TB, sounds like you are on the right track... when I joined the site, I didn't play much acoustic but I liked the way Lisa presented herself... very sincere and not the big "sales pitch" that you see with other on-line instructors. I've gone through most of her fingerpicking lessons, they're great! She's an excellent teacher. One of the nice things with this site is that you can browse lessons from different instructors, and see right then and there what they have to offer. You're not relying on one source or person for all your instruction. The teachers here are great, and do a terrific job. They'll also answer any questions you have to as you work your way through. I have to say Christopher is just amazing with how tirelessly he'll answer the same questions.. "how do I play an Fmaj chord!? My fingers won't reach..." we probably see that one about once or twice a month! The thing I love about the fingerpicking lessons that Lisa does is what you hit upon... you can be training your left hand to learn chords, while the right hand is learning a new picking pattern... makes practice feel like its two for one. One suggestion I'd have is even though you may be just working on the basics, and acoustic fingerpicking, keep an eye on some of the questions that pop up in the other forums... there's often some excellent questions and answers asked & given... like recently in the Music Theory forum. Welcome to the site, good luck and have fun!