How long does it take to learn how to play acoustic guitar?

I used to play acoustic guitar, and I have no idea if I'll be of any help because I don't know if you're going to get lessons or try and teach yourself but anyway, I had guitar lessons for a while and played guitar for a few years. You can get books with cds in that help you learn, if you'd like to learn that way, and they're supposed to be quite good, I have been told. When I learnt, I started off just learning basic techniques, like plucking and strumming. I learnt what the strings were (E, A, D, G, B, E), and then as long as you know the strings, you can look up tutorials online and learn chords from there, or look up the chords online and learn them. If you look up 'guitar chords' on google, they'll usually provide a diagram to show you where to put your fingers to help you out. Online tutorials on youtube are a good way to learn, well for me anyway. Hope I helped at least a little bit, good luck with your guitar playing! :)

It shouldn't take more than a few months just to learn the basic "cowboy" chords and be able to strum out a decent sounding song. It will take a while for your fingers to get comfortable (they'll hurt at first from the strings). It also takes a while to get used to switching between chords smoothly. If you're really serious about learning to play guitar, I'd actually advise that you start by taking lessons and learning to read music and play the individual notes all up the neck of the guitar. Do exercises designed to strengthen and build independent motion in your fingers. Then move on to chords after you have the basics down. After 6 months to a year of lessons you should be pretty well on your way. But if your goal is just to learn some chords and strum along to songs, that's fine too.

It is different for everyone. It depends on if you are taking classes, self-taught., how much you practice, and how often you practice. Some can be really good in a year while others are still not very good after several years. You can learn to play a few basic chords well in a month if you practice enough.