Welcome to SRP,

This place has a ton on knowledge. I myself am a beginner, I have been shaving for about a month now. My experience is much the same as yours. Started out with my sides and was happy, but when I did the more course areas I got discouraged.

I also thought that I had dulled the edge of my razor at one point early on. Here is some great advice that helped me out,

Work on stretching your skin tight, I know this will probably sound like it gets beat to death, but I feel it is one of the more important aspects of the shave. With out a nice flat tight surface, the razor just kind of digs in to your skin and skims over the hair.

Blade angle is important as well. When I get to the more corse area I start to get to 0 blade angle. Experiment with it, takes some time. Learn how your hair grows on your face to know if you are going wtg, xtg or atg.

This next part can be the worst if your not careful. Watch your pressure your using. Up till a few shaves ago i would get the worst razor burn and it would last for a few hours to all day some times. It was all because in the courser areas of my face I was putting in more pressure to get a closer shave. Dont use any pressure for the most part, the blade will do all the work.

Hope this helps, Im still fairly green myself but it is what I have picked up so far. Lastly, dont get discouraged, it gets better, there will be a moment where it just clicks, and boy is it awesome.

Later
Brian