> it really isn't that big of a deal if you understand the basics of what a commit is, what a branch is etc.
Yes, that's what people mean when they say that git is hard. Instead of presenting you with an interface expressed in terms of the domain you intend to work in, whose commands represent the tasks you intend to perform, git dumps its guts all over the place and requires each user to re-implement the interface between "what you want to do" and "how git is built" inside their own brains instead. Once you have written git's missing user interface in your brain, you are fine; but that's a lot of work which is not necessary with other version-control systems.
Yes, that's what people mean when they say that git is hard. Instead of presenting you with an interface expressed in terms of the domain you intend to work in, whose commands represent the tasks you intend to perform, git dumps its guts all over the place and requires each user to re-implement the interface between "what you want to do" and "how git is built" inside their own brains instead. Once you have written git's missing user interface in your brain, you are fine; but that's a lot of work which is not necessary with other version-control systems.