Ok, here’s my tip (various people tried to teach me and failed, so I came up with the method myself and have been a professional for 20 years):
1. learn to play the Em chord (you just need 2 fingers)
2. learn to play the Am chord (3 fingers), now play “Lady In Black” for a week using just these two chords.
3. learn to play the E chord (same as Am, but the fingers are all one position up)
4. learn to play the Dm chord (this can be tricky the first day, but if you really did follow steps 1–3 properly, you’re ready for it)
Now you are ready to play a huge variety of songs that have Am,Dm and E. Or basically any simplified song in any minor key.
5. Learn to play the D and A chords. Again, D might be tricky, but A is fairly easy. You could also learn A7 D7 and E7, which are actually easier than the normal chords. But A is a must.
Now you are ready to play 99% of the songs ever written. You can transpose them if they’re not on A (if you can’t figure it out, just ask anyone with some basic knowledge of music theory). Keep playing using only these basic chords until your fingers are fast and your tips are hard, and you’ll know when it’s time to move on to the next level. You could even stay on these chords for a whole year and play almost anything you want.
6. Now learn G so you can play songs in D
7. Learn C so you can play songs in G, as well as your first 4-chord song: “Stand by Me” (G Em C D)
8. Learn the very hard F chord and play “La Bamba” (C F G) until you get the speed up, now play “Stand By Me” again using C F Am G
9. You are now ready to play in pubs. Or beat Bob Dylan in any guitar competition.
10. Learn the extremely hard B7 chord and play some blues on E. Now you can play in stadiums too, and tell all your friends you know more chords than Mick Jagger and almost as many as Keith Richards ;)