I've had my first guitar for a little over a year. I started with a bunch of DVD lessons and books. That showed me the basic chords but I soon hit a wall and needed some extra help. I took a dozen lessons but had to stop. I had a great instructor and there is no replacement for one on one. I found this site last week and its been good so far. Its nice to have it there 24/7 unlike an actual instructor. My opinion is if you can afford private lessons then go for it and use this site to help you between lessons until you get to where you can actually play songs.