First let's remember the use of MUCH and MANY:

MUCH/MANY, A LOT OF

COUNTABLE NOUNS (C) MANY
UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS (U) MUCH
COUNTABLE / UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS A LOT OF...
C- I have many books
U- I don't have much money
C/U- I have a lot of books. I don't have a lot of money

MUCH/MANY negative and interrogative sentences
A LOT OF... affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences
+ I have a lot of books. I have a lot of money
- I don't have many books. I don't have a lot of books
- I don't have much money. I don't have a lot of money
? Do you have many books? Do you have a lot of books?
? Do you have much money? Do you have a lot of money
You can also use MANY in affirmatives (I have many friends) but not usually.
CONCLUSION: You can always use A LOT OF (but be careful if you want to use MUCH or MANY)

Now it is easy to learn the difference between HOW MUCH and HOW MANY

HOW MUCH? To ask for quantities (uncountable nouns)
- How much water do you want?
- How much time have we got?

HOW MANY To ask for numbers (countable nouns)
- How many apples do you want?
- How many books are there in the library?

We can also say that we use HOW MUCH? for singular nouns and HOW MANY for plurals.

PRICE

You can also use HOW MUCH? to ask for the price of something:

- How much is that book?  - It's 2 dollars