- Like other people have pointed out, looking at other peoples .sav files is a great way to learn how to make certain sounds and how certain note progressions and the like are incorporated into a song.

- I'm not sure if this has been pointed out, but I strongly suggest you read the full LSDJ manual, and keep a copy close at hand for reference. I don't know how many times I have looked up commands in mine to refresh my memory and it is a good idea to know what all the commands do and how the program works so that you can partially understand how the sounds are being made and have more control over them.

- Again I think this was already pointed out, but watch lots of youtube tutorial videos and there quite a few tutorials on the web if you just do a quick google search.

- More than anything else though you just have to keep working on stuff: try new settings for instruments, change your not progressions around, play with panning, chords, etc. Just make stuff that you think sounds good.

I'm sure I've just re-hashed a bunch of stuff in this thread but it was a tl;dr moment, but I would say overall just keep plugging away and just do whatever works for you and that you like the sound of

Anyone new to tracking/music; everything you make over the first year or two will almost definitely sound like garbage... if you think it sucks, then keep trying. Every musician has gone through this phase (unless you're one of those rediculously insane musicians that can grab hold of any instrument and crap out gold within 5 minutes). The best thing to do would be to listen to lots of different music and gain ideas, analyse other people's source files (ie. how do they sequence their drums? How to they structure their music? Try to do what they do etc.) and just keep at it if you feel like it.

Music theory, I found, does help speed things up a little in terms of understanding how music works, and it's nice to know exactly what you're doing. But there are several chipmusicians who claim to know nothing about music theory but make really good music so it's not essential. You can pick it up along the way

Oh yeah, and keep practicing.. well, that's my view anyway

you really don't need help, what you need is practice kk

keep doing what you are doing kk

ChipsChallengeBand wrote:

I don't know any music theory and I don't think you need any to make a good song.

EXPLAINS A LOT.

not sure if this is good or bad...

Anyway OP we can sort of tell you what we do to "write the hits" but in the end it's mostly trying and seeing what works best for you.  Everyone has their own way to churn out the hits

Here are two videos where I learned how to write the hits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHE6hZU72A4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFHD7kuAqu4

so as far as learning how to compose, I would listen to a (ONE (SINGULAR)) song and deconstruct it all the way down to individual components mentally or on paper. just concentrate on tones and rhythm; forget about things like audio effects and such. also concentrate on separating musical lines so that you can follow one pattern all the way through the song (and if you can't do that, just try and separate the melodic lines from the bass). you don't even need to know what the notes are -- just trace a line that represents how high or low the tone sounds TO YOU as it plays out across the song. if there are any parts in a line where you're tracing the same pattern, chances are you just stumbled across the whole bass line for a certain section. try to make it a song that you've listened to a lot: this way you're already familiar with it and you can concentrate on doing the exercise (if the deconstruction is too hard, you probably picked a song that was too difficult).

chances are this is going to be kind of difficult. this is where the music theory helps. once you can separate the melodic/bass lines into tones, you can start talking about them and why an E sounds good after a C or whatever.

but the most important part (and why I wrote that stuff above) is to learn how to LISTEN to other music so that you can deconstruct it and figure out why stuff sounds good. after you are able to do this then you can borrow the concepts, add your own little flair and then GET BONUS:MUSICIAN ACHIEVED. and if it's proving to be really hard: welcome to musicianship 101 (it took a long time for us too)!

ChipsChallengeBand wrote:

I don't know any music theory and I don't think you need any to make a good song.

EXPLAINS A LOT.

Once I saw a band live and one dude played like 3 keyboards and a theremin.

Went to compliment them and ask about music theory and he's like "Man, fuck that, it's only good for communicating with other musicians. Just jam, practice, repeat."

I don't know any music theory and I don't think you need any to make a good song.

EXPLAINS A LOT.

Rock Band has the added benefit of having multiple styles of music packed onto a single disc so you can get your shoes wet in different melodic styles but that's tangential to what I think is more important

I don't know any music theory and I don't think you need any to make a good song.  Having a good rhythm section is more important IMO and then your banging melodies supplement it.  You can teach yourself rhythm if it doesn't come naturally, and you need it, even if you're making mario at a rave music.  If you're having trouble making beats I suggest going back to basics.

Good luck OP don't follow my advice because it actually is pretty bad

EDIT: but seriously it's real bad never listen to my advice seriously how much of this was sarcasm and how much was truthiness I'm sorry I promise to never shitpost again until I inevitably shitpost again

no one takes me seriously when I say I learned music by playing rock band

a million different styles to get your feet wet (steal from every genre yo) and you learn rhythm (extremely important if you're having trouble with beats!)

my audition for the band that became chip's challenge was rock band drumming

no lie no sarcasm, it's like playing a fucking video game and then you drop the toys and you play real instruments

and then you go back to games again lmao

Well, rock band drums, at an advanced level, are pretty much the same as playing real drums.

Which is fine and dandy if you're learning to play drums, but how did it help your knowledge of music theory?

a million different styles to get your feet wet (steal from every genre yo) and you learn rhythm (extremely important if you're having trouble with beats!)

my audition for the band that became chip's challenge was rock band drumming

no lie no sarcasm, it's like playing a fucking video game and then you drop the toys and you play real instruments

and then you go back to games again lmao

It would do you some good to look up some basic theory, but since I'm such a nice guy I've done it for you!  I'm assuming that, since you're just using LSDJ right now, you aren't really looking to be able to read notes on a staff but more likely just be able to put them together to create decent sounding melodies/beats.  I would suggest, as others have, picking up even a cheap keyboard and learning how notes are laid out.  It gives you a really good visual representation of the notes and you can physically count up notes from your base note to see which notes are in a scale.  For instance, a major scale is Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step.  It is very easy to see this on a keyboard.  Anyway, go to this site:
Music Lessons
You can either do them in order or skip around.  The most important things for you (assuming you're starting from scratch) in regards to LSDJ alone would probably be:
Note Duration
Measures and Time Signatures
Steps and Accidentals
The Major Scale
The Minor Scale
After this, it wouldn't be a bad idea to move on to Intervals and Chords, which will help as you get more advanced.  Just do all of it, really.  It's valuable stuff.  Don't expect it will all come in one day, though.  Have some patience with this stuff.  It can be confusing.  Just keep at it, and you'll be writing some sweet and even complex tunes!  Cheers!