When beginning to trace your ancestors, it is usual to work backwards from the present day, beginning with your immediate family (brothers, sisters) then parents, aunts, uncles then back to grandparents etc. Obviously, it is easier to find details about people who are still living or only recently dead and still clearly remembered by living members of the family. The further back you are delving, the more difficult it is to trace documentation for an individual.

The first kind of official documentation which you will find useful are the Certificates of Births, Marriages and Deaths which have existed in Scotland since 1 January, 1855. From this date, every birth, marriage and death that took place in Scotland had to be registered with the civil authorities, and the resulting records are kept by the Registrar-General for Scotland in New Register House at the east end of Princes Street, Edinburgh. You might well find some of these certificates in the hands of your relatives, but, failing that, you can consult the registers at New Register House (for a fee).

The importance of them is that they can lead the researcher back to an earlier generation. For example, a Scottish birth certificate will give the name of the person's parents (including mother's maiden name) and the date and place of their marriage. This can give you a starting point for searching among the earlier records.
All these documents can be consulted at the Local History Centre.