Before embarking on trying to connect to the lightning network. I am a bit confused. Do I first need to run my Bitcoin daemon and let it sync; then install and run the lightning network daemon; then install either the Zap Gui or Lightning App gui? Or can I just install and run one of the Gui's. I have been googling for hours, and am quite confused.
I will take the three steps if necessary, but if I can eliminate one or more steps, it would be great. I don't want to embark on this before being certain that I am not making more work out of it than necessary.