Originally Posted by Thrush

I've been playing on and off for the past ten years or so, but I wouldn't clasify myself as "being able to play guitar". I mean I can play - loads of songs, riffs, improvise stuff etc, but I don't actually know what I'm doing.

And thats the problem with YouTube and self teaching. I can sit down with a CD and after a while be able to play most of it. Rage Against The Machine's self titled record took me about a week or so to learn from start to finish. But you're not actually LEARNING what you're playing - you're just copying it. Same with YouTube - you can watch someone play Sweet Child O Mine and copy where they're fingers are on the fretboard, but you still don't know what you're playing.

You need a teacher, at least to learn the basics. I don't know what key stuff is in, or what note progression that particular run takes, certainly not stuff like pentatonic scales etc. A proper guitarist can look at a fret board and see note patterns through the frets and strings. He'll know before he even gets there what the 6th note will be and where it is on the fretboard, whereas I have to "find" it.