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Pete, I may be more advanced that most of the pickers we share information with but my main advantage is I know the fretboard. Fingering positions come through practice but knowing where all of the different notes are on the fretboard and how to use that information to form chords in different areas of the fretboard is strength of mine. If you know how many E notes are on the fretboard between an open neck and the 5th fret, or A notes or D notes or G notes is a good way to start to becoming a better guitar player. 10 minutes a day transferring a progression like C, F, G and A minor to a 5th fret starting position on the fret board taught me a heck of a lot about how to play. Take your favorite progressions and start them above the 5th fret for a few minutes a day. It will teach you a heck of a lot of valuable guitar info. think of the Hotel California Monday exercise and starting with an A minor shape on the 10th fret using only the Treble E, B and G strings of your guitar. A perfect learning exercise for utilizing the upper frets for chord shapes. You can do that exercise using those 3 strings and if you transfer the D minor and the E 7th above the 5th fret you all of those chords on the treble strings and learn a lot of guitar info especially if you callout each note of the chord strings you are picking. I didn’t take any course, just studied a couple of books and practiced that info a lot. I preach it all the time, learn the fret board and it does open up a lot of different ways to play.