Further to that;
If you have no board skills at all, such as snow, wind, kite, etc, or have never spent too much time at the beach as a kid, etc, then get a group lesson to start with.
If you have some wave skills, swimming skills, bodyboarding past, catching waves, ship to shore style, etc, it will be worth your while getting a 1 on 1 lesson.
Summer is coming around, and there is always a girl or two who begs me for a "private lesson" (

), and I have a 100% hit rate at getting them to their feet, and up and riding, within 20-30 minutes !! On real boards, not dodgey soft tops with the worlds floppiest fins!!