My $.02, as a self taught VB.Netter, would be to start with a few really simple projects, the obvious 'hello world' project, etc. Then, like you said, just jump in and get wet, trial and error. One of the most useful tools in .NET 2005 is the debugger! Breakpoints and the immediate window are invaluable when you're trying to figure out how something works, or why it doesn't! Set a breakpoint (F9, or click the grey border at the left edge of the code screen) at the entry of the source, then step through the source line by line (F
. Thats usually how i figure out how something works if I can't understand the source by looking at it (or why it doesn't work like I thought it should).
Some useful resources are google (believe it or not), experts-exchange.com, codeguru.com, codeproject.com, msdn.microsoft.com