Access to music to play is key for anyone just starting out. I had limited resources for buying songbooks when I was a teenager. That was back in the Stone Age before the Internet. I’m so glad I started to play again and I must say that I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Chordie!
couldn't agree more, recently started to learn on an Encore (the strat lookalike model) which i got off Ebay on a whim,
ok, fair enough, a lot of more experienced guitarists might mock the Encore brand but its not a bad little starter and it will do until i decide to spend out on something a little pricier.
as for the wonders of the web and learning, well, i've spent a good few quid on books, dvds and even cd-roms to learn the guitar and to be honest, after i'd learnt a few of the basic chords i started to look online for songs that are a bit more to my liking than the nursery rhymes you get in the books and my playing is improving at a much better rate