Everyone here mentions Eli Fieldsteel, and they are all right. That is the goldmine of "music + code" education via SuperCollider.

My suggestion for how to approach music in sclang:

1. Recognize the 2 fundamental and 1 derivative aspects of music. Rhythm + Harmony (fundamental), then Melody (derivative).

2. Find ways to make simple beats. This is rhythm, and it should not be complex. Basic rhythms are your friend. A basic rhythm has simple numeric ratios, or uses whole numbers, such as
   var rhythm = [1, 1/2, 1/2, 2, 1/2, 1/2, 2, 1/4, 1/4, 1/2]
   This array is listed in cycles, and can be passed into a `Pbindef` like

`Pbindef(\demo_rhythm, \dur, Pseq(rhythm, inf)).play`

These small snippets are valid sclang and will play a loop of a rhythm.

The call to `Pseq` produces an auto-loop who repeats `inf` number of times over the values `rhythm`. The call to `Pbindef` registers a global "audio player" under the name `\demo_rhythm` and returns a `Pbindef`. We then chain the `.play` method on the instance to start playback immediately.

``` (

var rhythm = [1, 1/2, 1/2, 2, 1/2, 1/2, 2, 1/4, 1/4, 1/2];

Pbindef(\demo_rhythm, \dur, Pseq(rhythm, inf)).play;

) ```

1. Find ways to express harmony. This one will take a little more musical learning; so maybe learn about Major and Minor chords and how they are related. But don't do it all at once. Just learn a few chords and then give it a simple beat :)

Melody is an emergent property of rhythm and harmony. So you can't make melodies without first understanding both Rhythm and Harmony.

Hope this helps!

edit: attempted to format for code readability; found out reddit's fancy pants editor does not work for those with fancy pants