G'day
I have been playing for about 20 years now and i reckon one of the other posters hit the nail on the head when they discussed their son. A key to sustained learning is finding others to learn with and jam. I started at 18 and my best mate started at the same time. We would learn basic chord progressions and then on the computer find the chord progressions of various songs. Imagine our excitement when we found out theat the emtire U2 catlogue can be played using E, A and D!
Playing with a mate allows you discuss things, learn things and play rythm with eachother.
The realisation that one doesnt need to be rocket scientist to play at an ok level was key for me because every 18 year old wants instant gratification. Working out that you can play chords in 3 different postions on the fret board was alos a revelation. Having these type of mental wins one after another is important.
Another great relaisation was that learning lead is merely a matter of learning a few scales. I learned a major scale, a minor scale and a blues scale and I was off!
A free and great learning website imo is wholenote.com - they have everything from tuning forks to metronomes, to beat systems, tabs of songs etc etc..
Formal lessons are necessary once you have learnt some basics and want to take it to another level. I had 10 formal lessons and in that time the guy thought me the finger picking to Neil Yound Needle and the damage done. Its remains my party piece when i try to impress the kids!
Cheers
Aussie
