In fact, I'm quite in the same situation as I started learning thai in January. You have to practice it's the only solution ! There are lots of video on internet for you to start learning basics, and also to catch the "tone trick" (no offense), the best thing being of course to go and stay for a while in Thailand (it's really hard to catch at first, but with time passing by, you start getting accustomed to it). Thai music is also a good means for this. Reading / translating a lot will help you catching the syntax and semantics, which are quite disturbing at first when you're from an Westerner stock. If you want, I can share with you the way I learnt thai alphabet by myself, with some simple tricks to mesmerize it quicker (took me something like 2 weeks).

Can I help you? If you need to practice Thai language by chat with Thai people. Please do not hesitate to contact me. Now I'm interesting to learn English. Because I'm not good at English and need to improve my language skills. มีข้อสงสัยทิ้งคำถามไว้ได้เลย ฉันช่วยสอนภาษาไทยคุณและคุณช่วยสอนภาษาอังกฤษให้ฉัน เราสามารถเป็นเพื่อนกันได้นะ ^^

I don't know Thai, other then to say ม่ใส่ผงชูรส and a few more words. I would really start with learning the Thai alphabet. To read things will speed up the language learning dramatically.