Hello New to Noise and learning guitar

Hello, and wow, I love this site.

After years of trying to play guitar, I finally decided to learn to play. About 6 months ago I set down my pawn shop Bently (st Louis pre Series 10 'for those that are into that sort of thing') and decided to get me a good acoustic, or ok at least one that can hold a tune and doesn't rattle. I Also threw out all my "dream Tabs" I printed off the internet "You know the ones that only give a novice frustration". I picked up a tuner and a used copy of Richard Chapman's Complete Guitarist. I have been doing practices out of the book and reading up on music theory, I am pretty good at finger picking and playing melody's.. (ex I will always love you by The Beatles, stairway to heaven (intro), Nearer my god to thee, Gymnopede, Minuet and the like)

I am comfortable playing and arranging scales, and I am understanding the cycle of keys, but what I am having problems with is rhythm or even applying my melody's in a piece of music that sound good 'for a poet and a one man band'. I understand rhythm, but I am not the most rythmic person and I have a hard time applying the strum patterns I do know. This site Is a great supplement to my book, it brakes down a piece of music to a basic form and shows you how you can add in your own flavors and make the piece come alive. I forever saw a huge line between an easy version and something you would want to play for someone, most of the examples I have tried on this site show the grey areas and explains parts that I wasn't getting out of books, or tabs.

I live in a great place to learn Music, Mountain View Arkansas.. It boast itself as the folk capital of the world, and while I am not exactly wild about the music they play, I can go to the town square on any weather permitting day and hear a colorful assortment of music. I long to take my guitar down there and pull up next to one of these old time artist and discuss and learn music from them. My goal at this point is to set a firm ground of musical literacy so I can communicate with these people that have played for 50 years plus. I am very excited that this website along with further reading will get me closer to that goal.

Sorry for the Biography, Hello and I look forward to working with all of you.