I think that at the point of “I really suck and want to improve”, taking lessons is nearly useless because anything you’d understand at your current level, you don’t need them to teach you, you can and should figure it out on your own through self-analysis and research. there tends to be a general trend in the development of a player - the more you learn, and the better you get at evaluating your own play, the more you improve. the more you improve, the more likely good players are to interact with you, and the more background you’ll have to actually absorb what they’re talking about.
it’s an interesting comparison, music lessons to FGs. I majored in music and my clarinet professor once told me “my job isn’t to teach you to play clarinet. it’s to teach you how to teach yourself to play.” improving in any area is a combination of self-analysis, setting goals for yourself, and putting the time in to improve. in FGs this is much easier - you find someone who can beat you, you play him ft5, you watch that footage and think about every bad decision, every missed opportunity, come up with a gameplan to eliminate that from your gameplay, then come back, play the same guy, and see if you do better. the better you get, the more detail-oriented you’ll have to become because FG matches often rely on very small differences in decision making. the stronger you get, the more the little details matter.
I imagine taking lessons anywhere in your first couple years is at best of limited value, and at worst actually damaging to your growth. if you play someone, and he points out why you suck, you have completely skipped out on the self-analysis part of the equation. the next time around, you don’t have that skillset. you find yourself stuck in a rut because you never figured out how to learn, you only figured out how to work on the exact few things your teacher mentioned last time around.
my advice for improvement is a short list:
-always pay attention during your matches. never make a decision without having a reason why you think it’s a good idea
-watch your replays, and actually dig into them in depth. every time you make a mistake, evaluate - why did I do that? what should I have done instead? how can I minimize my risk and maximize my likelihood to be correct in this situation next time?
-think about your relationship with your opponent. what are your goals, and what are his? where should you stand and how should you attack to maximize your goals and frustrate his? what are the movement patterns that often happen in this match, and how do you navigate them correctly?
-any time you are stuck in a particular match, watch a professional play it. you’re not watching to copy and paste, or for entertainment, you’re watching to figure out why they do what they do, and whether you should emulate it.
-find other people who play your character and are thoughtful, and talk with them. talk about matchups, talk about decision making, resource management, everything.
this way of thinking is a great path to improvement, if that’s what your goal is.