Here are some basic lessons/tips for beginners to minecraft. You should always keep these in mind no matter wether you're playing survival or multiplayer, because they will save your sorry ass when you get in trouble.

1:Always have your crafting recipes memorized. I don't give a shit about you using google to type in crafting recipes, it's bothersome and a waste of time. And a creeper/griefer could easily sneak up on you while you're AFK. The most important recipes to memorize are:

• Beds(three wood on the bottom, three wool on top)
  
• Doors(two strips of wood going up, each three long)
  
• Crafting table(4 pieces of wood in a sqaure shape)
  
• Pickaxe(two sticks going up, then three wood,cobble, stone, gold, or diamon going across)
  
• Chest(all crafting squares filled up except for the middle)
  
• Furnace(same as crafting table except made with cobble)
  
• Fishing rod(three sticks goes across diagonally from the left to the right, then two string going up from the bottom right corner)
  
• Torch(one charcoal or coal on top of a stick)
  

2:Never dig down. Digging down is one of the most dangerous things you can do in minecraft. It may be tempting to just dig straight down to get to precious ores faster but the chances of you hitting a precious ore and not a hazard are very slim. Tunneling down could have you accidently dig through the roof of a cave or ravine causing you to fall to your death, or if you unfortunately survive will leave you trapped in a unfamiliar cave which is who knows is how deep and might not even lead to the surface. Or even worse you could dig straight down and lose all your hard earned items in the lava.

3:Never dig straight up. You could be dig up into sand or gravel which would fall on you and crush you unless you can dig yourself out of that situation quickly. You may also dig up into a water or lava deposist causing you to drown or burn up. Digging straight up is almost as dangerous as digging straight down.

4:always bring a few spare torches. At least carry half a stack of torches at all times. You never know when you may get lost and have to camp out for a night or two, or have the sudden urge to explore a cave.

5:Don't get greedy. If you find a few diamonds don't get greedy and look for more, get out of the cave with the items you have now. you can always return to that cave for more items, however if you die there you could forget where you died and lose all the items that you just picked up becuase of the items dissapearing before you can reclaim them. And need i remind you diamonds do NOT respawn normally , if you lose a diamond, it's lost for good.

6:Always mark where you are. Wether you've remembered a particular shade of brown on the map as your home or have put up unmistakable markers along your path, always leave a trail home. Getting lost even worse than dying becuase it will waste your precious time and you will most likely die before you get home. And when you do, your items will be be lost becuase if you couldn't remember your way out you most probably won't remeber your way back in. By the time you reach your items they will probably have de-rezzed.

7:Don't leave areas of darkness up for guess, cover that shit up. You would be surprised how easy it is for a creeper to spawn in a house with just a one patch of darkness, after all it takes only one. And when that creeper finds you can kiss goodbye to your house.

Keep these rules in mind and you may delay the inevitable for just a few more moments.