RE: carbon, aluminum, or wood
Properly tuned, right spine, and heavy enough (8 grains per lb or heavier for most bows) and any of them will shoot just fine.
Wood arrows are the trickiest--you can get some really junky ones if you aren't careful, and weight can vary a lot from one dozen to the next. That's one of those items where you generally get what you pay for. Still, hard to beat good wood arrows--very quiet and forgiving--much moreso than carbon or aluminum in my experience.
Carbon is a close second for being tricky--often they are too light in mass weight, and too stiff. Might require a good bit of tinkering with point weights, inserts, weight systems, etc.--plus it seems each manufacturer has their own spec system.
Starting out, aluminum would be my choice. A dozen 2117 XX78's is going to be the same whether you buy them in Oregon or Florida. Weight and spine is consistent, they are generally pretty easy to tune, not hard to get them heavy enough, durable.....simplest choice IMO.
Chad