Hi Brad -
I have found the help to be very confusing as well, although once you can master it, it really can "help" find solutions.
It seems like most of the tutorials on the web are geared towards VBA for Excel. This is not necessarily a bad place to start, since Excel is a little more transparent to watch than Access.
Try typing the following into Google and see what turns up
+Access VBA tutorials beginner
+Excell VBA tutorials beginner
I found the Sam's programming books (Teach Yourself Access Programming) to at least be a jumping off point. I found an electronic copy through the local library and was able to get a little orientation that way.
If you are just interested in learning to code (as opposed to VBA) then you might find Javascript an option. There's a lot of informaiton on the web (for free), and it doesn't require any expensive software.
My experience has been that people in forums have been very helpful, as long as you have a specific question, have at least made some reasonable effort to find the answer yourself, and appreciate the fact that they are sharing their knowledge.
Hope that gives you a little bit of a start.
- g