I moved your topic into a new thread to keep things easy to follow.
I can't stress enough how important the basics are! If you learn a few basic things, the rest will fall neatly into place. Check out this website:
http://www.musictheory.net/When that page comes up, there is a whole section called "Lessons". Take the time to learn those lessons backward and forward! It might be boring at first, but you'll have a hard time progressing, unless that time is taken. Quiz yourself on the lessons until you "own" the information.
Let me know how that works out!