You basically took the words right out of my mouth. I’ve never been able to completely get a grip of typography. I can appreciate what good typography looks like, but getting there myself is a nightmare. Pairing fonts together is one of the hardest parts.
You may find this quite useful though -
http://www.pearsonified.com/2011/12/golden-ratio-typography.php
If anyone else has some tips, please post them. 