Best asset pa rin talaga yung ma-develop ang tenga. There's an awful lot of guitarists nowadays who are "laking tab" considering that you can find a lot of tabs in the net. Nothing beats being able to "play a song in your head" to the moment you hold a guitar right away moment after hearing it on the radio.

I prefer learning by your own first to gauge and see what you really want to learn. In this way, you learn to study at your own pace. Later on, an instructor becomes valuable because he/she could help in pointing out your "mistakes" in playing.

Try playing distortion/overdrive-free on low-gain/clean amps as much as possible when practicing scales and modes because OD/Dist on high-gain amps tend to compress the sound and hideaway sloppy technique.

My gear nowadays includes:
Laney GH50L w/ 2 6L6tubes for hard rock
Laney Lionheart 20W head w/ 4 EL84's for clean and crunch
2 Laney Lionheart 2X12 cabs
My good ol' custom RJ strat with a swamp ash body and maple neck
Don-Jon jumbo acoustic guitar - inilalako ito sa third floor ng Megamall made in Pampanga. Ok rin ang tunog, let's buy Filipino

Heto yung website: Don-Jon Guitars