personally, i start out with a template, under "file...template" pick out a set of drums, add some hi hats/shakers from the browser (under- packs-realdrumkits or hophop), then just look for a couple of nice synths or pianos for a fill, i keep my temp around 120 while im building the beat then i speed up the pitch and tempo a little once im done it makes the drums sound tighter, then i also use the mixer and add a "fruity compressor" anyways, it does take a bit of messin around to figure it out, but once ya get it the learning curve is better...
also this is a good base for the better programs, ie; reason, logic and others, fruity loops is awesome if you load ur own samples in there, but the other programs start you off with more true sounding samples, liek a trumpet that sound like a trumpet, (since fruity loops is jsut samples, the samples change if you put them at too high of a note/octave,