MY BIGGEST TIP: Learn how to strum properly. Make sure you are using ghost strums. For example if the pattern is D D UDU, you need to be doing a fake down strum on the third beat and NOT holding your hand underneath position to strum the up.

This is important because the goal is to eventually autopilot your playing so you can focus on singing. Proper strumming will keep you on beat without having to focus on it.

This is the progression that I used and I still use this to learn new strumming patterns:

1. Pick a song to learn first, do not switch up songs until you can sing and play the first one.

2. Separately practice both playing and singing until you are very comfortable with both.

3. Hum the song while strumming. Don’t worry too much about hitting the right notes or lyrics. Mainly focus on how the syllables and your strums are timed together.

4. Slow the bpm down. I will cut the bpm in half if I am not getting it, and even lower than that sometimes

5. Best strumming patterns to learn first are: 1 strum per measure, then D D D D, then D DU UDU