I have never used a DAW or created music.  I purchased Sonar x3 and a LaunchKey 49 to try and learn.  I am completely new to this and was wondering if anyone has any newbie pages or tips I could use to help get a start making music.   I am open to any suggestions that anyone could give.  I am truly at a loss as to where to start.  I feel this program (and I) have some great potential but not knowing where to start is rather damning.  Thanks to everyone in advance.

Go to Groove 3  dot com. There you can buy, or subscribe to their service, and learn how to work Sonar and how to record and mix. I suggest the subscription so you can watch all the videos.
 
First learn Sonar. Then learn how to mix. The learn how to use the EQ and compressors. Then learn all the other effects.

A no cost introduction may be found in the tutorials included in the Help and the Getting Started area of CakeTV. There is a wealth of information for free and for fee, it might be helpful to provide a little more information about what you want to do such as record instruments, work with MIDI, use audio loops or what styles you are interested in.
 
 

It would also help if you told us what kind of music you want to make - if you're looking to record mainly acoustic music with real instruments, the learning curve is going to be a little different than if you're looking to create mainly synth or sample based music. 
 
+1 for a Groove3 subscription. You can get one for $15/month. You'll save by purchasing a year's subscription - believe me, it's worth it. Just about every video you could need to get started is in there, and they have way more than a year's worth of tutorials available for the beginner or intermediate computer musician. Eli Krantzberg's Sonar X3 tutorials are ideal for the beginner and you'll definitely feel a lot more confident after watching them. He has an excellent teaching style which seems to appeal to both beginners and experts alike. Once you start to get the basics of Sonar X3 down, you'll probably want to progress to some of the courses on mixing - EQ, compression, effects etc. Because that's a whole other subject but equally as important. 
 
The CakeTV tutorials scook mentioned are good, although they're not really a structured course because you don't really know where to begin with them. I would watch those after you've gotten the basics of recording down. 
 
I would also join as many audio production forums as you can, even if just to lurk and read through the posts. You'll pick up loads and there are thousands upon thousands of audio geeks out there just itching to give you advice. Try  http://homerecording.com/bbs/ or http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/ or http://www.gearslutz.com/board/  

With Sonar open, press F1. This opens the Help file on a page listing a bunch of tutorials that cover the very basics of using Sonar as well as how to set it up in your computer. This is another way of accessing the tutorials linked by scook in the threads above.

Don't waste your time like I did. Goto Groove3. Spend an hour a day for one or two weeks learning you tool and you will be laughing. Cheers

CakeAlexS
Don't waste your time like I did. Goto Groove3. Spend an hour a day for one or two weeks learning you tool and you will be laughing. Cheers

A simple 'r' will really help. It will change "learning YOU tool" to "learning YOUR tool" which is what I think you meant. :)

GunGreenEyes
...I purchased Sonar x3 and a LaunchKey 49 to try and learn.  I am completely new to this and was wondering if anyone has any newbie pages or tips I could use to help get a start making music.   I am open to any suggestions that anyone could give.  I am truly at a loss as to where to start...

The first stage is to get your hardware and software up and running. After that it's probably best to decide on a direction yourself rather than allowing other people to set your agenda. Try learning by taking one step at a time and whenever you get stuck ask for help here on this forum. Be aware that you will tend to get the best answers here when you focus on a specific issue rather than ask an open-ended question.
 
Also, there are also a lot of instruction videos to be found on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sonar+x3

To make music with the tools you listed:

1. You will have to be an artist,songwriter, instrumentalist.
2. You will need to be a recording engineer, to get those ideas down "on tape."

If you want others to listen to your creations.....

3. You will need to be a mix engineer. Or pay someone to do it for you.

If you want your recordings to compete with popular music heard today.....

4. You will need to be a Master engineer. Or pay someone to do it for you.

That is a lot if roles to fill on your own. It will take time, it won't happen in an afternoon, or overnight.

All the suggestions/advice you've gotten so far is the best way to proceed to meet the above objectives.

Welcome,
 
My advice is to learn Sonar first.  I use Sonar X3 Power!  It is the best manual for Sonar and the author, Scott Garrigus, also has a very helpful website on music as well.
 
 
https://www.facebook.com/ScottGarrigus
 
http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/index.asp