Originally Posted by: Matteo MillerActually, SOMETIMES (and i stress this), it doesn't matter whether you practice mistakes!

For the record, I don't agree, but in the interest of conforming with Jon's wishes, I will not debate with you here.

K-Log, I do agree with what Matteo Miller is saying in his latest post, particularly about goals... that's what I was trying to allude to earlier when talking about whether or not to take lessons. Lessons from a good teacher are invaluable, but they also can be expensive and a waste of time, even with a good instructor. Your teacher can only help you achieve the goals you've set for yourself, if, in fact, you have actually set concrete goals. You're talking about "mastering guitar" and being a "great guitar player"... well, this is the reality:

1) you will never "master" guitar... you may be very skilled and fluid in certain aspects of playing guitar, but there is no guitarist out there who is a "master" at all styles, all techniques. You're probably familiar with some rock guitar gods, but check out this video if you haven't heard of Michael Hedges before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P9mmZyGb4s&feature=related
Just shows you a completely different direction that you can take guitar, and you could spend a lifetime just trying to perfect & master this style.

2) no matter how good or how "great" you become, someone will always think you, well, suck to put it frankly... I know that sounds awful but its true.. even Eddie Van Halen has his critics. The key here is that you have to be happy with what you play. The act of picking up the guitar, with no one but you to hear it has to be enjoyable and fulfilling. If its not, you're likely to find it a frustrating process. Its that inner enjoyment and satisfaction that will silence the critics for you. No matter what you play, it won't be someone's cup of tea, but if like it, or better yet, love it, then that's all that matters. This doesn't mean you shouldn't strive to improve... on the contrary, finding a style of play that really feeds you and gets you going is the perfect motivator to get you wanting to practice and learn more. But there is no magic "secret" to guitar... there is no one moment when you'll feel like "that's it! I've mastered guitar and now feel qualified to play!". I knew a guy who knew all his modes... so that meant Major, Minor and all the diatonic scales (Dorian, Lydian etc... ) he could play them all. But he couldn't solo worth beans... he was super techy.. but put him with a bass player and a drummer, hit up a riff and he was just clueless... he had no sense of style, and no imagination to come up with his own ideas. Then there's guys like Kurt Cobain.. technically, not a "great" player... but he sure came up with some great guitar riffs.

Sorry for the long winded post... but you need to decide for yourself what will make YOU a great guitar player... once you know that you'll have a clear idea of how to proceed. A year from now, your goals may change yet again, but that's all part of the process and what makes life interesting. In the meantime, get some clear goals, then seek out that which will help you achieve them. On a side note, if you want to dabble in subjects and see if they are taking you where you want to go with guitar, you really can't go wrong with many of the MIT texts... they have some really good ones. I would still recommend that you get the Guitar Fretboard Workbook... it will help you a lot. I'd also recommend that you still go and check out Lisa's lessons as I suggested earlier (here's the link to the first series: http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=596), unless you have absolutely no interest in fingerpicking acoustic guitar (gotta tell man, the chicks LOVE that stuff... look at what it did for "Extreme"!). The reason I think Lisa's lessons would be so good for you is that you'll see how much you get from the on-line video lessons, and then you can compare that to lessons with a teacher if you go that route. My guess is that you'll like the lessons a lot, and see their value, and probably take a "hybrid" approach, working with a guitar teacher to get through some specific challenges.

Good Luck!