Gmod "server is not responding"

[Nolan.W]

Hello, im very new to the forum and i have a bit of an issue with gmod. so, upon downloading the game and installing a mod or two, i went to join a few friends for some random bullshittery and steam said "Server is not responding" every time with every person on my friends list that was playing. I tried to directly connect through the console by imputing my friend's IP address directly which put me in a loading screen for upwards of a minute before failing every time. I checked the firewall, it wasn't interfering either. Everything iv'e heard has said i need to set up port forwarding but i don't think i have the proper information for that to be successful.. does anybody have an idea what i can do to fix this problem?