Basically all you need to learn for non-guitarists to think you're awesome are the major and minor pentatonic scales. Just learn the notes each is comprised of, the order of sharps and flats, and, once you've done all that, learn the natural minor and major scales. Then you can go on to learn all your modes, the history behind them and whatnot, but if I were you, I'd start out with the first few things I said.