and Im glad that everything that Justin mentioned at the last part of the video, puts me back in time when I was just starting out, you will eventually find a way that perfectly suits you and I just love how justin will always mention when he teaches that their is no right or wrong in doing this stuffs and that would actually give you an advantage to explore your own unique way of doing this techniques without the hassle of being uncomfortable of following what others tells you to do. Well It’s still a good thing at first to give it a try but if nothing seems to work for you, then focusing more on what actually matters is the way to go, just let your fingers strum without thinking too much and observe as you do it. I discovered that combining my index and thumb to strum actually works better for me where I strum down with my index and strum up with my thumb and the motion comes both from my arm and both fingers. This way I strum more comfortably without being too concern my strumming hand to mess up. Hope this helps others with their journey of strumming without a pick. 
Hello Arroun, welcome to the Community! Consider heading over here and introducing yourself to the wider group. 
Justin will address just this - in Lesson 1 or 2 of Grade 1 if I recall!
Can anyone explain what chords justin is playing? I hear the distinct DOWN DOWN-UP-DOWN pattern and I’m trying to get it but I’m having a hard time figuring out what is going on at the top of the neck.
Hi Andrew, welcome to the community forum. If you are a grade 1 beginner then, you don’t need to worry about what chords that Justin is playing. He is just demonstrating an optional picking techniques using the fingers. You are not expected to copy what Justin is playing. That is why Justin did not show the chords. If you want to use this strumming technique I would recommend watching the video and perhaps strumming with open strings. Then when you learn chords in grade 1, you can come back to this video and practice with your new chords.
If you are a more advanced player returning to review grade 0, you probably could already guess what he is playing by looking at the beginning and ending hand positions. I didn’t listen to the entire video, but in the first demonstration it sounds like he is playing a Weak finger G and a C chord.
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Hello my first lesson completed in the very long journey on the guitar learning. Thank you for Justin to keep it interesting and very relevant.
Thank you
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I just naturally prefer strumming using my thumb when playing my acoustic and now the corner of my thumb has a nice big pad that rivals those on the finger tips. Makes a reasonable strum both up and down.
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I always get discouraged when someone teaching goes off on a good sounding tune that is far beyond my reach.
@Knapper78 Hi Mike and welcome to our Community. I see you’ve just joined, have a look around and if and when you wish consider to make an introduction in the Introduce yourself section of the Community Hub.
This is probably the first JG lesson that popped up on my YT when I didn’t even know the existence of Justinguitar…and I remember I got so much inspired! First because I sucked at using a pick, but even more than that because he encourages the student to explore the guitar and the sound he/she can get through it using the different techniques.
Do not get discouraged…explore and learn at your own pace and I’m sure what is out of reach today won’t be anymore in due time 
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loving this intermediate player with gaps in knowledge
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