ok.. first sit in the car for like 20 minutes, just going through the gears with the car off. using the clutch to upshift, using the gas and everything just like you would if you were moving. this really helps once you get moving to not get lost in what your doing, and keep your concentration more on the road. it also will give you a very good feel for the clutch.
when your first starting out, go to a big empty parking lot, or some county road that nobody uses. and sit there, with the car on this time, and slowly let the clutch out until you start to feel it catch, then once you feel it start to catch, put the clutch back in, repeat this like 10-20 times, so you have a really good idea of where the clutch starts to catch, after doing this you should be able to let the clutch out fairly quickly right until the catch point, if you still have to let it out very slow from the start, keep doing this until you know the catch point well enough to get to the catch point somewhat quickly.
now without touching the gas at all, let the clutch out so its engaged fully and the car is moving with the clutch out. the car will do it, unless your car is wierd. it obviously takes longer than when using the gas. but it gives you a very good feel for how long it takes from where it starts to engage, to where its engaged fully. and just a good overall feel for how the clutch works. do this alot until you are confident and able to do it without any problems many times in a row.
now do it with the gas. first, rev the engine in neutral a little bit, to get an idea of how sensitive the gas is, there really is no magic rpm, or anything, its just what feels right, and what works the best. you really shouldnt have to be over 2, its fine when your just learning, and you definitely shouldnt be over 3.
so keep the car at a slightly higher rpm over idle,then do the same thing as before, let the clutch out slowly, this time, adding throttle as you let the clutch out, for the first like 1/3 of the catch point you shouldnt be increasing the throttle very much, it will just slip the clutch a shit ton.
so again, do this over and over, starting and stopping, getting used to adding throttle as you let the clutch out. and once you feel comfortable and can do it many times without stalling, then your ready.
you will probably be using gas before you engage the clutch for awhile, it does make it easier, but after awhile you will get used to it, and you will just know exactly when to give it gas in relation to the clutch position. starting on a hill is a very very good way to get good at this, because you have to let your foot off the brake and go straight to engaging the clutch and adding throttle. rather than holding the rpm slightly higher before you even engage the clutch.
as for shifting and downshifting, its easy, it just takes time to perfect, downshifting is harder, just start out by downshifting very slowly and at lower rpm's you will get used to it. and if you wanna be super cool, after awhile you can learn to heel toe downshift. which makes downshifts much quicker, smoother and easier on the car.
