New to skateboarding

Skateboarding is rad!!

 

I loved skateboarding. (Still do, but can't anymore due to injuries)
From the age of about 17 - 22 I was obsessed with skateboarding. Was super passionate about it, did it as often as I could, trying to learn new tricks, etc.
I never got very good at it, but I could do some basic tricks. I could do all of the pop shuvit variants including nollie and switch, I could do 180s, 360 shuvits, bigspin, fakie bigspin. The only flip trick I could do consistently were heelflips. Kickflips just never came naturally to me for some reason and I had a hell of a time trying to learn them.

I could also skate a little bit of vert, mainly just dropping in, 180s, rock-to-fakies, etc.
I could also do basic 50 50 grinds and short-board slides on shorter rails.
My favorite thing to do was just ride around and ollie everything. Gaps, stairs, everything. Up and down them. I just ollied the FUCK out of everything because I didn't know too many tricks lol.

It was a lot of fun, but I sustained some injuries around the age of 21-22 that kind of ruined my skating "career".
I don't really know too much about longboarding because I've never done it, but I'm happy to answer any questions you have about regular skating.
Skateboarding to me was always more intriguing because it's more of a challenge and your striving towards goals of either learning tricks or riding ramps, etc. Whereas longboarding (from what I know about it) is more just if you want to cruise around or get from point A to point B. It's more for the casuals. I was a diehard skater at one point in my life. Still have a love for it. Just can't really do it anymore, sadly.

 

Just riding around and getting comfortable is definitely the most important thing. It took me a while to just get comfortable on a board and not lose my balance every two minutes lol. So that's good that you already practicing that. Also turning on a board is good practice (when you press your back foot down on the tail of the board a little and do little kick-turns) - this is also a good practice for building balance, speed, and simply navigating / riding around.

As for tricks, the two easiest tricks and often the first learned would be the pop shuvit and the ollie. The ollie is pretty much the base of every other trick, so that's the most important one and most people learn to ollie before anything. There are a lot of good how-to videos out there you can watch to help you with this. You can learn them standing still or slow-rolling. I would almost suggest learning to ollie rolling slowly on smooth pavement. For me, I learned how to ollie standing still indoors, and then when I went to skate-parks and such, it was almost like I had to relearn how to ollie all over again because trying to do it while moving seemed so scary and felt way different. So I would suggest just pushing off a little bit when you learn to ollie. Also, going through the foot-movements to perform the ollie will help build muscle memory and it helps immensely. Practice standing still, popping the tail of your board over and over and over, etc., until you feel comfortable with it, then pop and slide the side of your foot up the board all the way to the nose, rinse and repeat. Do this repeatedly. It might seem stupid and mundane at first but it helps build that muscle memory. Once you have all those basics down then push off a little and combine those foot movements (that you already have ingrained at that point) and you should be able to ollie.

Pop shuvit is also another super easy trick and often the first trick most people learn. Its almost easier than an ollie, tbh. All you do (you don't even have to pop the board, really) is just kick the tail a little bit with your back foot and spin the board 180, jump up just a little and land on it... its super simple haha. I think I even learned how to shuv it before an ollie. But once you get ollies down, then you can do a proper shuv it and actually pop it pretty high.

One thing I will say, is that skateboarding is not for everyone. Most people I know that skated agree that it is very challenging learning tricks and takes a LOT of patience and diligence. You're not going to learn any tricks or get good at them overnight. Or within a week. Perhaps not even within a month.
It took me several months of trying to learn a heelflip before I landed my first one. But when I finally did, it was the best feeling in the world. Landing a new trick after learning it is SO satisfying and rewarding. Just want to warn you that it might not be for you - a lot of people get discouraged after finding out how difficult it is to even ollie and then give up. But if you stick with it you might find it addictive, like I did, and spend a lot of time trying to get better at it.

 

^ Good video up there!

I actually bought a new board finally a year ago! I went for an 80s style era board, since I got bored with the popsicle stick boards and wanted something that is still nimble and maneuverable like a popsicle stick board but also stable at high speeds like a long board. I love my 80s style board, and is probably one of my favorite boards of all time. Here is a video that inspired me to get one if you enjoy watching old school skateboard videos with Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, and Stacy Peralta. It really shows what you can do with a board like mine.