Look around for a teacher that suits your style of learning and that can teach the music you want to learn. This is where friends whose playing you admire can help. Find out who taught them or who they respect. Also use them as an unpaid coaching resource. Most of what I learned came from hanging around with people who were better players than I was and asking them to "play that again...slowly". Being able to see tunes that you want to learn being fingered in front of you is a great reinforcement for ear learning. One thing I might add is to take your guitar (even though it may be new) to the best repair person in your town. Have him or her set it up with light gauge strings and set the action at exactly where it should be. Even experienced players often neglect having their instruments set up properly and learn to live fighting the problems with playability. BTW there are many large profitable music stores out there that haven't a clue on how to set up an instrument properly so don't assume that your new guitar has had this done for it. If you want to switch to heavier gauge strings once your calluses have developed go for it. I would advise against starting out (as some of my friends have) with nylon strings and then switching to steel. You won't be able to properly drive a steel-string instrument with nylon strings and you will have a second bout of tenderfinger when you switch from nylon to steel. Why go through that twice? Good luck and keep asking questions.