How do you teach yourself to play the guitar?

Question:

How do you teach yourself to play the guitar?

I got an accoustic one for x-mas. I dont know how to play even though I played the first line of Jingle Bells by accident. I CAN'T go to lessons, I've got loads of other stuff to do. How can I teach myself and is it hard?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I used a learn-at-home course and it was both very effective and very inexpensive compared to hiring a guitar teacher. Also, it enabled me to progress at my own pace, practice whenever I had free time.
Best advice i can give you is to go to ReviewsNest.com - the reviews site where i read about the course i bought: http://www.reviewsnest.com/guitarlessons... . They give free reviews for several guitar courses, tell U what to look for in a course, what are the best courses around, and what u get in each course they checked.
I bought the LMG course (their top pick) so i can only vouch for it - I don't know about the other courses. However - the course i bought is excellent, and their review of it was spot-on, and the other reviews on the site look good too. LMG - the course i bought - cost me $200, but the other courses are between $20 ad $40 - much less than learning with a teacher.

Good luck, whatever you choose. When u start playing - you'll love it.
Andy.