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Here’s a basic outline:

Step 1: Buy a gypsy jazz guitar. At this stage it’s probably not really important which one you buy, just that it’s set up well enough to play without fret buzz. Typical beginner guitars are the Saga Gitane line, or the Cigano line. (I started with a Cigano GJ-10, and recommend it highly)

Step 2: Change your right hand picking technique. The go-to book for this is Gypsy Picking by Michael Horowitz. It is not comprehensive but it will get you 90% of the way there. There will likely be a change in both your picking patterns, and in your hand position. Watch videos and take videos of yourself to make sure your right hand looks like the pro players. This step took me way longer than it should have because I was being stubborn, and it takes more effort than I expected to really make the change.

Step 3: Learn the common chord shapes. There are lots of resources for this. I would recommend Getting Into Gypsy Jazz Guitar by Stephane Wrembel, or maybe some of the introductory courses on Denis Chang’s DC Music School.

Step 3.5 (optional): Spend some time really learning how to play la pompe (the rhythmic technique). I say optional here because this one I think will require an actual teacher sitting down with you and correcting your mistakes. It’s harder than it seems to really get it right. On the other hand, if you’re just starting out it’s sort of forgivable if you’re close but not all the way there.

Step 4: Learn the chords and melodies for some standard tunes. Hopefully no explanation needed here.

Step 5: Learn solos from famous players. Best if you transcribe them by ear yourself, but there are many resources that will just give you the tabs and personally I think that is still very effective. Learning some Django solos is basically obligatory, but there are now many other great players with different styles that you can listen to and choose your favorites. A couple of my favorites: Stochelo Rosenberg, Adrien Moignard, Olli Soikkeli, Stephane Wrembel, Biréli Lagrène. And many others.

You can pick up lots of licks and shapes and other hints from a variety of sources, but seriously 99% of learning how to improvise solos is done by transcribing and learning existing solos.

Some good general sources for lessons and discussion are: Djangobooks forum, DC Music School, Rosenberg Academy, and Christiaan van Hemert’s video lessons.