there is lots of great music that is just bassline and beats. just make it a mean bassline and roll with it.

thank you very much everyone. I appreciate all the advice, and will try again with this in mind. wish me luck

I always start with ambience / chords or a beat, always.
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Yes I find personally that starting with a bassline is a pretty tough way to go. Even though the bass is the back of the song, the shoulders on which the other things stand on, it's a ton easier making a melody first and supplementing that with a bassline, cuz then you already know what scale you're using and it makes it a lot easier to gauge the direction it needs to move in (style, basically.)

I do start with the bassline sometimes, but that's pretty rare.

So in short: What Domu said.

start with something other than the bassline!

Just try different things until it sounds good. Maybe pick up a guitar or your musical instrument of choice and play along. If none of that works, take a break and come back to it later.

Hum along to it until you find something that fits nicely

Hi, I'm very new to chiptunes, but i thought i'd try it, so i downloaded milkytracker and gave it a whirl. I have no problems with using the software, but i cannot get my first song past a very basic bassline and some basic drums. I'm trying to come up with a melody, or really anything else, but i don't know how to take a thought and transfer it from my brain to the computer. any advice, help, tips, or tricks would be greatly appreciated.