>I'm not sure
>
>just checked
>Looks like it's my vanguard rank is 0
>But I have 1446 of 1500 to get to 1
>
>I've been doing every thing but my rank is stuck at 1446

You're probably wearing the equippable items you can buy for Glimmer from New Monarchy, Dead Orbit, or Future War Cult -- a "mark" (or buttcape) for Titans, an armband of some kind for Warlocks, or a cape for Hunters. When you equip one of those, you will level their reputation (if you check in with their vendor, you will see a reputation wheel showing the same point breakdown as the Vanguard vendor shows). You get reputation from tons of stuff, as small as completing Patrol missions (every time you complete one, you should see a reputation wheel appear on the mid-left of the screen showing a "+10" on a reputation wheel). If you're at 1446/1500, you should be able to equip a Vanguard item and just knock off six Patrol missions really fast and you'd be at Level 1 (although that doesn't get you anything at that point, except maybe access to an Emblem I would strongly discourage you from buying; you need Level 2 for armor, Level 3 for weapons.)

As far as Ascendant Energy / Shards, the most consistent way to earn those is on the Daily Heroic missions. That mission always defaults to Level 22 when you select it, which doesn't give you anything (except XP and marks I think?). What you need to do is select the Daily Heroic, then adjust the difficulty upwards (Level 26 gives +1 Ascendant Material, Level 28 gives +2 Ascendant Material). The other most consistent way is to find Public Events. Every day, if you complete a Public Event with a Gold Rating, you will get a package at the Postmaster in the Tower frequently containing an Ascendant Material (although sometimes it's a Strange Coin or Mote of Light, most often Ascendant though). There is also a very high drop rate from Public Events for completing the Bounty with a gold rating, so often you will get two materials -- one for completing it, then another in the tower in your package. There are good websites that will show you when/where Public Events are likely to happen, too. Personally I check Planetdestiny.com which has a ticker on the right, although I think there are like Android apps, too, which will show you the same information.

Aside from that, if you're at Level 26, you are ready to Raid, and if you put in work on the Raid on a weekly basis, you will start climbing in level via new armor or new Ascendant material. And once you're at 28, you can generally solo the Daily Heroic, which makes Ascendant material farming even easier. It's the grind from 29 to 30 that proves really back-breaking once you get there, because there's a very short list of equippable items that even fit the bill...