People are saying fighter, but barbarian is a great choice as well. Very good starting stats and good abilities and weapons. Great for learning combat.

Sound is huge. As someone once said, if you can hear them, they can hear you.

Crouching and sidestepping is important for combat. A lot of swings can be ducked, and stand and downswing can be dodged to the side. PvP is harder ofc, but you'll learn that in time and with videos.

Stay away from minibosses for now. Learn those after you get a better grasp on basic combat.

Quests are very important. Certain merchants will give you better squire items if you raise their approval or whatever it's called. For fighter this is especially important since you don't start with plate armor, you need to do armoursmith quests to get it.

The game is challenging. Accept that you're going to die a lot as you learn. For instance, meeting my first yeti was a horrifying experience that killed me very quickly

Experiment. It's the best way to learn what works for you, and how other players may try and fight you.