Hey & welcome! Congrats on making it through the single note melody section! It sounds like you've started work on the basic full open chords. Those are a handful for beginners. :)

Originally Posted by: metrowestalI have a question, which will become more important as I continue: to what degree of perfection--or lack thereof--should I be trying to achieve while going through this?

Great question. You should aim for being able to competently play whatever skill is taught in the lesson. But it's important to remember that there is a constant process of refinement in learning to play guitar.

So, you should spend as much time on any given lesson as necessary to completely get the idea or skill under your command. But don't let a misguided idea of perfection discourage you or halt your progress. At the same time you should keep moving forward in the course, watching new lessons to keep things interesting. But keep going back over the older material until it's second nature. This is the constant process of refinement. You won't play a chord exactly right, perfectly every time!

So in a sense, you are never done working on any melody, chord, chord progression, song because there is always skill & technique to maintain as well as learn & improve upon.

Just try to enjoy the learning & practicing process, as well as whatever you've already accomplished. Hope that helps!