I didn't really get anywhere for a long time with guitar till I bought a good one that was easy to play ( & made me want to play it) and found the apocalyptically helpful website

www.guitarprinciples.com

which is a gift from the guitar slinging gods I must say - complete with charismatic guru who looks like Brian May.

That and putting in a good hour or more nearly every day so you actually see progress on ,say, a monthly basis. It gets easier, is what no-one ever told me! Still a long way to go but I never thought I'd even be able to do what I can do now quite easily...