| For technique, a teacher would be best. It took me a couple of months or more to get a consistent tone. Don't expect to be able to read about the right technique and just do it. Keep with it and you'll get there.
I really like the "Slap it" book in combination with a drum machine/metronome for getting the feel of some different rhythms along with learning some cool riffs. Mind you, most of the stuff in the book is advanced/difficult! It is quite satisfying to learn one of the riffs though even at a slow speed. | 
