If you want to start into making sausages-best to start with fresh sausages, either cased or not. Then once you have mastered all the steps with that, and you are getting great texture in your sausages, next step is smoked sausages. You will learn about nitrite curing, learn low and step smoking from 120*F to 170*F so the sausages do not have fat out. You will learn how to stuff into casing properly.
The next jump would be curing whole muscles like Lonzino, coppa pancetta, etc....
You will learn how to dial your drying chamber in, learn what to look for on the piece so it is drying properly without case hardening. Next, you will learn the advanced charcuterie of salami making. Each step in the progression builds on the one before so everything you have done up to this point will prepare you for making salami. It is a steep learning curve, but do not let that intimidate you. We have all had failures on the road to advanced Dry curing. Hell-I burnt to a crisp the first smoke sausages I ever made...I learned about proper fire management that day! LOL!
Two books-
Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages
and
The Art of Making Fermented Sausages
BEST $40 bucks you will spend to learn this craft.