The first thing you should do, is learn the notes on you fretboard.
I am self taught, but for my first nearly 10 years, i relied on scale shapes, and numbering systems to navigate my neck. When I finally got round to learning my fretboard, all the theory i'd learnt about chord building, substitutions and inversions etc. instantly found it's place.
Also, it is amazing to pick up a sheet of dancing dots and play it straight away having never even heard it before - score pi##es all over tab (and it looks nice too)