I have really been enjoying this learning process in Fund. 1 w/ Lisa. I've been taking my time, getting fairly comfortable with one aspect before moving on to the next. I'm 85% through Fund. 1 in 6 months and practicing a lot. I thought that after getting comfortable with open chords & changes that I would be fairly well on my way. Up till now I've only been doing "down-strums" & my chords & songs sound pretty good. Well now I'm into the strumming/strum patterns & I feel like I've never had a guitar in my hands in my life. I can't control my pick, my volume, and everything just sounds plain awful!!!

I thought if I could strum down strokes ,that up strokes should be just the same...only in the other direction....WRONG!

I just can't seem to get this, no matter how hard I try & am extremely frustrated. Feel like all the work I've put into this is useless if I can't even play a tune in any kind of rhythm with a strum pattern that sounds decent. What am I missing here???