Hi. I’m Bart, a beginner–started just before COVID but have restarted many times since. I’ve been practicing and playing regularly for about 3 months now, which puts me at F Chord torture which I can’t seem to get past. My rhythm is much better nowadays but I don’t have any natural sense of time or doing different things with different hands at the same time. The different patterns take me ages to internalise. I’m enjoying learning nowadays, trying to go slowly and touching on all aspects–playing songs, scales, riffs, chord practice, theory, ear training and now strumming.
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Hi, Frank here from Germany. I’m 56 and started learning guitar about 6 years ago. I play electric and acoustic guitar and I’m overall satisfied with my skills. I’ve build a repertoire of songs I can play confident and I have a ton of songs I’ve started to learn, but found them to difficult later on, so I stopped. I always thought I got a good rythm feel, but when it comes to strumming I still think I suck. So hoping to improve with this course.
Thanks, just what I neded
Hello everyone, I’m Vinnie (also go by Lee). I’m 59 and a first-time guitar learner, for about 2 1/2 years now. I’ve been learning on JustinGuitar for most of that time. I’m at the beginning of Grade 3 and still polishing up some beginner rough spots. I’ve never been very comfortable with strumming - seems too twangy. I have no experience to know if it’s my technique or my guitar - probably both!. I took the previous strumming course and thought I’d check this one out for a new year’s gift to myself. I have a journal somewhere on the sight. I’ll be getting back to it more this year.
Every day with a guitar in my hands seems like a great gift. I love learning guitar.
Happy to meet you all. Enjoy!
Hi I’m Fredrik, 78 years old, I’ve been on and off on the guitar for some years. I hope and that think this course will give me a kick in the right direction.
Cross posted from Introduce Yourself:
Hello and greetings from the Deep South, USA. I began my guitar journey as a young teenager back in 1976. Back then I had a really poor classical acoustic guitar. The neck was warped, but that didn’t really matter. The strings were set so high above the frets, buzzing was never a problem. I did manage to learn a few basic chords and a couple of intro riffs.
Then for the next 25 years, life got in the way. During that time of other more pressing demands, the old guitar sat neglected and unused. It eventually disappeared during one move or another.
About 10 years back, I started working with a couple of guys (from across the country) who had spent their early years first learning to play then eventually making a living as musicians. We would get together occasionally and when the work was done they would play. Every now and then, I’d grab a guitar and fumble through something remembered from my youth.
It wasn’t long before I’d purchase a new guitar and started the return to my true roots. That would be porch music. We’d play old mining songs, campfire stuff, etc. Now I had the bug and a serious case of GAS (guitar acquisition syndrome) to boot. Time still wasn’t on my side. I’ve stayed stuck at barely getting through a couple of songs before hitting the limits of my repertoire.
At 59 years old and four hand surgeries later, the guitar has become my rehab program. These days I’m a semi-retired drilling consultant for civil work. I’ve finally got the time to try and really up my game and I decided to go back to basics. I’m working on fundamentals, theory and try to unlearn some of my bad habits.
As I’ve told my wife, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
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Look like Richard has answered all the questions, but I’m around lurking and will do my best to improve the course if there are things anyone is struggling with 
good luck y’all!
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Howdy! I’m very excited about this course. First picked up an acoustic about a decade ago, but, life stuff, and didn’t pick up another for several years until about three years ago when I picked it all back up with an electric. After having kids, (including identical triplets girls that will be 1 next week!) I want to set an example and encourage their own love of music. My girls love my play despite how out of rhythm I tend to be. My boy bangs away at his uke. I only have small increments of time, but I make the most of it. I still feel like a beginner, though, after struggling with some significant pain in my right shoulder and numbness in my arm. So, I’ve really had to adopt a modified way of holding the guitar that relies on more of a classical position. I know it’s not cool, but it keeps me healthy and engaged with the guitar. I’m really hoping this course will help me play confidently and pain free for years to come. I know it will be a life-long endeavor, but I feel like I should be better than I am after three years. My guitar, my hold, my strumming, has rarely felt consistently confident or comfortable. And I just want to say how much I love this positive, supportive community that pays it forward in so many ways. Thank you so much Justin, your staff and all of the folks on the forums!
I have this problem many times. What sort of adjustments does one look to make?
Are you tilting your guitar body towards you so that you can look down and see the frets / fret markers etc. Moving it away from a vertical plane? That can be one major cause of snagging the pick on an upstrum.
Thanks so much for responding! I don’t tilt it much at all, certainly not to look at the frets, etc. I’ve worked hard to avoid looking down as a primary means to stay healthy in terms of posture. Could a slight tilt still be problematic?
Hello all! I’m very excited about this course. I have been through level 1 and 2 and am just starting level 3, but I have always felt my strumming is inconsistent. It’s very confusing to me because I have musical ability. I have played sax and sang for over 40 years, but this thing is getting me.
I am 51 live in Arkansas, USA and have been playing about 9 mos. I practice every day, but I am very excited to improve this portion of my playing.
Thanks for listening to an old dude rant lol.
Hi. I started playing acoustic guitar more than a year ago and find the strumming foundations course very valuable. At first, it seems so simple but it takes practice to play on the beat and the approach and exercices in this course are great. Thanks. Very useful and lots of fun.
Just invested in the strumming foundations course after first picking up the guitar seriously a few years back. I’ve got into the habit of strumming without a pick, using my index finger to lightly brush the strings to keep the noise down, probably due to a lack of confidence. Learning to use a pick for strumming has been my first major challenge during the course but I’m enjoying the metronome challenges, this has now become a daily practice routine. I’m still not entirely sure I’m holding the pick as Justin has demonstrated, my index finger appears to be curled in further and not pointing down towards the tip of the pick, I’ve noticed that my index finger often hits the strings before the pick and not entirely sure if this is a bad habit I need to get out of. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
YO fellow guitarists! Looking forward to this course. I have been playing guitar on and off for so many years but never made it through the intermediate level. I am hoping to break the barrier as a part of the Class of 2023 . Keep rocking everyone!
Hi everyone, I have a few questions…
- Has this course helped you so far and if so how?
- Does it offer anything more than the beginners course modules?
- Do you feel it is value for money?
I ask because money is tight as it is for many people and will help potential customers to make the right choice.
Hi Dave, I’ve been working through the foundations course. It has indeed helped me! It’s not so much that there is content I wasn’t familiar with, but it is presented in more depth. It has caused me to spend longer on various practices - literally up to a week on things I thought I had down. It helps me look more closely at what I’m doing, and make adjustments. (Some work, some don’t!) For me it’s definitely worth the price - it costs about as much as a 30 minute lesson here where I live. Also, I think you can request a refund within a reasonable amount of time (30 days?) if you don’t like it.
at the risk if sounding like a nitwit, what does the sos mean in strumming sos? 
Hello Ray,
SOS is an old maritime distress call meaning “Save Our Souls” thus requiring urgent assistance. Obviously this insn’t meant to be so dramatic.