downstroke achieved!

yes, I've finally broken that barrier and can now downstroke with the pick. I'm overdoing it and downstroking all the time, but that's too really embed it in the muscles; later I'll alternate between downstrokes and upstrokes. It sounds better, certainly, and it feels better to be able to play guitar a little more normally. My accuracy is still not as good as with an upstroke, but it's getting there, and it's good enough for now.

The recital is coming up. I'll be doing a blues arrangement I came up with using some riffs and parts that Tom taught me. I'll be playing the Yamaha, as the epiphone dot hardshell case is out of stock until January.