My best advice I can give to you is to trim out your bird before anything. That is about 80% of the battle. Once you do, move the linkages on the servo horns in a few holes towards the servo center. That will make any spastic movements you may have while learning be very minor and keep the heli moving slowly while you learn the basics of flight.

Also, make sure you master the 6 inch hover before getting brave and lifting it off to 12 feet if you get scared or freaked out your tendency will be to drop the throttle, a 6 inch drop is much better for the heli than a 12 ft drop.

I would definately learn tail in first and become proficient at it. Once you can do that without issue, then move to left/right side and eventually nose in.