My advice is to learn the basics, and then see how those particular elements fits in with a certain style. You'll definately want to learn many different styles of music to be a well rounded musician. Also this will allow you to incorporate a few genres together to make your own unique blend.

I suggest learning your pentatonic scales in all positions all over the fretboard. These (IMHO) are the most versatile scales which will let you play anything from blues to rock to funk, even some country (Maj Pents). Hope that helped.