OP,
Just know that 90% of beginners give up in Year 1 (according to a Fender study). That's an important fact to know as you don't know full well what bucket you'll fall into.
In order to minimize the financial impact of "giving up" or just keeping it as a half-ass "once in a while" hobby, buy a
USED guitar on
Reverb.com (forget Ebay, this is THE best site for used musical gear according to musicians). A new guitar is 50% off the minute you step out of a guitar store. So you'll save
huge by buying used from someone else who gave up--guaranteed the guitar will be "like new".
As for models, get a split-coil HSS Strat. Strats are the most comfortable body style to practice on and the Humbucker in the bridge will give you the heavy tones you want but also single coil split.
As for learning, there's TONS of stuff out there but the best
paid site I can recommend you is
Guitartricks.com (the largest guitar learning site on the net for a reason). If you sign up for their emails they'll send you a
$99/year offer (they have a
FREE TRIAL btw). Well worth to start immediately on it! For that price you get a real in-depth course structure from beginning and then it splits off into the genre you choose: blues, rock, country. The course is dummy proof and includes tabs & backing tracks. Where GT really separates itself is the
1000 LICENSED SONGS they teach. No other lesson programs has this in-depth of song library teachings. If you want to learn how to play songs in different genres with tabs & backing tracks and get real deep, you'll get it here!
Justinguitar.com is decent and free but no comparison to GT, btw. The recently created
Sygates.com is another interesting choice, free--well worth a look.
Another really fun tool to keep you motivated is
Rocksmith 2014 (PC, gaming machine). They also have 1000 licensed songs and is a great learning tool with mini games, a virtual band to play with, lessons, and of course the songs. Rocksmith isn't meant to replace GT or other learning sites but to be a "supplement" to your learning. It's
extremely fun and they add new songs
every Tuesday. Check it out:
LINK.
Next up, you'll need a good learning amp. The
Yamaha THR10/10x ($300) is by far the
most recommended amp by experienced users-really good sounding. Check out these vids:
Video 1, Video 2.
There are cheaper learning amps out there like the
Blackstar Fly Bluetooth ($99) or
Boss Katana Mini ($99). They'll do the job for basic tones. They're tiny but sound amazing
(Fly Review Video). I'd choose the Fly over the Katana in this lower price tier due to the bluetooth for backing tracks.
Once you evolve enough in your playing where you want different effects tones, you can link ANY of these practice amps to the
Zoom G1Xon ($80).....Product page
LINK. The Zoom is top rated in sounds and includes a
Looper and Drum Machine to help you practice. If you couple the Zoom with the Yamaha THR10 or Fly/Katana, you'll have all the tones to emulate any song out there. There's tons of Youtube vids to show you how all these units sound, here's a sampling on the
Zoom with a Pink Floyd Song.
Everything I mentioned above is tried and true and #1 rated in their respective categories. You can spend countless hours scouring music forums to draw up similar conclusions I've posted above. Spend that time getting your butt in gear and practicing instead! Rock on!