1. electric or acoustic to start with?
kahit alin, depende sa mga song na gusto mo
2. what brand of guitar, ie lumanog or ibanez?
depende sa budget mo
3. what song?
kung may instructor ka mas maganda kung yung mga favorite song mo para mataas ang level of interest mo
4. will online study work or hire someone (for free 
)
both, pero mas maganda kung may instructor ka
I just got a first edition copy of SRV's biography Caught in the Crossfire and was pleasantly surprised how he learned to play the guitar at a tender age. I think these apply to those beginning to learn the guitar and especially to the TS' (threadstarter, not tubescreamer, pun intended) questions above.
1. any guitar will do (he "borrowed" Jimmie's guitar when he was not around
).
2. tone is not in the brand (most of the time, flame suit on). try which one sounds good to you, comfortable for you to play.
3. listen to a lot of songs and play them, kahit hindi yung genre mo just to appreciate the musicality into it, although at first start with what you like para mainspire ka. nung time ko I used to rewind tapes (hehe the age shows) for God knows how many times para lang mahabol ko yung nakakainis na note na hindi ko makapa sa guitar (usually fretted harmonics pala yun). Hindi pa kasama yung sa friend ko sa kabilang bahay na may dalang CD90 at pinapakapa sa akin yung acoustic version ng Hotel California at kundiman songs ni Diomedes Maturan.
4. you can learn a lot by by observing others play guitar, you learn faster this way. (SRV did this, too, while watching brother Jimmie practice) maraming mababait dito sa Philmusic and ready to help an aspiring musician.
From personal experience, if you do choose an instructor, please have the passion and never let negativity creep in. Lahat ng female friends ko who asked me to teach them guitar for free did not learn (bad teacher din ako siguro) kasi they kept saying "di ko kaya", "di ko abot maliit ang daliri ko"(how about Aiza?), "masakit sa kamay yung mga strings", or "bakit hindi magkatunog yung chord natin". Lahat ng gitarista dumaan sa walang kaalam-alam sa pagtugtog ng gitara, tandaan natin yan.
If you've got the determination, reward for your efforts will follow.
For a beginner's guitar, you cannot go wrong with a Yamaha C40 (around 5k). Your tastes will change din naman later on and you will be wiser. But if you have the money, go buy the middle range ones na, like Seagull S6, Takamine, Ibanez Artwood series (haven't tried the others mentioned but they could be comparable; curious about the Phoebus and the Maestro as I haven't tried them yet and they seem to get much love from the forums).
