I actually agree with both of you to some extent. I only started playing in like September or October of last year, and I think I'm making decent progress for such a short time. Part of that I attribute to my being a crackhead and taking advantage of online lessons (guitartricks.com I like a lot), youtube, Guitar Pro and the Amazing Slowdowner when I'm by myself.
The other part I attribute to starting lessons after only one month of flailing away at the strings alone. My teacher doesn't overly bog me down with scales and music-reading lessons. He basically lets me lead the sessions and he helps me get where I want to go. I bring a piece of music I'm interested in, I show him what I've been doing with it, and he shows me better, faster, more efficient ways to play it. He has taught me things that may have taken me many weeks or months to figure out on my own. To me, that's what makes lessons valuable. He takes the learning curve and makes it much less steep, and since I took guitar up in my mid-30's, I want the fastest possible route to competence!
