I love singing too! But I am a horrible singer. It’s not that im critical of myself, other people have told me to stop singing, it ruins my music!!
But I don’t listen to them, I sing like no one is listening.
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That’s the way!! I’m sick of letting other people’s words or opinions getting in the way of what I love doing, so I need more of this!
Hmmmm I guess that includes me getting in the way of myself… Gotta learn to say goodbye to these fear anchors I’m carrying around. I could have uploaded stuff a month ago, but every day fear stops me :S
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Sing your heart out!! And hey, maybe with all the singing, you’ll discover even more of yourself!!
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Agreed, I used to do karaoke all the time, I’m actually hoping to audition for a musical on the 9th and 10th! First audition in well over 10 years! I’m excited and nervous!
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Sweet! I’d love to do a musical some day… Have you seen (or heard the album for) Dear Evan Hansen?
Literally the musical that got me into enjoying musicals.
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I have not, but I will check it out on Apple Music now! Yeah, it’s Mamma Mia actually, one of my favorites! I adore ABBA!! 
my favorite album is The Greatest Showman, and my anthem is from that, This Is Me! Have you listened to it?
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I’ve heard a track or two from it, but not the whole thing yet. I have Wicked and Hamilton in my queue to listen to as well. Defying Gravity omg.
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Wicked is one of the first ones I ever listened to! That and Hamilton are on my top 5 to go see on Broadway!
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Ahhh if only I wasn’t so near the Pacific I’d so binge Broadway right now!
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Agreed, well, I’m I’m MT haha, but someday! Anything’s possible
Okay…question for guitarists…
My teacher gave me Stand By Me to work on. I’m REALLY basic with the chords right now. I literally have to stop, look at the picture, look at my neck, count the frets and strings and THEN strum!! It’s pretty sad. LOL
So, when I’m playing it of course doesn’t sound like a song of any sort.
And then on top of that I’m struggling with the strumming pattern. Originally she had me just up and down but really emphasising the up so it would be more like a John Lennon SBM. But for some reason I can’t get the up to stand out. SOOOOO…I found another pattern that I like but it’s hard for me to get it fast enough to go with the lyrics.
MY QUESTION IS…
Should I work on getting the chord transitions down first and THEN add in the strumming or should I get the strumming down and then add the chords?
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I am not the right person to answer about strumming because I don’t strum the proper way at all, I just strum what feels good to me on each song. I got the finger placements first but I didnt have any teachers that would tell at me lol, probably why I still suck at it! I enjoy singing more than playing but it’s nice to have noise to sing to.
I like to sing too which what is frustrating me…I’m soooooo slow I can’t sing along.
But I see my daughter getting her songs and I have hope. We started lessons together but she’s doing acoustic while I’m doing classical, so she started with chords and strumming and songs from day one.
I could NOT sing and play for a long time. I still struggle with this lol. Get the song down first, and then slowly you can try to sing to it while keeping the rhythm. It takes practice for sure but having the song down first helps a lot as then your fingers will transition easier and your strum patterns may also become automatic after enough practice. Good luck!
I would say get the chords down, be able to smoothly transition from one to the next. Smooth chord playing is a lot more pleasing, even with chunky down strokes as opposed to beatutiful strumming with half second pauses between chords.
Plus chords are chords, there’s only so many, strumming patterns are infinite. I still have to practice various strummings. 
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I keep asking “how do you know how to strum” and she just says “you try different ones”. THAT’S helpful. I’ve noticed my daughter uses the same pattern for everything. She says it’s called “calypso”. It works. It has worked for her Riptide (Vance Joy) and for all the Christmas songs she’s learning right now. LOL
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That’s often what I do until it doesn’t work for a song, then I switch my strumming up some.
Are you reading it from a tab?
‘Stand by Me’ is a great beginner piece to learn and you asked 2 questions
First the chords - Yes! Get the chords tattooed into your muscle memory! Forget the strum pattern you need to learn because once you have the muscle memory for the chords and have mastered how to switch chords, the strum timing will come naturally - it may not feel it but as long as youre keeping time, it will come almost without trying - trust me - and then you will not be able to stop playing it for weeks
Strumming pattern - as before it will come. But try first to do Strum - Tap - Strum - tap. This will help you get used to timing your chord changes 
Stand by Me is originally in the key of A Major but is often simplified into G Major as the chords are a bit less demanding if youre new to it (
@Dejavu Dan, correct me if im wrong there) - If youre struggling with the original chords ask your teacher to transcribe it.
That’s right, Key of G is easy, key of A has 2 bar chords, which is a nightmare for a beginner. Hell, I don’t even like bar chords!
I seem to remember learning it in G when i learned it. I dont play too much chord-work anymore. I can but i prefer runs.