I've been taking guitar lessons since February, and I have a few questions.
So far, I've learned all the open positions and how to use barre chords to move up and the fret, along with learning the the CAGED theory (although just on a beginner level). I can strum different songs with the open chords, and I'm trying my best to use barre chords to get better at those (they sound good, but I'm slow to switch between open and barre)
I've learned 2 of the minor pentaonic scales, and have been playing to backing tracks using the whole "circle of fifths" theory to play along.
I feel like my progressing pretty well, but one area that I want to improve is my strumming. I've learned the "Folk Strum" (d,d u, u d), and I usually use this to play songs. However, I find that many songs use their own distinct strumming pattern, and I seem unable to pick up on them when I try to strum along. It's as if I can't translate the the rhythm of the song/strumming pattern to my own strumming. My friends, many of who play music say I'm over-thinking it, but I can't help to feel that my strumming is very robotic, and my sense of rhythm isn't good. I'll strum to a metronome, which seems to help. I was just wondering if anyone has some pointers on learning to strum more in rhythm to particular songs? Or if you have any strumming exercises you recommend I'd greatly appreciate it!