I'm going to start hanging drywall in my garage and was curious if when doing the ceiling, it was better to have the short cut pieces against the wall edges so that the recessed joints would be toward the main area of the ceiling making it easier (for an amateur) to mud those joints and thus producing a smoother seam? would I have a harder time joining/mudding a short cut piece edge (ceiling)to a recessed edge (wall)? Thanks

Yes, you are exactly right.. You want the cut edges to the wall and keep the factory edges to the seams, it takes a pretty good touch to tape square edge joints..

I'll second that, and add to hang the ceiling first and then butt the walls up to the ceiling drywall - much easier and more forgiving. Glue and screw everything - nails can evently pop. Taping is done in 3 coats, if you try to get a perfect tape job with one coat you are wasting time. Each tapping the knife to use gets larger ie 6", then 8"/10" and then 10"/12".

Save your back, sanity, and friendships and rent a drywall jack/lift from your area's tool rental place! Trust me, it will be the best money you've ever spent.

I found this website pretty helpful when I learned to mud:

http://www.drywallinfo.com/index.html

I hate doing ceilings, your neck will be sore for a week!

We pretty much built our own house except for the big stuff. The paper joint tape might be ok for the pros but it will drive you and I insane. The open mesh tape sticks in place and seems to work fine, especially for us amateurs.

We pretty much built our own house except for the big stuff. The paper joint tape might be ok for the pros but it will drive you and I insane. The open mesh tape sticks in place and seems to work fine, especially for us amateurs.

I have used both on flat joints. The mesh never seemed to pop/bubble like the paper, and is nice since it sticks.

I've done more than my share of drywall over the years. Couple things I do that really make a difference when you go to finish it. On anything less than a real clean cut, I use a drywall plane/file on cut edges to square them up. Apply tape with Joint Compund. It's much wetter than the Lite Wt or All Purpose stuff. Every tape job I've seen that looked like crap had the same issues. Tape was not fully set into wet mud or there was too much mud filled into a void in the seam. Especially on the ceiling this will cause a sag in the tape until it dries. By the same token, if you have a void where the drywall panels meet and don't fill it, this will eventually be most subject to a crack.

Another tip I have learned over the years is to wet the joint paper in water before applying. This makes it much easier to work with, align, and mud over without bubbles in your paper. The key to a professional drywall job is to use screws, not nails, and as said above several coats of mud on those seams, and lots of sanding. I can always tell when someone rushed a drywall job.

Use 5/8" on a ceiling, not 1/2".

I rented a lift at Home Depot for around $30 for a day (this was a few years back). I couldn't imagine doing a ceiling without it.