Soldering is super super easy when you're working with wires at the workbench. Of course that doesn't happen much, instead I'm standing on a milk crate trying to solder some tiny wire on a board that's obscured by all tons of crap

Practice is the only way. The switches and coil lugs are very easy because you do not have to worry about over heating them so much. However once you move on to transistors and IC chips things can get a bit dicey. Got to make sure you do not over heat the chip and that your solder points do not touch each other and short something out.
Most vendors have some scrap boards for free that you can practice on as well.
What I love using the most that some professionals hate is solder wicking tape. You just lay it over the solder point and put your solder gun tip on top. As the solder melts underneath it just gets sucked up into the tape. No mess to clean up or worry about the clumbsy solder sucker.

Get an old junk board and a Soldapult and practice.
Keep the tip clean and wet, don't put a dry iron on the board.
Load the tip with solder on spots you want to use the sucker on, works better with a little more solder.
Once you get the holes sucked out wet and wipe the iron, move it out to the tip of the leg or pin and apply light pressure in the direction it needs to go until it pops loose then move on to the next one.
By wet I mean fresh solder, not water.

Yes clean tinned tip is necessary for sure, I am a newb also but things flow a lot better if you wipe off your ironing tip after 2 or so spots.
I bought a 30 dollar solder sucker from parts express, it applies heat and you hit a button and it sucks it all up, and really good I must say.
Some people use the plain old pencil iron for board work but I bought a 49.99 soldering station with digital temp control. It is real nice also, it goes anywhere from 200F-400F and I usually keep it around 325. As far as under the pf work I think a pencil is fine and should be no problem.

I love the sucker though, Radio shack has a booger bulb that I hear works fine but I like only having to use one hand to do the work.
Depending how much money you want to spend they have real nice equipment but if your a newb like me I got a pretty good outfit for 80.00 bucks.
I also use the wick if a glob drops on some traces or somewhere that the sucker can't touch.
I like this side of pins more than playing I think.

My first real pcb repair is a replacing the high Voltage section on the display board of my DM,
I'm about halfway finished now and hopefully it will work when I'm done.
I have learned a lot in the last week about pcb repair and it's real fun.

I have a giant scar on my hand from my fathers iron burning me when I was 5 so I think I have always been into this stuff, it's pins that have rekindled my love for it.

I practiced on cheap capacitors and boards from Radio shack over and over until I got the hang of it. The video below is what I used when I started and has some good info.

Nice Thank You!

First rule is keep things clean. Get a tip cleaner and also some 91% alcohol and brushes. After you remove a component, clean both sides of the board, the leads on the new component and the solder itself with an alcohol wipe. Might sound silly, but the solder will stick and wick better and end up nice and silver looking if you work clean. Work dirty and the solder will move around in a glob and not stick anywhere.

Solder around 650-675 degrees. Learn to work fast. Get in and get out before the component can be damaged. Clean the tip and put a dab of solder on it before soldering. A dry tip does not transfer heat well. A little dab of solder on it will give more surface area to transfer the heat faster and more evenly.

The little spring loaded solder suckers are also great when you know how to use it. I rarely ever pull out my Hakko. The $7.99 tool works better and requires less maintenance. I only use the Hakko when I am trying to remove an IC without damaging it.

Circuit board holders are really nice things to have. Panduit makes nice ones. I love being able to put the solder sucker on one side of the board and heat with the iron on the other. Nothing gets the empty holes cleaner faster.

Speaking of holders, remember the second rule of soldering is never hold a component while soldering because you can never hold it completely still. Make sure whatever you are soldering is already attached mechanically. The joint should not be moving when cooling. So if you are attaching a diode to a switch, use pliers to crimp the lead to the terminal carefully before soldering.

Practice makes perfect.

These are worth their weight in gold:
http://www.amazon.com/Hakko-Cleaner-599B-02-Non-Corrosive-Needed/dp/B000PDQORU/ref=sr_1_2

John

I'd like to thank the Boy Scouts for teaching me how to solder many years ago. Thank goodness I've gotten all the practice in.

1. Practice
2. Practice
3. Make sure you get a decent soldering iron. If you cannot control the temperature WHILE soldering and the temp drops too much while working, get rid of it. Important!
4. Get/use the right size tip for the job, expecially when working on through hole boards. I think this is where hobbiest make alot of mistakes and burn boards. Way too much heat where it shouldn't be.
5. Use a quality solder. I still use leaded solder. I just make sure I have my soldering fan on so I dont inhale. The lead-free stuff always looks unfinished to me. Cheap solder wont flow as good as the good stuff. I think it has to do with the core flux.
6. Use a lighted magnifying glass and board holder when possible. You can see you work very clearly as you go.
7. Remember that solder flows toward the heat source so always begin soldering on the opposite side of you soldering tip and let it work its way to the iron.
8. I always keep a huge glob on my iron tips when the are not in use. Keeps the elements from getting to them and keeps em looking new. Just melt off when needed.
9. Have fun with it. It actually gets my mind off everything else going on which can be nice when you wanna zone out!

Hope this helps a little!

In addition to getting the right size tip, things got much easier for me when I picked up a spool of the right sized solder. Originally I was using a thicker diameter, which was difficult to melt and flow. After I finally had the idea to get a very thin solder it was like night and day for me.