Buy a sim...G3, reflex, aero flight pro what ever they are all fairly good these day's. I learned on G2... I swear, when I first tried it, the sim heli's were un flyable... being a long time Airplane flyer I didn't think I would have that much trouble... I was wrong
Once I got the hang of it and got to the point I could fly out the tank with out a crash 9 out of 10 times I took my heli out to the field had one of the heli guy's look it over... test fly it and stand close by as I did my first hover's... It was easier than the sim if you don't consider the PUCKER factor
before long I was hovering Tail in, nose in, side in (left/right) and doing small amounts of FF. Once I felt comfortable and had lost the pucker somewhat it was on to full FF, figure 8's, circle's and so on... I'm still at this point and don't think I'll ever get into the really aerobatic/3D stuff... I save that for my planes and G2 with a heli
John