Hey, I'm trying to make an UST for a song I wanted to cover, but I can't seem to find any newbie friendly tutorials on finding tempo or explaining editing note pitch/modulation (something like that). Do y'all have any suggestions for tutorials?
Use this to find tempo. http://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm
Play the song, and tap to the beat for a while. It should give you a good number.
Also, a better method for making USTs is to start from making a midi. You end up splitting the process into two parts: Notes and lyrics.
You start out by putting the song into a music program, usually referred to as a DAW (digital audio workstation). There's many free ones available, and Podium is an excellent one. You add instrument tracks to do the melodies+harmonies, so that you can work on the notes and note lengths without worrying about the lyrics and tuning.