First off welcome to Bass Resource! You've come to the right place. I've only been fishing for about a year but I'll try and answer what I can.
What is a jig/jig head? A bass jig consists of a lead head attached to a hook, a skirt, a weed guard, and a soft plastic trailer of your choice. The jig head is just the lead head/hook. Jigs are often cast out and then reeled in with a hopping retrieve. Let it sink, sit there for a few seconds, and then give it a couple short hops, let it sit again, repeat. You can also swim a jig by casting out and reeling it in.
What is a crankbait? A crankbait is a lure usually made of plastic that is shaped like a small fish. It has 2 treble hooks and a plastic lip sticking out of the front. The plastic lip makes the crankbait wobble from side to side and dive to a certain depth. Shorter lips run shallow and longer lips run deeper. When reeling them in, the lip catches water and the lure dives and wobbles from side to side. An effective way to get bit on a crankbait is to try and bounce it off of cover like stumps, logs, rocks, or you can fish one that dives a little deeper than the water your fishing and it will bounce off the bottom and stir up sediment which can get a fish's interest. Your X-raps are similar but I believe they are a jerkbait. I don't know much about jerkbaits so I'll leave that alone.
What is a buzzbait? It's similar to your spinnerbait but instead of the blades, their is a propeller. Its a topwater lure. When you retrieve it you want the propeller to churn the surface of the water.
When should I use different lures? Early morning (just before/after sunrise) or late evening (just before/after sunset) is usually a good time for topwater. Give your popper a try. If its windy and there's a bit of chop on the water, try throwing a spinnerbait or crankbait. That's about all I can give you here. I'm still working on this myself.
C-rig or T-rig? I could be wrong about this but I think a Carolina Rig is better for covering water and a Texas Rig is better for casting to a specific piece of cover. Say there's a fallen tree laying in the water or an old stump or something like that, you'd cast a T-rig to it, preferably from different angles and hitting different spots on/around it. If your fishing a flat expanse of water, use a Carolina Rig. Cast it out and drag it across the bottom all the way back to you. Also the weight will bump into/over things so you'll be able to get an idea of what's on the bottom.
What pound line? Sometimes fish in heavily pressured waters can get line shy. A lighter line is thinner and thus a bit harder for the fish to see. This can increase your chances of getting bit. Also certain lures like crankbaits will run a bit deeper on a lighter line. For example, if your fishing 15 pound line and you downsize to say 8 or 10, your crankbait will dive deeper. I'm sure there are other reasons and maybe others will chime in. Personally, I've used 10-12 pound monofilament since I started and have been doing pretty well.
Rod length/action? Longer rods cast farther while shorter rods are more accurate. You have to find a happy medium. My 2 rods are both 6'6'' but I know a lot of guys on here use 7ft and sometimes even longer. I'll leave rod power and action to someone else.
Color? On bright sunny days or clear water, use natural colors like 'bluegill' or 'sexy shad' that will mimic baitfish or other forage. On overcast days or muddy water, either go really bright or really dark. Something like 'chartreuse' will really stand out while 'black' will make a really nice silhouette for the bass to zero in on. As for spinnerbaits, sunny days = sliver blades and overcast days = gold blades.
Spinnerbait without a skirt? I suppose you could but I'm not sure how successful it would be and wouldn't recommend it. Those WalMart spinnerbaits are only a buck a piece. If the skirt is messed up, go pick up a couple more in a couple different colors.
Other advice:
* Always use needle nose pliers for treble hooks.
* I know you said don't just refer you to YouTube but Bassresource has videos with excellent explanations for quite a few of your questions. All the vids are on the video section of this site as well as several other very informative videos. Also look through some of the other forms for other posts related to some of your questions. I'm pretty sure there's one all about jigs pinned at the top of the 'Fishing Tackle' forum
*When I started, I had some trouble figuring out the different types of lures as well. What helped me was that I would go to sites like BassPro.com and look at the different lures. Just search for buzzbaits, crankbaits, jigs, or whatever else and you can get a good idea of what they are.
* Take it slow. It seems like your getting a bit overwhelmed. You can't expect to learn everything overnight. Pick a couple techniques and try and focus on them until you feel you've gotten them down. Then try something else.
*Fish cover. As a general rule, fish like cover. A bass will sit under an old log or in a weed bed just waiting for a prey item to come strolling by. Don't be afraid to lose a few baits. If there's snaggy stuff, odds are it's a good spot for fish. You can also throw a couple different baits to the same cover. If you throw a crankbait at a stump and don't get bit, maybe follow up with something different like a soft plastic.
*Ask lots of questions and absorb all the knowledge you can. Like I said, you've come to the right place. Post specific questions in the appropriate forums and the people here will be more than happy to do their best to help you.
*Never forget, sometimes the fish win.
I hope some of that helps you in some small way.
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