Do you think all those DIY years before Justin was part of your development or did you had to unlearn a lot?
In a way. Not so much having to unlearn it was all the crucial bits that were either missing or glossed over in preference to teaching sheet music and by that I do actually mean paper, not circumventing the mods.
What it taught me and what I bang on about here time and time again, is there are no shortcuts, there are no quick wins. And if you do not learn the fundamentals of timing and strumming and feel you will amount to jack. As I said in the other post, those books bounced all over the gaff but never really explained the importance rhythm. Even when I restarted in 2011 before finding this site I bought Guitar for Dummies and Blues For Dummies, much better than past material but still all other the place. Like trying to put the roof on while the cement in the footings is still wet. There is no point trying to learn even a simple melody line if you have no clue about timing and rhythm. Its like handing someone a news bulletin and they read it out flat monotone, its meaning is lost without feel and expression or timbre. And that is what Justin provides, the strongest deepest foundation you will find anywhere. I know some folks learnt from books etc but it did not work for me that's all. Boy if he was around in 96 is all I can say. Simples.