with a teacher u will learn at a faster pase, at least i did, would of, u know wat i meen. anyway u should learn faster cos for a start theres the presure to actually do the work, so it helps if ur slightly laking in motivation. a teacher will also help direct ur studies, eg when i started i was self taught for a little while, i had a book with the open chord shapes an i jus played these few chords, but i never really progressed beyond this, my tutor suggested what i should learn. normally guitar tutors have archives of songs that will help u learn particular skills, these songs might not be that well known but they are definately worth learnin. at a later stage of ur developement it is also usefull because ur tutor can introduce u to other ways of playin music or different styles. for me it was jazz, before my teacher i was just into metal and neo-classical stuff but my teacher turned me on to it, i still find it really hard but i am gettin there. also because you can be sure ur tutor is more skilled than u it is far easier to take critisism constructively as aposed to ur pears who might just think they know more than u.
also a teacher will be able to not only demonstrate techniques, or ways of playing things but can also correct you. this can be very important because quite often u r not aware u are doin sumthin wrong or that there is a better way of doing things. this also applies with music theory which although u r not intrested in at the moment u might soon find that playin the instrument turns u on to it.
also if u dont have many mates who play guitar or other instruments it can be usefull to have a tutor to jam with.
lastly nothing beats a tutor when u dont know how to do sumthin and nead it explained person to person.
overall i would suggest one if u have the money and the time, but that may just be cos i had a brilliant tutor, i wish he could still teach me but i moved across the country to uni. ohh well
well good luck with ur guitar, hope this advice helps and keep practicin.
