Hi Grip!!
Here are my thoughts.... coming from a "schooled" player who also teaches. First and foremost, you want to focus on those NuMetal drop-tunings and seven string guitars....
Seriously... there are some things that can ONLY be of benefit to ANY guitar player in ANY style. Seek these things first:
-get to know your way around the fretboard. The beauty of the guitar is that it is all very "pattern" based. If you learn one scale or one chord of a particular "flavour" (ex. minor, diminished, lydian, etc.) and if you can learn it in a way that does NOT involve open strings, then all you have to do is move it up the neck to play it in different keys. (ex. Ab major - scale OR chord doesn't matter - is simply G major moved up a fret....)
-learn the "language" of music. I don't necessarily mean learning how to read music (though that can only be good - I won't get into my "I hate tab because it is responsible for an enormous amount of musical illiteracy among guitarists" rant.) More importantly, learn about major and minor chords, scales, etc. With this, for example, if you are learning a song in the key of E, then your MOST likely chords to expect within that song will be E, B, and A. Beyond that, your likely chords will be C#m, F#m, and maybe G#m, and maybe, but likely, D#dim. These generalities (I won't say rules) will often be broken, but they will give you a good starting point and will allow you to probably work more efficiently. Again, all of this is COMPLETELY independent of what style of music you wish to play. Works for everything!
My first choice would be for a teacher who is, him/herself, a schooled player. Typically, these are the only players who know this stuff well enough to be able to communicate it in a way that makes sense in relation to everything else without making other things more confusing. There are, of course, exceptions. If you can learn those two things, then you will have enough knowledge to essentially teach yourself for years to come.
Beyond that, find a player who is particularly good at an area that you have identified in your own playing that you would like to improve - regardless of their background. For example, I took some lessons myself (after having attained a degree in classical guitar) from a rock guy about an hour away from me who had a couple of gold records on his wall, Canadian Music awards (Junos), etc. I went to him because he was an excellent solo player, and he offered me a lot in regards to "building" a solo, and even in terms of arranging songs, etc. He had an awesome ear, but he didn't know squat about the "language of music."
A good example of this was when I was building a solo for one of my songs, I had a part that was super fast involving triplets crossing over strings. He listened, had me play it about four or five times, and he picked out the ONE note that didn't quite work. He told me to move it back a fret. He didn't know WHY it needed to be moved back - he just picked it out amidst the flurry of notes, and knew that it needed moved and where to move it!! When I noticed my own oversight that I was not in G major, but in G mixolydian (as related to the chord structure of the song) and therefore, the F# that I played needed to be played as F natural, he looked at me like I had three heads. He didn't even know the NAME of the note that I needed to play. (it was the F at the tenth fret....)
So my point is... knowledge of the instrument and of music itself will allow you to be more independent in your own future learning. You will essentially have enough to work with that you can be your own teacher. Once you've got that, you can isolate the things that you are unable to teach to yourself.
Good luck Grip - go find yourself a teacher!
Chris
** I'm currently signing up new students for fall
I guess Hamilton is a fair way away, isn't it?
