Mandolin Reflection #3

While waiting to sign up for lessons at Jack's Drum Shop again, I thought that I would continue to practice what I hard started in my 4 lessons so I don't get rusty. Recently, I've been working on strumming, which is a lot more difficult than it sounds. In order to pick/strum efficiently, one has to keep a consistent beat, but you will have to skip strums, depending on the song. It's very hard to stay to one pattern of picking when it's far easier and more natural to just strum when you have to and change up your pattern according to where you are in the song. It's hard to do, and it feels unnatural, but it's good form, and if I don't learn it, it will only hinder me later when I become more advanced.To practice this, I've been playing more songs from my lesson book and also learning chord songs. I figured it would be easier to start with chords songs, because that way I don't have to worry about which strings to pick in addition to worrying about strum pattern. The songs I've been practicing on are "The Captain and Hourglass" by Laura Marling, which has a fairly complex strumming pattern and only 3 chords (Em, G, and D), "Time on Your Side" by Emily Jane White, which has a strum pattern that is good to practice because it sounds inconsistent, so I have to be on my toes about when to strum but not hit the strings and has more complicated chords (C, G, Em, Dm, E, and a few others), and 'All My Lovin'" by the Beatles, which I already knew but have been practicing with because of its simple chord progression and fairly simple strum pattern. It doesn't feel entirely natural all the time, but I notice that if I just start by playing a consistent strum pattern and slowly start to drop strums in the right places, it starts to feel natural, and generally sounds better. I plan to continue practicing this way on my own, at least 10 minutes every other day.