I joined up a few weeks ago and made a welcome message, struggled with my first go at Beginner Grade 1 lessons as I could not get rhythm right or deal with a metronome.
I restarted again after a 6 month break with a calmer expectation and mainly found Justins NITSUJ lessons which allowed me to understand where i should be and when to move on without rushing.
This is me at halfway through ‘Beginner Grade 1’ and the strumming is starting to click, its real early stuff but I am determined to stamp down the base knowledge before moving on.
Two days ago the metronome finally made some sense as is the tapping foot which also prompts itself naturally rather than forcing it.
I have just started to learn the Dm chord at a shock to my little finger.
Now this is a real brave posting of mine at such an early stage but I WANT to succeed this time and i will do what is required to learn and that mens sharing at this stage so I can look & learn going forward.
I will take all constructive criticism and use it happily.
imho, your doing great Simon!
Your chords are ringing clean and your timing with your metronome seems very good. Keep it up and move forward with the next lesson I think.
Good one to learn for sure. Is Justin suggesting to your your pinky for this chord? I learned it leaving the pinky free which is the way I play it mostly.
I will say, there are times when playing it with the pinky involved is a good idea. Leaving the index finger free becomes useful for future chords I think.
Anyways, your doing great man.
Keep having fun and taking it at the pace your doing now.
It’s working!
Oh, and I like your mechanical metronome.
Nice touch for your video. Ya got the drum (metronome) beat as your back track.
Nice! Solid start Simon - sounds like you’re going about this the right way.
Don’t worry about posting ‘beginner’ stuff - we’re all on the same path and we’ve all been there
Looking forward to following your progress.
Loving your metronome, I’ve got boring digital one and it annoys me more than it helps. I think you convinced me to invest.
This Dm chord still gives me pain, not physical, but moral, because I, for some weird reason, still miss it quite often. My pinky just doesn’t want to lend on correct string.
Yes I am struggling with the Dm chord when changing from others, but I will just keep returning to it until I can do the songs in the practice session, this one might take a little longer to master
Indeed he is suggesting that, honestly my short fingers and poor stretch at this stage cannot reach the thrid finger into the fret, so just as well :). Thanks for the encouragement
Bravo Simon.
Posting a first recording is always a big step and takes a mindset that is positive and engaged in wanting to learn and improve.
There are several points I can make that will hopefully reinforce the great comments you have already had.
Switching between Am and Em is a good choice for rhythm practice because the chord changes are relatively straight forward you can devote your concentration to rhythm and not to finger placement and chord grips.
Your timing is coming on really well. I have watched a few times through. In one viewing I deliberately gave my attention to beat 1 and whether you are making your strum Down land nicely in time with the metronome - you are. Another time I looked at beat 4 and, again, you are in time. That suggests a good, consistent rhythm.
You are playing this pattern.
1 _ 2 & _ & 4 _ D _ D U _ U D _
Occasionally you stray away from that pattern and play this, which misses the & after 2.
1 _ 2 _ 3 & 4 _ D _ D _ 3 U D _
If that was deliberate then no problem. In the grand scheme of things it is no problem. Music benefits from small variations here and there. If, however, your aim was a 100% true and accurate pattern from start to finish, you had a few minor wobbles.
I say minor and that is a deliberate word choice. They are not much to worry about at all. If you do want to give yourself strategies to avoid even those small issues then try counting along with your strumming.
Play what you say and play what you say.
You could say out loud: 1 _ 2 & _ & 4 _
You could say out loud: D _ D U _ U D _
And you could eventually become so comfortable with both that you could switch between the two counting methods every two or three bars as you choose.
Another useful strategy, before even beginning to strum and play the guitar is to listen in to your metronome, start counting 1, 2, 3, 4 to get the time fixed, then count the strumming pattern with the metronome, then continue counting as you begin to strum.
As I said - those are suggestions for what shows as only a few minor wobbles here. The technique holds good and true no matter what your rhythm and strumming pattern is and no matter what chords you play.
Justin recommends that beginners maintain a chord grip position that has their thumb down and behind the neck.
In time, that stipulation relaxes and the is many a good reason to allow it to be up and over.
Yours is already up. Given that, you could try starting make use of the fact and curling it over and around to mute the low E string when you are holding the Am chord. Your strum motion is hitting all six strings on both chords and the low E in an Am chord muddies the sound and is best muted if you can.
that is a big thing and defenitly will help you 
.