The beginner's path; just what's the best way to learn the basics?

Hi!
I've been playing guitar for about 6 weeks now, and seem to have peaked! That's bad, 'cos I don't play well! I know two other people who are learning to play; one has a tutor, the other is self tought. Both are ahead of me in terms of ability!
I am patient, but at the moment, I feel somewhat lost as to how to improve. Patience is a virtue, but in excess, it's stagnation! I now want to move forward. I'm trying to learn through books, but they skip over a lot of important stuff, like precisely how to effectively improve chord change speed and clean-ness.
I would like any advice, from beginners or experts on how they learned to pick up the basics. The biggest prob, like I said, is chord change speed and clean-ness. I need to stop my left fingers from fumbling, and teach 'em how to finger a chord decisively and rapidly!
I'm willing to have a go at 'boring' excercises and tunes, if it'll garner some rapid and quantifiable improvement.
I'd appreciate any pointers, from a step-by-step guide to a few handy pointers, if there's anyone out there who's feeling generous.
Thanks

1. Practice.
2. Get lessons.

Yes...

Practice, Practice, Practice.
Lessons are great! but you can also teach your self. Chances are though that you will become frustrated and discouraged at times.

If you wanna try to teach yourself here is an ok site: http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/f/p/fpm108/glw/lessons/index.htm
there are better, but i lost them on my HD.

But above all practice and when you have a question, remember that the answer is practice!

or you can go to lessions and suppliment with teaching your self, if your teacher doesnt care, and wants to reteach you it all because he wants more money for longer lessions :)