Geez, most of you guys are babies. I'm 61 and started playing last year. I have learned so much and I'm having a ball. I love learning new stuff and I love hearing the new stuff come out of me. It's great. The only thing that a younger person may have over me is that I tend to forget some details of what I have learned at times. So I go back and pick it up again. I do think a structured lesson plan is essential. Know some basic theory before you just play songs. The best thing I did was go through the lessons here and on Jamplay and learned how the neck is arranged on the guitar and how chords can be done in various voicings. You don't just pick things like that up by falling on them. Rock on! Or, in my case, Blues on!!