Self-teaching has become an important phenomenon in contemporary musical transmissions. However, social science seems at a loss to apprehend it, as self-education supposes the absence of otherness. Observing how French guitarists learn, this paper presents autodidactic self-assertion as the nodal point of a transmission system. The comparison between classical guitar classes and popular guitar lessons allows us to put forward that the second type of learning does not exclude the reference to autodidaxy, but on the contrary, does contribute to reveal its structure.