Hey, welcome to AH!
Yes, Playing in H2H for bout 10 months did improve my skills quit a bit, but if you really, really want to be good, fly every plane, especially early war 1s like a6m2, hurricane mk1, spit mk1, D3A1, F4u-1 (not early war, but does improve ur skills).
My thinking is, more planes you fly the more you know not just your plane, but your enemies as well.
If you havent played in CT yet, you should definitly try it nomatter how few people are in there! Planesets & maps are great! And same with Scenarios & TOD's.
CT allso makes u a better pilot IMO, it makes you fly planes you normally wouldnt, learning their strengths and weaknesses etc.
When ever I pop in the MA I find it amazingly easy to get kills after spending so much time in the CT, provided I'm not trying to defend a vulched base allone as I usuelly do

(Get killed, but I find it really fun taking on 10 enemies in a Val, zero or hurri 1

)
I'm in CT,or SEA 99.5% of the time I play AH.
Oh yeah, as for spit dweeb thing, don't worry bout it fly what ya want how ya want, but I do suggest you try flying lotsa planes somewhat regularely.