Final Cut Pro is an incredibly complex program that can take years to master.

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However, to learn the basics and to edit your first project is not all that complicated. I've seen people learn it in just a few hours. For others it takes days. But whatever the speed you pick it up... just know that if you are dedicated to learning editing you can definitely succeed.

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Fortunately, there are a ton of great tutorials online. If you go to "YouTube" and search final cut tutorial you will find many.

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I think the best way to learn any program is to start by just playing. Click the icons and see what they do. Get used to navigating the interface.

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There are two things that were a bit confusing to me when I first started.

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I'm only going to tackle one of them this week.

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There are three terms you'll need to memorize and understand. Until you know these three things, FCPX will always be a mystery. The three terms are:

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LIBRARY - this is where you store everything you need to make your video or program. Basically, this is where you store all your EVENTS and PROJECTS.

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EVENTS - this is basically a folder. Think of it like a folder on your desk top where you store assets.

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PROJECT - this is your timeline where you build your video

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The best way is to start playing. Check out the tutorial above or other YouTube tutorials and just get started.

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You'll notice there are many different ways people work ... every editor has their own system of organization and functioning creatively in the program.  I suggest using mine (of course :) ) . But that's part of the beauty of FCPX. You can choose what works best for how you like to think about editing.

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