i think a good teacher would break the lesson down into parts: technique/theory/jam. i took guitar lessons for a few months when i was like 8 and i don't remember a damned thing i learned, but if i was going to look for a teacher now i'd want one that does something like that.

taught myself for about a year, had lessons for six months, self taught since. i'd really recommend lessons. seriously. bad habits are bad for a reason, helps you kick them. bending high 3 strings down, just to name an example etc etc.

Im going to go with self tought. Ive been playing for 2 in a halth years now and im all self tought. All i did was play songs i liked, made my own music and practice. I would rather go online and look up skills, watch people play and learn from it.

ok. ive been playing guitar for about 15 years. i was like you guys sayin that lessons werent necessary. until recently that is. my whole problem growing up playing guitar was that when i did take a lesson itd be with someone that could barely play and as a result i could often out play many of my teachers. So i never took lessons again. when i was about 21-22 i went to community college and started making contacts in the music world. I ran into a classical guitar instructor that had been playing for 30+ years and i decided to let him teach me. I had to pay a huge fee, but it was so worth it! he corrected many of my bad habits and turned me on to a whole new musical genre. Unfortunately, i was only able to learn from him for that semester As a result, i can play beautifully now and any bad habits i used to have are now gone. I totally recommend taking lessons from someone like this and not some 18 year old punk-rocker wanna be who got a job in a guitar shop. otherwise, guitar lessons are indeed a waste of time and/or money.

hehe

If you have been playing for a year and you have trouble with palm muting and alternate picking... Then lessons aren't going to useless for you.