so ive been studying for my general and im looking at the band plan for 40 meters and honestly its pretty confusing. I see theres different parts for CW and phone and digital but like where exactly can I use my voice? I have a kenwood ts-480 and want to make sure im not going to accidentally transmit outside the band edges or something. also do I need to worry about region 2 vs other regions or is that just for contests?

40m phone for general is 7.175-7.300 MHz in region 2 (thats us). Stay away from 7.300 since thats the band edge. Most people hang out around 7.200-7.250 for casual ragchewing. Your radio should have band edges programmed in but double check the manual

yeah this confused me too when i first got my general. the ARRL band plan chart is actually pretty helpful once you stare at it for a while. just remember that below 7.175 is CW and digital only, above that is where you can use SSB. and dont forget about the DX window around 7.200-7.210 where you might hear some really cool stations but probably shouldnt call CQ there as a new general