About Learning to Play Guitar - Approaching Each Stage of Learning:

The first stages of learning an instrument are strictly technical. A new student needs to learn how sounds are produced on the instrument, and how all of the common techniques are performed. There must be a period of straightforward learning in which many typical examples of music are learned and internalized. Common finger patterns and movements must become familiar and habitual. Strength, coordination, flexibility, speed, mental concentration, and other physical/mental skills and technical abilities must be developed. The process of learning to perform movements and pieces of music by pure habit needs to be completely internalized. The concept of playing in rhythm, and the discipline of playing without stopping, to a regular beat, needs to be applied. Pieces of music need to be learned, and the art of learning how to practice effectively to become fluent at "making music" on the instrument, must move from conceptual to actual.

From there, a more creative and conceptual understanding of "how music works" can be absorbed and put to use. Understanding applied music theory is a useful next step in the learning process. A general understanding of harmony - how chords, chord progressions, and scales produce groups of notes that fit together "harmoniously" - is a basic concept in understanding every type of music. Learning fingering patterns for chords and scales on the guitar is the biggest part of the process. Learning all of the notes on the instrument is another fundamental building block. A great deal of that process happens during the first stages of learning - because those fingering patterns and notes actually make up the music which students learn. That knowledge must be filled out and explained so that an understanding of where the shapes come from, how they fit together, and how they can be applied in various situations can be developed. In this way, a general understanding of "everything that will be seen on the instrument" can be ingrained, so that when new music is learned, it will fit into a framework of understanding and order. This makes learning new material familiar and fluent. More importantly, it opens the door to creative understanding, and it makes everything a student learns useful as material for creative performance, composition, and improvisation.

When a basic foundation of theoretical understanding has been laid and put to use on the instrument, and a technical level has been achieved that allows for proficient performance, most students choose to focus on particular stylistic interests and personal musical tastes. Learning becomes more analytical - pieces can be acquired more quickly, sorted out and understood in terms of theoretic and harmonic patterns, and organized into a repository of musical ideas, concepts, and examples that furthers a deep understanding of the instrument. Elements of musical style become apparent, and common musical patterns/cliches become recognized and ingrained. The idea of identifying common sounds and "playing what you hear" becomes a matter of habitual recollection and association.

At this point, a student can be considered fluent. Experimentation and the creative application of existing musical materials can be practiced in an organized way. Composition and improvisation skills can be easily developed through practice and performance. Ad hock performance with other musicians is an easily acquired and perfected skill - because all of the known materials and expected patterns are internalized. Technique and tasteful performance skills ("musicality") continue to improve all along the way.

Every step along the way provides its own rewards. Learning how to perform a favorite tune or musical sound for the first time can be exciting. Performing for an audience for the first time is exhilarating. Improvising a solo for the first time at a spontaneous jam session can become addictive. Performing a concert for an engaged and appreciative audience can be one of the most gratifying and invigorating experiences in life. Creating your own style can be a lifelong, ever changing and evolving process that provides satisfaction in a way offered by few other endeavors. These lessons are put together to guide you through that process in a way that is organized and full of musical examples and technical materials a student needs to fulfill those objectives step by step.
Practice the materials you've found here a little every day, and you will reach your goals. Good luck, stick with it, and have fun!