Getting down the basic German skills is the best way to learn German. I've been learning German for 20 years now and to me the basic German skills are:

Knowing nouns
the definite article for each noun - whether its der, die or das
the plural form of the noun
knowing verbs
how to conjugate them
their past and future forms
knowing the grammar - German sentences behave differently from English sentences and you have to get used to putting verbs at the end of sentences, capitalizing nouns, etc.

One of the most important basic German skills is to understand that nouns and pronouns change, depending on how they are used in a sentence. Its somewhat similar in English:

He gave me the book
I gave him the hammer
"He" and "I" became "him" and "me" when they received the action of the verb. These are the nominative and dative cases, respectively. In these sentences, the book and the hammer are in the accusative cases. Here are these same sentences in German:
Er gab mir das Buch

Ich gab ihm den Hammer

You will notice that the pronouns and definite articles change in the different cases. "Ich" and "er" in the nominative are "mir" and "ihm" in the dative.

If you are learning basic German skills, try to get down these basic areas. If they seem difficult at first, just take your time, look up how to conjugate different German verbs and especially research what it means for words to be in the nominative, accusative, dative and genitive cases. This is something you must know to progress to higher German skills.

I have discovered since I started learning German that understanding these basic German skills always comes in handy. Even 20 years later I still come across some difficult sentences and the best way to understand them is to break them down into their basic, separate components. Nailing down these basic German skills is the best way to learn German because you will fall back on them time and again as you continue to learn German.

The best part about learning German is that the process can be a fun and adventurous experience. When you are learning German you can experience a very wonderful and rich culture and you'll realize that this culture has had a strong influence on a large part of the world. Many of the children's fairy tales we grew up with have German origins. Classical music composers such as Mozart, Wagner and Bach were German. Of course, I don't have to mention the German auto industry or German food, wines and beer. Now with the age of the internet, learning German is not reduced to sitting in a stale classroom. Internet courses, such as www.Quick-Basic-German.info make learning German quick, fun and easy. Then, once you have nailed down the basics of German, I recommend you do what I did and go spend a few weeks or months in a German-speaking country and start enjoying all the richness and beauty of everything German. Herzlichen Glückwunsch beim Deutschlernen!