Hi billmccallart,

I think I know what the problem is. Lisa teaches the 4 step picking pattern without playing any chords or notes, so she hits the low E string with her thumb, then hits the high E with middle finger, hits the G string with her thumb, and then hit the B string with her index finger.

I'm referring to this video specifically: https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=12106&s_id=596

At about the 3:15 mark in the video she throws in some chords. Notice how she uses the same picking pattern but she's not hitting the same strings. She changes and adapts the pattern to fit the chord she's holding. For example, when she plays a D chord in the video and employs the 4 step picking pattern, she doesn't hit the low E string to start the pattern, she hits the open D string first. She essentially moved the pattern up a couple of strings to match the chord she is playing.

After she plays the D, she plays a C and then a G, and each time she changes, she adjusts the pattern so that she's hitting the strings she's holding for each chord.

I hope some of that made sense. Another important thing is to slow it way down. When I was first learning to play, my music teacher always said to slow it down as much as possible, especially if I was having problems. Doing this will help your brain process each step of a song, or pattern, etc. And slowly, very slowly, you can increase the playing speed. You want to be able to understand the small details before you go wild.

I hope that helps, and I'm looking forward to hearing your progress on this!

- Billy