Yes but it can also become a crutch and personally I like making those mistakes and then teaching myself. Also often times people get lessons and go through the motions as a duty or responsibility rather than making it a task of devotion.

Well, it's hard to stay motivated when you suck. I, as well as many other people, wanted to quit after the first few weeks of trying to learn the guitar.
Putting money towards lessons made me stick with it, because I didn't want to quit after spending all of that money on it. Since I didn't want to quit, I got better at it, and I had motivation.
I quit taking lessons after I felt I knew enough to make it on my own and stay motivated.

Also, it may just be preference, but I'd rather just learn it the right way the first time. I've already had to change my picking hand twice, (finally got it right this time) and while trying to change it, I wanted to quit, and almost succeeded in doing that. If I would have learned it right the first time, I wouldn't have had to go through that torture. Though, I have high standards, and want to quit if I can't play Ants of the Sky after one year of playing.

Some people may be the same.

This post was edited by Mathcorey on Oct 30 2009 08:49pm

Yea that's true I did do some reading before I just jumped into it hehe

But I still have to defend that self teaching is better for some

Yes, it's just preference. I just wouldn't straight out say, "Don't get lessons" to everybody.

This is my advice.

Do get lessons. But only if you plan on being extremely dedicated. Practice what you are told and then try to go further. Not only will this show the instructor you are not another kid that will be quitting shortly. But it will also make the lessons worth it because you will be progressing fairly quickly. Lessons to learn the basics i think are a waste, to try to learn around the guitar and then start going to lessons.

when you first start off, it can be frustrating becuase your fingers/hands arent used to it, but stick to it

learn music theory! knowing basic theory can help you in ways you cant imagine.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JustinSandercoe a lot of begginer vids, covering from basics to more advanced techniques/theory

Now, if you get serious about playing then its HIGHLY suggested to get some lessons becuase having someone play/teach in front of you is the best way too learn

explain to me how having a professional guitarist, someone who plays guitar for a living, teach you how to play is a crutch?

My mom is really good at guitar and she taught me so i'm pretty lucky, but when I ask her how she learned she showed me all the books she bought.
They're just thin little books and they teach you all the chords along with finger exercises and all that stuff, so if you're really into learning by yourself, i'd save up like $50 and go out and buy like 10 books that teach you the basics and just play all the songs and do all the exercises. Most of them are formatted just like school work. Explanations - > Examples - > Exercises - > Then a song which combines all the exercises

e
Alternatively if you're a lazy loser with absolutely no passion or work ethic, you could just pay for an instructor, but of course that'd be like $100 for him to teach you the same content in about one of the books, and chances are he'll recommend if not require you buy it anyway lol

This post was edited by Innocent on Nov 2 2009 12:48pm

Getting lessons doesn't make him a "lazy loser."

It most certainly makes you lazy. It's nice to have someone show you to not use your thumb and to hold your pick correctly, but other than that, what's the point? Anything they could teach you, you could learn yourself in half the time with 2% of the cost, and in my book if you're going to pay obscene amounts of money with no other explanation as to why you can't just do it yourself, you're a lazy loser.