[JBCROTTY]

Rez -

My two cents. I am 49 - I played guitar as a kid for a few years and then stopped for 35 years and picked it back up about 4 years ago to re-learn. Here's what I have done and what helped me. People might say this is bad advice - I am only expressing what has worked for me - does not mean it is right for you.

I agree - you need to stay interested and having fun. These are the two most critical objectives in learning to play guitar. People give up if they are not interested and having fun.

I am mostly acoustic and mostly rhythm. I strongly feel that while riffs and song segments are fun to learn and play, it is important to be able to work on songs that you like and be able to play complete songs - this will keep you interested, progressing, and having fun.

Some will tell you to focus on no more than 10 songs, or work on a song at a time, etc, but I get bored by limiting the number of songs I am working on. I have a catalog of about 50-75 songs - perhaps 25 that I can play end-to-end and the rest that I am working on constantly and staying interested and having fun. Some I give up on and replace, others I hammer away at until I have them down. I don't limit the number of songs that I am sorting out at any given time and it gives me plenty to work on and plenty of progress to be had - and most importantly keeps me highly interested, learning and having fun.

For me, I did Justin's beginner course to re-orient myself to guitar. I also used his Music Theory basics - I learned the Circle of Fifths, some pentatonic scales (these were really to learn the fretboard and the relation of notes to each other and octaves and such), and spent time learning the fretboard and the notes on each string. Forget sight-reading - not necessary for hobbyists or casual players. Learn tab and focus on that. I can read music but tab is so much easier and more efficient. Beyond that, learning songs that you enjoy is the best way to stay engaged, having fun, and progressing. I feel great when I finally nail a song and can play along with the recording and do it end-to-end.

An instructor is also a good idea as long as they adapt to how you want to learn and what you are interested in. I have used a couple of folks on and off, but have not found one that I felt was really organized and focused on how I wanted to learn, so the search continues. Jam groups or groups to play with are also very helpful from what I have heard but I have been unsuccessful finding one near me.

Hope this helps.