I learned 6502 back in the 80's, when it was current. Definitely easier than x86, but I kind of wonder if a modern learner wouldn't constantly be wondering if they were missing something and whether they were actually learning anything on what is now a completely obsolete framework. x86 is more complex, but you can actually see it _do_ something rather than hope that the emulator you're running it on is actually faithful to a real electronic device.