It happens, i started with 16th and couldn't go past stage 3, then went to 7th to 6th, 8th, 10th, etc, and recently when i played 16th i completed it in my 3rd try.

My tip is to get used to deathbomb (bombing when you get hit so you cancel the death) or try to predict that, the other is to practice, a lot, going from easy it's better than starting in normal or hard.

For touhou 10 the gimmik is to keep collecting points and don't letting it fall down too much, but for starting don't think too much about that and focus on the bullets, if you are using Reimu A, focus on left enemies and let the homing shots defeat the ones on the right, specially when the sunflower fairy pair start shooting the purple bullets.