A couple questions

Just for the record, the guys I listen to are James and SouthPaw.

But anyway, 30 or 40 songs is really not that many from a chord perspective.  What you'll find is that almost all songs are made up of some variation of the same set of three or four chords.  The rhythm may be altered and the lyrics will always be different, but you're going to find yourself playing the same chords in one variation or another for almost every song.

So learn these sets of chords, and you'll have three or four thousand songs nailed cold.

C F G
A D E
G C D
E A B
D G A

Lyrics I can't help you with.   I can barely remember lyrics to songs I wrote. 

there's no need to memorize Dude, just print out the songs you like.  Most of the stuff on here prints on one or two pages,  so if fits easily into a binder.   After you've played the songs about a billion times you'll have them cold.

this is just me - but i learn 5 or 6 and do them reasonably well ( the songs seem better than played from a print out - more effort etc ) and the rest i do from print outs . i wouldnt worry to much about learning 30 or 40 - lifes to short ......

Hi Paul!
I have a little system to learn songs. I'm a total disaster at learning by heart...

I have a binder with plastic pockets. Every week I try to find a couple of new songs, print them out and place them FIRST in my binder. When I have time to play I start from the beginning and work my way through. This way the new unknown songs always gets the first attention.

The plastic pockets are good for many reasons: They protect the paper from messy fingers, beer and other party fluids :-), They make it easier to read because they ad some distance from the folder binding.

I have a second binder I call my gig-binder. When I go to a party or to my sons kindergarten for a live gig I lift over the suitable songs to that one.

/Missen

By the way the A/F# signs sometimes point you to play a bass run. Try to understand them and use them because they can add a lot to your playing (If you don't understand it or brake your fingers trying, just play the first chord and ignore the stuff after "/").

If it's a bass run it's often written like this: (example C to G and Am to C from Lennons Imagine)

G                               C       /e   /f    f#           (Play the C chord and then "walk" single notes (only low E string) up to the G) chord)
   Imagine there's no heaven.
G                        C       /e   /f    f#   
   It's easy if you try.
G                C       /e   /f    f#   
   No hell below us.
G                         C
   Above us only sky.
C              Em     Am       /b  C
   Imagine all the people
    D               D7
   living for today, oooh

You have to time the notes in the bass run to comply with the beats to next full chord.

You're sure that it's not an A**/F**

This is a simplified addition to many good replies. Heed what these folkes say(most at least).lol

In terms of memorizing tunes there are no secret methods or TV infomertials that'll enable one to "play like Clapton in 7 minutes". It's one thing my friend and one thing alone. Practice. I know it's cliche but it's the truth. You gotta do it, (practice) over and over. Bottom line, no shortcuts, just put your hands on the guitar and sing your songs. Jerome is correct in stating that 30-40 songs aren't that many in the big picture. Many songs are very close in chords used and structure so after you get your 30-40  tunes down don't be content with your accomplishments.  I've played professionally for 24 years and I still learn new songs weekly.Never stop learning.....

    As far as the A/F# goes I'll break it down like this for you. It's a split chord played like this; (2x2220) If you were to play this song on a piano the A is the right hand and the F# is the left hand. It's kinda flip-flopped from the way it's written but the right hand plays the chord on the left and the right hand plays the chord/note on the left.There are other ways to play this chord, I wrote the simplest and most often played form.

Peace and Guitars,
SouthPaw41L

Excellent JErome,
I never really thought about this before,
but now all my help, or lots of it will be aimed at you for theory, James for Lyrics and Toney for things, things I have no idea what I am talking about, could be quite a lot of things now,lol.

Cheers though. You are right with the choices of people I think.
People can write lyrics, even me but JAmes' portfolio speaks for itself, Toney is a musician that does it for a money, a pro like you said so he must know stuff, and then yourself as you have proved with the musical theory part of it with progressions, scales, chords etc.

What a team!!!
this is not to say others cannot answer questions because so many contribute here and I dont think I would just listen to one or two, but if one or two or three all said the same, or agreed with other posts then it has to be good advice.
Hmmmm, does this make sense? in my head right now as I type it all makes perfect sense.

Ken