It is an amazing time to learn to play music, what with YouTube, online lessons and the ability to do video collaboration with almost anyone in the world for free. It was pretty different when I started to learn to play music.
I learned my first few guitar chords from a woman in Owensboro, Kentucky named "Shorty." I remember she always wore a dress and that she was not tall, but I'm afraid I have no idea what her real name was. She taught at a music store that was on Triplet Street.
After learning a few chords and how to pick out a couple of old folk songs, I started learning by listening to albums and cassettes. I'd sit in front of the stereo and try to pick them out, and I think that's how I learned to play by ear.
Now we have backing tracks, and I get a kick out of playing along with the band. Just do a search on backing tracks, or go to freshbt.com which is one of my favorites. Here's a recording of me playing along with one I found there - I'm playing the lead guitar, probably using the Fender Telecaster that my son Christopher gave me a few years ago.
Blues with backing
I wasn't trying to produce a great recording, and I'm only playing one instrument in the mix, but it's fun to just loop one of these backing tracks over and over while trying to figure out new riffs to play.