Lessons I've learned the hard way. These suggestions are for beginners. These suggestions are for ordinarily people like me. These are not intended for the musically gifted. (What does Doc Watson play on the guitar? Anything he wants to. What do I play on the guitar? Anything I can.) 1. Determine your "sonic" goal. If you don't know where you're goin, you ain't goin nowhere. This advice is not about technique or repertoire. It is not about practicing until you can play "Backstep Cindy" at square dance tempo without music. This advice is about knowing who you are trying to sound like and being honest about it. It is about practicing until you can play "Backstep Cindy" at square dance tempo without music AND savvy listeners will be able to tell that you are trying to play it like Tommy Jerrell. This is not to insist that you must be trying to sound like anybody. This is not to suggest that you try to be a clone. It is OK for a beginner to take an instrument and simply concentrate on producing sounds which please him/her. But the beginner should know that with such an approach "There be dragons." If you don't at least begin with a sonic goal your technique might eventually become great and your repertoire vast but your sound will be bland, vanilla, generic, uninspiring. You'll end up boring yourself and your listeners to death. 2. In the beginning it is more important to listen than practice. This comes from Dwight Diller. You cannot pick your goal without a map. You create your sonic map by listening to the possibilities. If you wanna play guitar, become obsessed with listening to guitars. Go to concerts, jams, and open mikes. Beg borrow and steal every recording you can get your hands on. Listen for the sounds that push your buttons. In the beginning your listening will be very unfocused. Excellent. Eventually you will start to home in on a particular sound. Finally you will become obsessed with a sound. Now you've got a "fire in your belly." Now you can start trying to reproduce that sound. Suppose you do all the listening and nothing happens. Try something else. Why would you bother to waste your time trying to do something you don't care passionately about? 2. Spend significantly more than you intended to on a decent instrument. If you don't start with a decent instrument you will end up fighting it rather than using it. It is possible for a beginner with sufficient motivation to win the battle, but the odds are against it if the beginner is an ordinary person. The tricky thing is that a poor instrument can be discouraging in so many subtle ways. A beginner can lose interest because of a poor instrument and not even realize what is happening. First and foremost you should enjoy the sound of the instrument. When I am playing my favorite instruments I will sometimes simply sit and strum chords and listen to them fade away. I do it because I love the pure sound. A poor instrument might not sound obviously bad but its sound might be subtly uninspiring and therefore discouraging. Second, the instrument should be easy to play. A poor instrument cannot be properly set up right no matter what you do. A poor instrument might not have structural problems that are as obvious as a misplaced fret, but a 1/32" difference in the action can make all the difference in the world. 3. Work hard to find a teacher who can help you on your personal musical journey. I am not claiming this will be easy. I am claiming that the rewards of finding the right teacher are immeasurable. At the start, be completely honest with yourself and the teacher. Explain exactly where you are trying to go. A good teacher will be able to customize his/her approach to your desires. I good teacher will honestly admit that s/he cannot help you. Yes, you can teach yourself. But if you are an ordinary person you will mostly teach yourself bad habits.