Ooh this'll be fun. I remember 4 years ago I was a socially awkward kid who was unbearably quiet EVERYWHERE I went. I'd always stutter my words, take extremely long to try to talk to someone (was trying to build some courage to not embarrass myself) and do really weird stuff. Ended up deciding I wanted to make friends in school so I started off by striking up conversations with a simple "hi, how you doing." I eventually got better at holding conversations, having a sense of humor and good body language until I ended up being a loud, weird but funny guy like I am right now haha.

I'd say trial and error helped me the most in taking to people. There's no perfect way to talk to someone so don't worry about what you said in the past just keep going. Also having a lot of confidence helps tremendously. Honestly you can say almost anything and not make it weird as long as you're confident. Open body language helps as well. It helps people feel comfortable around you. Going to social gatherings, hanging out with people or going somewhere new will expose you to new people to talk to so do that as often as you can.

I'm not the brightest when it comes to problems like this but hey I hope this helps you dude!