Question about learning to play the guitar?

Playing guitar can be easy or difficult, depending on how far you want to go. If you learn half a dozen chords and how to strum, you can accompany yourself singing literally thousands of songs. A few months of serious practice can get you to that level. If you want to get serious, you can spend the rest of your life learning.

Lessons aren't absolutely necessary, but they're recommended. At a minimum, you should get a few informal lessons from an experienced player to get you started. The problem with learning from a book or youtube is that there are subtle aspects to playing that are easy to get wrong. A live person can see what you're doing and give you real-time feedback.

If you don't want lessons, I recommend you find a friend who plays. Get him or her to show you a few chords and help you get your fingering correct. There's more to playing than simply knowing where to put your fingers. Once you get some basic skills, you can find a site or book that gives lessons in a logical progression of skills. I caution you against learning from "tab". Tab is helpful for learning specific songs, but won't help you learn how to play guitar.

Congratulations on your win.....I wish you the best of luck learning to play.

It can be hard, or easy, that's up to you. Making sure the guitar is setup well helps a lot. If the action is too high, you won't be able to play it much before your fingers hurt too much to continue. Teaching yourself, well that can be tough. I don't know if you can learn from books and DVDs, if you can, there are plenty available. However, you might want to experiment and learn to play it your way, not the standard way. Easiest thing to do is tune it to ope D, and bar chord it.