I've just finished Guitar Fundamentals 1 - thanks so much to Lisa & the Guitar Tricks team, it's hard to fathom how far I've come from a complete guitar (& music generally) beginner less than 6 months ago.

A couple of specific issues I'm having with strum technique - I wonder if anyone can recommend particular videos/tutorials to address these:

1. Trouble with smooth upstroke with pick - I can strum down/up with my fingers fine, but when I try to use the pick I get stuck. I could do with some additional advice or a good tutorial on this skill.

2. Picking with fingers only - I'd like to learn to play with either pick or fingers, but I find it very difficult to pick strings efficiently with only my fingers rather than using the pick. Again, some specific advice or a video to follow would be appreciated.

Finally, I often see references in guitar tabs to 'Strum pattern X' (eg 'Strum pattern 9'). What does this mean and is there a standard set of numbered strum patterns somewhere?

Thanks in advance - this is my first post here although I've appreciated browsing the forum on several occasions when stuck.

Cheers

Nikki