There is (was?) no US-UK license reciprocity (they can't even agree on the spelling!), so I had to go from scratch, too, to get my car and bike licenses in the UK...
Of course, with so many years of driving experience all over Europe (not to mention the, er, "extra" years I had actually driven in the UK by that time), was I going to take bloody driving lessons? No way!
Result: passed the car practical test on the third (or was it the fourth?!?!) try... Just little things caused the failure each time, silly things, sometimes "unfair" things, but they added up. (Passed the bike test on the first go, oddly...)
So, yes, take the lessons!