Bob this thread contains much good advice except dont get the idea that you can ignore theory this, as I have said above would be to severely handicap yourself. You need ears too, but ears alone makes for confused mental mapping. Theory will allow you to categorise your learning, tell you what will apply elsewhere, make your understanding clear and transparent, speed up your muscle memory, impress your friends, enable you to communicate with other musicians, help you read, and with hard work, let you bend and break any rule (eventually, only) Learn your triads, your scales (bluies scale too) and their modes, then other chords too.