I'd argue that the best way to learn anything in vim is to read the docs. When I first started with vim, I was just jumping in, trying to figure it out as I go. All that really yielded was frustration. Though I guess that frustration is what led me to actually read the help, so in a roundabout way, maybe I agree!
The vim docs are surprisingly great. With many ancient open-source tools I usually find better explanatory docs elsewhere on the web, so I used to spend time reading tips and things online for vim. Once you know the basics though, the vim docs are way better than anything else I've seen written about the editor.
