Sue,

   As a self taught guitarist, your path is very parallel to mine. Play with others to get a sense of tempo. I went from song accompanyment to playing some instrumentals, which got me in to alternate tunings. Not that I would recommend that for you. I would just say explore the path you think you should. If you want more details please join up and send me a pm or email me at coopnel@sbcglobal.net and I would be glad to go in to more detail.