I would definitely recommend clicker training.
The advantages are that its a consistent clear sound and stands out from other everyday sounds, like voices.
And its much easier to get the timing right.
The basics are that you first associate the click noise with getting a treat, you repeat this many time until you dog know that every time you click he gets a treat.
You then move on to using the clicker to train commands, so if you were teaching sit, as soon as the dog sits you would click and treat. The dog very quickly learns that sitting gets him a click which = a treat and will start to sit to get you to click. You then start adding in your commands as the dog goes into the required position.
I find hand commands are learned much faster than verbal commands, so i do both.

There is a bit more to it than that, I don't want people to think all you need is a clicker and suddenly you have a super dog but it gives you an idea.