Sketching for beginners

[ZandraJoi]

What are some good tips for those who would like to try their hand at sketching but honestly are lost at where to begin? Are there certain styles or techniques that would be best? I'm not that good at drawing, not like I'd like to be. Stick figures can be hard enough lol
When I did a search, I saw that some people start small with cylinder & circle shapes. Getting those down pat before moving on. Then with those geometric shapes, you can add on to create figures.
Does that work for you?

 

[Shortie]

My daughter used to use paper and trace images she wanted to draw. The more she did this the better her drawing skills got without tracing. Not sure how well this would work for others.