First off, you mentioned the shoto's. Ken's the best of the shoto's and one of the top 3 in the game. Ryu and Akuma are more or less equal, just to pu things into perspective here's the tier list

1.Yun
2.Chun Li
3.Ken
4.Makoto
5.Dudley
6.Urien
7.Yang
8.Ryu
9.Akuma
10.Oro
11.Elena
12.Alex
13.Necro
14.Ibuki
15.Remy
16.Hugo
17.Q
18.Twelve
19.Sean

(note: There are differing opinions on Western and Japanese Tiers, basicly the Japanese have Makoto ranked higher then Ken, and Yang ranked higher then Urien).

Id advise you go to here and register an account, then download Thongboy Bebop's 3s tutorial. While your at it, download Kysg's combo videos for Ken and Akuma just to see whats possible with these cahracters (even if most of it has no practical application). Also, download some of the FFA ranking battles and watch how those players play.

Also, dont assume that just because Ken's one of the best characters in the game you should use him, he might not be the character for you. I felt the same when I was used to use Ken, then when I got bored of playing him I started using Denjin Ryu (his 3rd super art). Turns out he's now my best character.