Layer 1

Pick a colour on your cube, it doesn't matter which colour. In this guide I will use blue, as I usually do on my cube. There isn't any real reason for this, but I find it handy to have a colour not easily confused with another.

Phase 1: Set the Edges

Right first off we set the edges of the colour you chose. See the picture below if you don't understand what I mean:

Ignore the grey corners, they will be set in the next phase.

Now when setting these edges, you need to pay attention to the center pieces on the other sides. As I said in the introduction, there is only one place and one orientation for each cubelet, so this is important.

This step doesn't really have any specific sequences of moves to help you, and learning how to solve this yourself will give you a better understanding of how to manipulate the cube.

When you finish this step you should have something like this:

Phase 2: Set the Corners

Right, now you have half of the first layer done. Just a little bit more work and you will have a whole layer...

Now as you may have already guessed, it's time to set the corners. Now there is basically 3 possible cases here. Rotate the bottom layer until you have a situation like the following situations. Repeat until all corners are set.

Case 1: Top colour is in bottom layer, with the top colour on the front or right side	Case 2: Top colour is in bottom layer, with the top colour on the bottom	Case 3: Corner piece is in the correct spot, but needs 'rotating'

NOTE: You will see Case 1 above seems to have 2 cases, however they are very similar and I put them together to simplify this guide a bit :)

Case 1:

Hold the side marked 'front' in the diagram towards you, follow the directions.

Left Example	Right Example
	1. Turn the Bottom layer anti-clockwise		1. Rotate the Bottom layer clockwise
	2. Turn the Right side anti-clockwise		2. Rotate the front side clockwise
	3. Turn the Bottom layer clockwise		3. Rotate the Bottom layer anti-clockwise
	4. Turn the Right side clockwise		4. Rotate the front side anti-clockwise

Case 2:

Hold the side marked 'front' in the diagram towards you, follow the directions.

1. Rotate the right side anti-clockwise
2. Rotate the bottom layer once clockwise
3. Rotate the right side anti-clockwise
4. Rotate the front side clockwise
5. Rotate the bottom layer twice
6. Rotate the front side anti-clockwise

Case 3:

Hold the side marked 'front' in the diagram towards you, follow the directions. Case 3 involves moving the cubelet out of position, so that Case 1 or Case 2 will apply. Cases like this should be looked at only if cases 1 and 2 do not exists, as cases 1 and 2 may eliminate these cases.

1. Rotate either of 2 sides containing the corner piece so that the corner is now in the bottom layer, orientation in not important.
2. Rotate the bottom layer once clockwise
3. Reverse the rotation in Step 1

The cubelet should now be in the form of Case 1.

Finished Layer 1

Right you should have now one side completely finished, and looks like this:

NOTE: You will probably find it easier if you don't rely too heavily on the moves in this layer, but follow them and see what they do and how they work. It will help you in the later layers and make you better at doing the cube.