Maya has loads of of quick menus to help you out. Holding down the space bar being the most common.

However if your having problems selecting faces etc with the normal methods then this next tip might be useful to you.

Hold down 'O' and left click, then move your mouse over 'Selection'. Chose what you are trying to select. This will give you a paint tool to 'brush' over your object. To alter the radius just press and hold 'B' and drag with the left mouse button pressed.