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@DianeB @NeilES335 Thank you!...I am not sure as to why I've developed the habit of picking upwards but I guess it has to do with how I anchor my right hand, it seems to be somewhat more comfortable and easier for me to blindly locate a string in this way if that makes sense. The right hand needs to be somewhat lifted on a downstroke which will make me hit the wrong strings at times as I'm trying to develop a sense for where the strings are without having to look at them, that said I'm fairly able to play all downstrokes but given my habit of playing upwards I'm a little bit worse at it, thanks to the course (really) I'm starting to recognize notes by ear, in doing so I've also noticed a difference in tone, the downwards pattern has a better tonal 'expression' - if that is the right term - for some reason. I'm glad I asked... You are right I guess, I shouldn't be paying for comfort with tone. I will try to turn the downwards picking pattern into a habit from now on... Thanks again! Best regards

Hello, @Preetam, and welcome to the forum! I will assume you are just starting out with guitar. I hope you will take some time to learn about good posture and the ergonomics of playing guitar. The Musician's Way website is a good start. The object is to be aware of your entire body, and which muscles are in use for supporting weight, providing balance, and musical control. For now, think of your arm, including the shoulder, as an extension of your hand. The thumb normally provides stability while the fretting fingers apply the minimum required force. The wrist, elbow, upper arm, and shoulder should distribute the weight. The fretting fingers should touch the strings on their tips, not their pads. And this is all easier said than done!

Recently I’ve read some new books that might be of interest. These are oriented toward general self- or skill improvement, not necessarily music, although music skills are well represented. I found valuable nuggets in each. One of these might perk up your practice, as they did for mine. If you enjoyed the late George Leonard’s Mastery (1991), I encourage you to follow up with his equally concise companion volume, The Way of Aikido (1999). It provides the backstory to the aikido lessons in Mastery, and we learn what it’s like to become a newly minted black belt. (Hint: You start over.) From the NYT best seller list we have James Clear’s Atomic Habits (2018) — build good habits and break bad ones. Chapter One alone is worth the price. Also well reviewed is Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise (2017) by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool. And we have a pair from co-authors Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, who have made new careers of studying the research on performance: Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success (2017). In writing that book, they discovered that burnout was a subject in itself. They tackle the issues that arise specifically from following your passion in The Passion Paradox (2019). To borrow author Tom Peters’ phrase from a related context, “there is an eerie similarity of language” among all these authors’ findings and recommendations. I heard the same themes echoing again and again: Deliberate practice. Consistency. Self-awareness. Tradeoffs. Challenge. Warnings abound: The object of your passion can consume and crush you. Feedback is healthy, but pursuing external validation is a fool’s errand. Rest — short, medium, and long term — is a biological necessity for growth. The principles apply to learning guitar or improving at almost anything. The links above go to Amazon, but first check your local library. Enjoy!

@kenneth Congratulations on your progress so far; you're doing great! Alternate pickking vs. all down strokes....I beg to differ slightly with my collegue DianeB on picking technique. I believe in the early stages (like where you are) it's best to develop a solid downpicking technique focusing on this first. I don't believe Steve K mentions this in the LMG course, but here's what I mean. You're observation on tone and picking technique is spot on. Upstrokes do tend to be weaker and more "trebly" than downstrokes. When you donwpick, work on getting a solid clear tone, and use a 'rest stroke", meaning, pick "thorough the string" ie inwards and down vs vertical and outwards. Briefly rest your pick on the next string below, before picking the next note. If you practice this you'll notice a definate improvement in your tone and finger control. Don't rush it... get used to the downstroke and "rest stroke" technique. There's nothing wrong with alternte picking, which is, as @DianeB says is essential for speed, but in my humble opinion your current technique needs to be corrected now before it becomes an issue later. You can add alternate picking to your tool kit later on. I hope that helps! N

@kenneth It's good that you're mindful of pick direction. The choice depends to some degreee on what's happening in the music: alternating bass? string skipping? and such. At this stage I'd encourage you to use alternate picking (up-down-up-down) as much as possible. It's hard to acquire speed if one's picking is all up or downstrokes.

Swing? Well... thats a good question. Musicians are always on the hunt for "it" . A common term among Jazz musicians it refers to a "feel" or gut response to the music and the beat. In the case of Minuet in C , a waltz in 3/4 time, ( rythym count 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3,)the Swing would mean putting emphasis on beat 1 of each bar, as a dancer would in taking a step. In other forms like jazz , the " swing" comes from emphasis on beats 2 and 4 in 4/4 time, etc. I hope that makes sense.