What are your thoughts on individuals who learn to play instruments through online resources instead of traditional classes with teachers?

It’s how I did it, YouTube. In 20+ years, I’ve never once had a teacher, but I’ve simultaneously had THOUSANDS of teachers and never paid a penny.

The only benefit I can think of that a teacher would bring is direction. If you need to be pointed in the next direction, a teacher can help you do that. But if you know what you want to learn next, or you just want to learn at your own pace and really have FUN learning and playing the guitar, use YouTube.

Find songs you like and learn those. When you come across one that requires you to learn a new technique, isolate the technique, go learn it, then come back to the song and try to apply it. From that point forward, use that song to practice the technique and hone it. I use ‘Holy Wars…the Punishment Due’ by Megadeth to practice hammer-ons, pull-offs, harmonics AND alternate picking, all in one song. I LOVE playing that song, even a decade after learning it, it’s a fantastic exercising song because it involves many techniques I use a lot and it’s FUN.

I emphasize FUN a lot, because if you stop having fun, learning will become a chore, and since no one is forcing you to learn guitar, you’ll likely drop it when it starts to become a bother. Whatever you have to do, however slow or fast you have to go, keep the FUN knob at 11. It’s vital.