re: Beginner Guitar Question

I feel like the internet age is both a help and a hindrance to people that are just starting to play the guitar these days.

It's certainly nice to have all the learning resources the internet makes available at your fingertips, but, also, speaking personally, it's also made me a bit lazy. I've been playing for...22 or 23 years now. Jesus, that's depressing. But anyway.

I feel like I learned more, accomplished more, back in the days when, if there was a song or part I wanted to learn, I had to sit down with a tape or CD and work it out by ear. A lot of times, I think the majority of the learning that came along with that kind of work came not from having finally mastered whatever it was I was working on, but rather from the mistakes I made in the process. If that makes any sense.

ETA: I guess my advice, then, if you can find the motivation, is to do both. Take advantage of the resources you have available today, but also, spend some time working things out by ear. This will also help develop your ear and make things a lot easier for you if you find yourself playing in a group situation, and especially when you start trying to compose your own music.