Playing Acoustic: Playing Anything Originally Done On An Electric?

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Mellow_D

I think I just have mixed emotions. I love so much music that's played on electric. But I feel I'd be cheating if I were to learn things on electric and not have learned them first on acoustic.

Not at all.
I tend to do this myself (learn songs on acoustic, whatever they're played on), but only because my acoustic is right here beside me and I'd have to get the electric out and plug it in...
I learn things on acoustic that were played on bass, piano and horns too...

Originally Posted by Mellow_D

And I just prefer practicing on acoustic.

Fine, me too.

Originally Posted by Mellow_D

I suppose I'm debating with myself whether to go that route ... that is, undertake learning "stuff" played on electric and learning it on acoustic.

You can learn stuff - IOW, pick up the notes and rhythms - on any instrument. You just need to be aware (and it's pretty obvious) of what electric can do that acoustic can't, and vice versa.
Eg, suppose you hear some whammy bar action? If you're learning it on acoustic, you can make a mental note of where it happens, but you can't play it or practise it.
Likewise, if there's long passages on very high frets, that you can't comfortably reach on acoustic (without a cutaway), then it makes sense to break out the electric. (Or start on electric anyway, of course.)

Originally Posted by Mellow_D

And I have to consider, would spending so much time practicing be fruitless ... because regardless of my desire, I may find I'm just not good enough. I could spend months/years trying and realize it was a wasted effort that I could have applied to something else, like learning some other aspect of guitar playing (fingerpicking, or learning a certain genre of music, etc.)

Learning songs is never wasted effort. IMO it's the most useful thing you can do with your practice time.
Even if you find (after hours or days of work) you just can't get on top of a particular song, you'll have learned a lot of useful stuff along the way; technical practice and ear training, if nothing else.
As long as you're enjoying what you're doing - either learning a song you really like, or just enjoying the process - it's not wasted time. (I mean, unless there's something More Important you should be doing... ... as if there could be anything More Important than playing guitar! )
If you'd prefer to learn fingerpicking, or get into another genre, or whatever, then do that. If you're bored with what you're practising, that's when it's wasted time.
But the song is the thing, IMO. The more you want to learn a particular song, the more you should want to spend the necessary time to master whatever techniques it requires. The goal that keeps you going is getting the song done, adding it to your repertoire. When that's done, there'll be another song (or you spend more time polishing the ones you know). (I'll admit that I've often given up learning a particular piece; when it's got to the point where my desire to play it is outweighed by its difficulty; ie it stops being fun. If that's the case, who needs it? If someone was paying me to play it, that would be different...)