I brew mostly lagers and they can be intimidating at first, but after you done a 100 or so, they're a piece of cake. The best advice I can give you is to select a yeast easy to work with.
Fermentis 34/70 lager yeast is about the easiest yeast to use. This yeast can chew through a beer at 48F, you can raise the temperature to the mid 60's and the yeast will preform really well at those temperatures too. It has a dry finish and has a decent malt profile. The down side of this yeast is it doesn't produce malt bombs, so it's not the best for a Helles or a Czech Pils or an Oktoberfest, etc. It's the best yeast for American Lager, as far as I'm concerned, crisp, clean. Delicious. It's pretty good for German Pils too.
Don't be afraid of pitching too much, most home brewers go cheap on the pitch with less than stellar results.
Pitch it on the cold side below the fermentation temp and let it come up, even if you ferment in the 60's. If you pitch warm, the yeast takes off really fast and can produce fruity esters. If you can, ferment in the low to mid 50's. I make an American lager with it at 48F. It's little slow to start and a lot slower to ferment at lower temperatures, but it's cleaner. It can take 2 weeks to get to the final gravity at lower temps, but if you do it in the low 60's, it should be done in a week or so. D-rest is really not necessary unless you ferment at lower temps. Typically I will let the beer set for a full 2 weeks at fermentation temperature for good measure, then I just crash it to 32-33F. No need to drop slowly. You can lager it 2-6 weeks. I start drinking them as soon as the yeast drops. They do get better after about 4-6 weeks at 33F or so.
If you decide to use a liquid yeast, you should aerate the wort at pitch with pure oxygen. Lager yeasts require higher levels of oxygen to promote a healthy fermentation. With a dry yeast, there is no need to aerate unless you build a starter with it or re-pitch from a previous batch of beer. Dry yeast have a boat load of sterol and lipid reserves and the dehydration process keeps those reserves intact, so no need for the yeast to build those up after pitch.
More advice: Skip the 6 row, modern American 2 row Pils malt has about the same characteristics as 6 row. I would recommend Rahr North Star Pils or Rahr Premium Pils or something similar.
If you use a adjunct, Minute Rice is really nice. Just put it in with the mash, no precooking and it doesn't gum up the mash. I have had trouble in the past getting flaked rice from the local home brew store and it was rancid.
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Don't get too hung up on when to lager or how long to ferment. When the beer is done it's done. If you miss the d-rest and the beer gets hits FG before you had a chance to raise the temp, just raise the temp and let it set for 3-4 days.
Good luck!
