Since the last blog post, I have been focusing on learning the strumming pattern and also learning how to play my two new chords: A and E. I was very invested in reaching my personal goal this week of having the correct strumming pattern down as well as being able to play the chords accurately, therefore my total practice time per week was approximately 9 hours (a little over an hour of practicing a day). Although, while I was playing I lost track of time as I was dedicated, passionate and intrigued. Alternatively, for the strumming pattern (down, down, up, drop hand, up, down), some challenges I was facing was avoiding strumming down when I was to drop my hand. To avoid this, I was able to sing the strumming pattern while playing it and to challenge myself, I attempted to have a conversation with my grandma (multi-tasking) as I will eventually have to multi-task by playing the chords and the strumming pattern at the same time. After I was able to get the strumming pattern down, (ten times in a row) I moved on to learning the chords A and E. As I practiced the fingering for both chords, alternating between A and E, I added in the D chord fingering as well. Once I got in the groove, I began to play the strumming pattern, with the chords. However, I was struggling with staying on beat, and the strumming pattern was a bit faster than the previous one I had learned. After discussing my challenges with my co-worker; Paris, she suggested that I alter my sheet music and play the chorus of the song with only the down strum twice for each chord, except A, where I play it four times, along with the chords. After playing the chorus, I would begin the song again and adjust the strumming pattern back to down, down, up, drop hand, up, down. This small change worked wonders for me as I was able to change chords on cue.

Strumming Pattern Only (No chords):