Not quite

Guitar chords always make me wish I could actually play guitar.

So, on a whim I picked up a guitar and tried again, because it's been something over a year (or two, or three...) since I last gave it a shot. Well...mixed results.

Negatives:
My fingertips still don't want to cooperate and prefer to drag on all the strings and not switch chords very fast. Switching takes practice; getting my fingertips off the strings...I don't know what the answer for that is.

I still can't quite come up with an appropriate strumming rhythm.

On the plus side:
I can actually hear the sound I should be getting...muddled greatly by the awful strumming and my fingers slipping, but I can hear something, which I couldn't before.

I can't get exactly the right rhythm, but I do feel like I have a better sense of what it should be.

So I'm wondering what's changed? Perhaps listening to more folk music helped? Or dancing? As clueless as I thought I was about rhythm, something's managed to slip in and plant itself in my brain?

I was happy to find that "Down To the River To Pray" has very easy chords.
I also attempted "I Would Be Sad" and "Swept Away" by The Avett Brothers, but I think they must pick the strings, and not so much strum, because I was having a lot more trouble with those. Not to mention their sound is very unique, so I'm not sure I'd get it anyway.

So, it gave me hope that maybe five years from now or something, I might be able to finally figure out how to play. It just irks me, because it's not supposed to be hard to just play a little bit.

My fingertips are gonna hate me tomorrow.