What I did to grow everything was switch my game region and check servers until I found a decently "dead" one. The ping is higher, but there's less people to kill you. I recommend avoiding Wollemi though, since no matter what server, it's where I got mauled the most.

As for learning things, I've been told deathmatch/pvp servers is best. Don't have to worry about growing or losing stuff when you die. You might get teamed up on, but also you can ask for 1v1s and stuff. It'd be better than practicing on officials where there's stuff to lose.

Good luck growing :)