There are MANY resources out there to help you, it all depends on how dedicated you are to the cause. You need to understand how active devices work, the principles of feedback, how to set up and use simulation tools, how to perform stability analysis.....lots of stuff.
There are many tutorials and books out there that can help you get started. But at the end, you will need to acquire a sense of rightness -- you sketch some circuit and then need to ask yourself if it will do what you want, or do something better than other solutions you have seen. This stage can take a long time to get to -- and even when you think you are there, you can always be wrong! Be ready to try and fail, but you need to use each case as a learning experience. Don't just move on, figure out WHY your great idea didn't work the way you thought it would. Troubleshooting circuits is an important skill, particularly in the DIY world.
There are many tutorials and books out there that can help you get started. But at the end, you will need to acquire a sense of rightness -- you sketch some circuit and then need to ask yourself if it will do what you want, or do something better than other solutions you have seen. This stage can take a long time to get to -- and even when you think you are there, you can always be wrong! Be ready to try and fail, but you need to use each case as a learning experience. Don't just move on, figure out WHY your great idea didn't work the way you thought it would. Troubleshooting circuits is an important skill, particularly in the DIY world.
Some individual concepts that are useful to really truly understand and have hands-on experimenting and experience with, imo:
- Discrete differential amplifiers, and why they have so called non-inverting and inverting sides -- plus, why they work the way they do (see: constant current sources)
- PNP and NPN Current mirrors and what they're useful for, why they're useful, and the impact not using one could have.
- Various types of constant current sources (think zener-bjt, double bjt, simply a resistor, etc) and why and when some of them are more suitable in some situations.
Interesting read and development of wolverine, one of the lowest distortion bjt amp.
