I’m doing pretty good so far, I can ride it, but I still have to hold on to stuff sometimes. Any tips? Plus I also got some new padding. The guy at the cyclery ordered them for me. I dont really like them cause theyre always in the way 
I got some kneeshin pads and some elbow/arm pads grrrr theyre so frusterating!
tips:
-Persistance, persistance, persistance.
keep trying. as long as your patience will allow. or more.
- use walls less and less. let go for short bits, and gradually lenghten the time you let go of the wall/rail. i learned by pushing offa wall in my back yard for a week and a half, and then i tryed to turn.
-expect to learn in a long time. like 3-6 weeks is average. if yiou learn or get better soon, it just helps your attitude if you expect to learn in twice the time you originally thought it would take.
Re: Progress!
make sure your seat is the correct height
when sitting with all your weight on the seat (we’ll come back to this) and your heel on the pedal (u’ll never ride like this - this is just to check the seat height), your leg should be straight, but not locked
your knee should just be able to bend
once u have the seat height correct, make sure that u keep your weight on the seat at all times
as soon as u shift your weight off the seat and onto the pedals, u’ll find yourself in a Bottom Dead Center Stall and into a quick UPD (UnPlanned Dismount)
and just practise, practise, practise
set yourself small goals with appropriate rewards
these may vary from playing with your barbie doll for 5 minutes to pouring yourself a shot of bourbon
depending on age
mostly
and let us know how u go
I learned at a local tennis court (when there weren’t folks playing tennis). I would hang on to the fence and just pedal along it. It became a huge crutch and I just couldn’t seem to let go of it for long. I finally decided I needed to use the fence to get my initial balance, turn completely away from the fence and let go. It was really frustrating for a while. Sometimes I’d only get 2 revs of the pedals before I’d crash and burn. But then I’d get 5 revs and then 10 and boy did that feel good.
Personally, I’ve never used shin, knee or elbow pads. And I’ve only gotten a skinned up knee a couple of times. I do however, use wrist guards and a helmet religiously. Most UPDs I can run out of but when I do hit the ground I instinctively put my hands out to stop my fall and the first time I jammed my wrists hard I went out and bought the guards. They’ve saved me a lot of pain.
Good luck and keep working at it. It took me an extraordinarily long time to actually ride the thing but I stuck with it and now it’s part of my everyday life.