A neat bead of caulk depends upon a couple of factors, namely the joint of the materials, the desired width of the bead and the way the caulking tube is cut (size of opening and angle of cut).
Get some cheap tubes of latex and practice on various joints.. some with a slight gap to penetrate/fill, and vary the angle between the tube and the work for different practice joints. The practice joints can be the 90 degree angle of a couple of strips of wood or any number of different types of joints. Develop a technique where you can apply the caulk at a consistent angle between the gun and the joint, and maintaining a consistent pressure on the angled nozzle tip.
As you proceed along a joint, and as you get to an area where there is a gap to fill in addition to the corner bead, slow the advance slightly, and/or squeeze the trigger at a little faster rate to enable more caulk to be displaced at the locations where some caulk gets pushed out thru the back of the crack/gap. As the travel of the gun trigger nears the stop, slow the travel of the gun slightly then almost stop as you release the trigger to start a new stroke, kinda like the muscle force required to row a boat.
When the nozzle is cut at an angle, the radiused tip will leave the bead of caulk with the radius that a lot of folks try to accomplish with a fingertip. It's just a matter of trimming the right amount off of the tip of the nozzle, and at the right angle so caulk isn't gushed out along the side of the tip, leaving messy trails of caulk (parallel to the tip travel and the joint).
Starting practice beads on a tight corner fit of 2 surfaces, with a tip cut to leave a narrow bead will reveal a lot about the rate of feed/dispensing of caulk and the rate of travel (the movement of the caulking gun). When this practice joint dries (or skins over) a wider bead can be put in place over it, by trimming a little more off the nozzle at the same angle. This actually a good practice, instead of trying to make a wide bead in one pass.
A really messy application is where the caulk is being dispensed too fast compared to the rate of travel of the caulking gun.
The nozzle tip needs to be the correct size and angle so that the caulk is actually being pressed into the corner or joint (pressed like spreading putty with a putty knife, or body filler with a spreader), but in a narrow path with the radius of the tip controlling the shape of the bead (concave bead). Cutting the nozzle tip at different angles will allow a concave bead, or a nearly flat bead that fills a corner like a piece of corner molding would.
Most/all latex caulks (and many solvent types) will shrink regardless of what the label says. After gaining the technique of a neat looking bead, avoid applying a tiny bead when using latex or solvent caulk products because they will shrink, leaving nearly no adhesion surface area on the materials that form the joint.