I finally got the nerve to post a recording. I just finished Justin’s original beginners course after 5 years, progress has been painfully slow. I tried to add a reggae rhythm by strumming DUUDUU as Justin suggested somewhere but I am not sure it sounds reggae. All comments welcome, good and bad, I need some objective opinions to find out where I am with my playing. I would also like some comments on my singing, is it best left to the shower 
?
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Nice one Trevor and congrats on your first AVOYP, it’s a big step! 
It doesn’t matter how long it takes you so long as you’re enjoying the journey. Your strumming was nice and consistent and chord changes sounded nice and clean throughout.
Definitely don’t confine your singing to the shower, it’s got a cool campfire vibe to it, and I say that in a good way just to be clear!!
One piece of advice I took a few days ago was perhaps to mix up the pattern at various points in the song which could be worth playing around with.
Looking forward to hearing more from you 
Bravo on sharing that first recording, Trevor. The strumming seemed fairly consistent, the chords rang out clearly. Beyond me to talk about the reggae rhythm. Singing was fine, not to be kept only for the shower. Keep at it and like everything else you will get better the more you do.
I think you played that well Trevor and congratulations on your first post. Hopefully that give you the confidence to record more. There is nothing wrong in playing it as you do but to get it sounding a little more authentic Justin suggests playing on the “off beats” to get that reggae feel. So in other words play on the “ands” between the beats. Justin suggests just playing upstrums. Justin has great tips like this in his beginner song books.
Well done on your first AVOYP posting Trevor and nicely done.
Singing is fine, so it doesn’t need to stay in the shower.
As Jason as already said, it’s about playing it on the off-beat. I’m sure there is a video about it somewhere on here but I saw it that long ago I cant remember which one it was, sorry.
There you go Trevor.
That’s the hard bit done.
You get the satisfaction of having accomplished something, no negative consequences and hopefully some pointers to help you on your journey.
No point in asking whether you should sing. There are a number of professional singers whose voice I cannot stand. You obviously enjoy to sing, otherwise you wouldn’t. Like guitar, the more you practice the better you’ll get. Is it spot on? No, but that’s not the point.
Your strumming pattern is novel for this one. (That’s also good)
I found it helpful just to tap my foot and then do one down strum alternating. If you play like that for a while, you should be able to hear a reggae vibe. Then try imagining the vocals rather than singing them first. It’s not the easiest song to start off singing an playing to.
Good vibes for sharing 
Congratulations Trevor on this milestone, its a big step to make to put yourself out there.
Its was an enjoyable listen and I look forward to your next recording.
Nice Trevor!!!
Dont know much about reggae, but that sounded like Bob Marley to me
Like all the others say. Crisp and clean chords. Good job.
Your voice is ace!!! Just go for it… practise on and keep playin…
Like to see more of your progress.
And congrats on your first AVoYP that is a huge milestone.
Keep em comin and rock on. ( 5 weeks, 5 months or 5 years does not matter at all 
)
Thanks for the encouragement and kind words, you have made me feel a lot better about my playing and especially the singing. @Notter , @Rossco01 , @SgtColon , @brianlarsen I will try your suggestions and see if I can get a more reggae vibe . I know I have to work on the dynamics of my strumming.
@tRONd I would love to sound like Bob Marley 
Well…
i would love to sound like Mr. Marley my self 
keep at it Trevor, continue down that road. And keep on singing
@skinnyt I’ve played around quite a lot with this song as mentioned earlier, for a more reggae vibe try the below pattern as an exercise, sounds good and if you can do an all string palm stop on the first 3 up strums it really catches the vibe. I’ll do a recording of it later tonight and whack it up for you (Arsenal taking precedence tonight I’m afraid!)
Following the 1+2+3+4+ pattern, Use DU-U-U-U
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Congratulations on your first public recording,
I always respect the amount of courage people muster to record and post it!
By all means, keep on singing, you took a good start.
For the reggae rhythm; that is actually a lot harder that you might initially think, especially if you want to sing over it. Example; this example from Grade 5 covers an excellent reggae groove but you’ll notice it is not something you just do right away! So don’t worry…about a thing…
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Hi Trevor, well done on your first AVOYP. That was a great first post. There is no such thing as slow progress. It’s far better to progress at your own pace rather than rush through the course. You would only be cheating yourself. I thought you had embraced the learning material, embedded the skills taught, and played very well. You just needed that confidence booster, which I’m sure you will get from that first AVOYP. I’m looking forward to hearing more songs from you.
Comgrat Trevor, took a big leap and definitely worth it, you sounded great! Not much to add to what others said other, most important your changes were clean and it sounded good to my ears. Keep it up 
Congratulations Trevor, you’ve achieved a great deal. Your interpretation of the song are your singing are fine. Well done.
Well done Trevor. Like you my progress on the beginners course seems to have been painfully slow, and now i’m consolidating i’m struggling to get a smooth and consistent strum. It sounds to me like your perseverance has paid off. Sounded good, strumming was smooth, chord changes sounded clean and there was nothing wrong with your singing. To my ear it added a sort of country feel to the song. Bravo 
@skinnyt Hi Trevor, only got round to doing this this morning and it’s by no means perfect! But hopefully this gives you an idea to play with. Missing a couple of up strums also sounds cool. Good luck with the progress
Good job man for having the gut to post your first one!!! Not bad at all, just keep at it and you will only get better!
@LievenDV thanks for the link to the lesson it has some good stuff in it although it will take me a looooooong time to manage to do it to a standard.
@Notter thanks for taking the time to do the recording, it gives me more options.
@DavidP @R.F.W @Socio @adi_mrok @batwoman @Tim_Wilson @Bytron08 thanks for taking the time to listen and comment, it is much appreciated.
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