also, isn't electrum quite difficult/not newb friendly?
No, and according to my little guide, it's even easier. Once Tails start, all you need to do is connect to a Tor circuit, open Electrum, create a wallet, backup the seed phrase, and it will connect to random Electrum server via Tor automatically.
i have started looking into seedsigner but again it seems like i need an electrum server set up and sparrow wallet.
SeedSigner is more comfortable than an airgapped computer once you learn the basics, but it'll take a few hours until you set it up and experiment with Sparrow to see how it works. You don't need to run your own node, even though it's always recommended for better privacy.
Generally though, Electrum is the way to go for a Bitcoin newbie. Sparrow is more advanced. If you don't feel like you'll study Bitcoin, then just dedicate a computer as an airgapped device, and install Tails, using Electrum.