You can find a lot of good instructional videos on the net for free. I've taught myself from youtube videos and online tutorials. about.guitar.com is a good place to start. As for staying dedicated, I learned easy songs from recognizable artist(there are more out there than you think). Once I learned something cool I looked for something a bit harder etc... Its worked for me so far.

I found early on to stay dedicated and have fun, just go to tab websites and find songs you'd like to play and just practice them until you learn them, it'll give you a sense of accomplishment as well as the ability to play tunes you like, you'll learn techniques and rhythms just by doing this, and complement that with what your books say, and just come to this site, there are a lot of great people here to give you suggestions as well as instructional videos posted here, stick with it, you'll have a lifetimes worth of fun ahead of you!

http://www.azchords.com

I would try to find a teacher that knows music and is renowned for his/her dedication to making people killer musicians. It's a difficult process trying to find the right cat to study with. There's an excellent series of books called the Berklee Method for getting your reading chops together. It really is very cool. No childish melodies and such. There are also no pictures so right from beginning it gets you into a mindset of pitch relationships from the staff to your fingerboard. Certainly don't neglect learning new tunes though while you're doing the reading work otherwise you'll burn out. Because of copyright legislation the tab sites are going to be falling the way of the dinosaur so get what you can while you can get it.

I'm a big fan on the self-teaching method as well. I started w/ Mel Bay books when I first started. I can still hear Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore in my mind.. Seriously though, those "For Dummy" books aren't a bad place to start either....I recently picked up Hal Leonard's Music Theory for Guitarists based on a fellow G.comer's recommendation - Cap'n Fant I think. I got the impression from others that it's equally important to understand theory behind the basics of chords, etc. while learning to play the instrument itself. I have all the chords down pat but understanding the theory behind it is now my endeavor. I'm also a fan of using the web for tutorials and for finding tablature to play songs I like. I also went to the local library and got any books/DVDs I could get my hands out. The bottom line is that there are plenty of resources out there. Just keep looking/trying things until you find something that you like and that works for you. Best of luck......

I too, am self taught, but... I already had a music background and was playing jazz, (clarinet,) with a guy by the name of Don Butterfield in the 60's. (I was only 15-16 at the time.) He died last year, but I have to say he was the best musician I've ever played with! Jazz tuba was cool and hearing him play the piccolo part to Stars and Stripes Forever on the tuba is something I'll never forget.

As far as the guitar... Self taught for about 30 years and THEN I started taking lessons. For some of us, lessons become a starter. While there have been many an instructor that didn't play as well as I did, there are others who blow me away. Regardless of their level of expertise, there really isn't one that I didn't learn SOMETHING from. And to me, that's what it's about. We all pick up bad habits, or attack a compsoition in a different way, or struggle with a difficult fingering or change. Taking lessons a couple times a year helps to ground you and, if you pay attention, you'll usually find your instructor has something to offer that makes your playing life easier.

While starting with an instructor isn't the way for everyone, they DO have value, so don't blow off the idea completely. You don't have to take a whole slew of lessons. Just a couple, each time you get stuck with something, should be all you need.

I also took my first lesson after almost 20 years of playing "Oh Susana". For $70 I got a block of 4 30-minute lessons. The instructor could see that I already knew how to hold the guitar, how to tune it, how to play the basic chords, etc.. When he started asking questions on arpeggios, modes, key signatures, etc. I had this glazed look on my face. I only took the bank of 4 lessons but it really complemented my self-studies. This was about 3 months ago and I think I've really progressed from what I learned on my own, why I learned via lessons, and further learned on my own....I'm not going to spend $1,000 on lessons but I do plan on going back for another set of lessons in the fall.

dont worry about the future and just jam man, its all about the music.

I use a free program called Power Tab. It's a nice little application that'll show you the frets to play. You can also create songs in it. Just go to http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ and find the song you want and download it. Make sure it's a Power Tab song though. If you want, you can find Power Tab here. http://www.power-tab.net/ But, the best thing to learn to play is just to practice.

Best ways to learn:

JAM! get involved in a band. It doesn't matter if you suck or not, everyone has to start somewhere and the more you play in a group, the better you'll get. Everyone in a band tends to push everyone else to be a better player.

Learn what you can on your own. If you can wrap your mind around some of the basic concepts, it'll make taking the next steps towards being a better player that much easier.

Learn another instrument. It's amazing how much you can apply to guitar from learning on something like a piano, or clarinet, or oboe, or trumpet, or piccsipulphinomophonium (or whatever you choose to learn on). The ability to apply something that you learned from something else is a good skill to have in life anyway. This is one way to develop that skill.

Take lessons from a COMPETENT teacher. A lot of hacks out there will SAY they can teach, but all they'll do is teach you songs. If they're not teaching you things like guitar maintenance, proper intonation, how to relax your hand, classical positions, scales, chord structures, basic theory, etc, then they're pretty much worthless. A good teacher will integrate these lessons by finding music that the student likes that outlines these concepts. As a sometime teacher myself (I haven't done it since college) I can tell you for certain that if your teacher isn't doing this, he's not
helping you.

Ask questions here. There are a TON of guys that are vast bottomless pits of guitar knowledge, and are just waiting for someone to ask a half-decent question for them to dispense this knowledge on.

Buy "The Complete Guitarist" or "The New Complete Guitarist". They're essentially the same book, but it's an EXCELLENT read. If you take the time to go cover-to-cover, you'll know more about guitar as a beginner than most unschooled intermediate-level guitarists know. It contains everything from history, to theory, to effects, and it ends with recording techniques. Amazing book and I recommended it for all my students.