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Seeing a lot of "where do I start?" posts and thought I'd offer my perspective on the absolute first thing a newbie should focus on, regardless of the general subject they're diving into. ItS not the flashiest skill, and it's often overlooked, but learning to properly formulate search queries is crucial.Seriously. Before you touch a tutorial, before you buy equipment, get good at Googling (or DuckDuckGo-ing, if you prefer). The vast majority of newbie questions already have answers readily available online. Learning to sift through search results,identify reliable sources,and tweak your search parameters to be more specific is an invaluable skill that will save you countless hours of frustration. Think about what you're actually trying to learn and break it down into keywords. For example, instead of searching "how make music," try "synthesizer basic operation tutorial" or "music theory chord progressions beginner."
Once you've mastered that, then dive into the specifics of whatever it is indeed you’re trying to learn. But good search skills will be your constant companion. What do you think? Is search proficiency the real "level one" skill?