Hey man,
I took lessons for years and tought myself by trial and error for more years. I'll tell you something that will really help you. Take something you know. Like you said you learned a minor scale in A minor. Take a tape recorder and record yourself playing a simple 3 chord progression. Record it just playing the same thing over and over and work on improvisation. It takes a mechanical shape that you've learned and teaches you the beauty of phrasing and licks and so forth. Another thing that will make you grow quickly is learning songs by listening. It will take you forever at first, but the more you do it, the better and faster you will be. You wont be just book smart, you'll teach your ear as well. I recommed ACDC. Very simple but also cool.