Hi and welcome,

Sounds like you have a plan and that is always a good place to start. I began with “Songs made easy” and think they are a great place for beginners like us to start. And as you point out, as you gain experience you can always go back and learn the full versions if that is what you choose to do.

Regarding your question on theory, from my experience there is no wrong time to begin learning theory. Theory does not need to be complicated at this stage. Just learning what chords go together is a great place to start. For instance you could start with learning the chords in the key of C and then throwing them together to see what chord progressions sound good to your ears. Can you make a little jam? You don’t have to use all the chords, just pick a few and see what you like. Play with stum patterns and tempo. Throw some words on paper and you have a song. If you can’t play and sing at the same time – no big deal. I record my guitar on my phone and then play back while singing out the words I have on paper – and modify as I feel I need to do.

To add to your song you may want to add some solo guitar. So you would want to find out what scales you should use, pick some notes – make some licks. Learn to add them at the appropriate time, play around with how you want to play those notes – maybe you want to bend some, or put on other techniques which you will learn. Anything that comes to mind and sounds interesting to your ears.

Your 2cnd question: should we analyze songs we are learning to play. Again, from my experience absolutely. I think once you do this you will find that many songs have similar structure. I am finding this a lot in Blues. There are many variations of essentially the same licks or riffs. Since it is current – the song that comes to mind is “Heart like a hammer” by Fleetwood Mac. Up until a few weeks ago I was not familiar with this song, but as soon as I heard it for the 1st time I knew I had heard those same licks and riffs before – just that FM put there own spin on them.

Anyways, there is a lot to learn – guitar is a constant study. Good luck with your studies.