Hey, I’m also a very new player and having difficulties with very much the same things! I already knew about linking and canceling which is discussed in this thread, but my execution is pretty poor, even though it is getting much better. The basic combos I use which have actually helped me start winning a couple games online are:
c.hp xx HP shoryuken
this can be used to punish an opponent if he whiffed an attack with high recovery or you managed to block it.
focus attack (to crumple opponent) dash forward f.hp xx HP shoryuken
When I get a focus attack in, this is the basic way I use it.
fj.mk c.lp c.lp c.hp xx tatsumaki
I use c.hp because I believe it forces opponent to stand, which makes tatsumaki hit. I do the full combo with fj.mk in training mode, but I more often start with the c.lp in a real game to hit confirm into the c.hp, don’t want to just jump in on opponent all the time.
fj.mk c.lp c.lp c.mk xx hadouken OR super
I use this when c.hp won’t be in range since this is less damage, but it is safer to whiff incase u are still unsure of if u can execute u might preffer this over the c.hp xx tatsu. I also use this as my only way to get out a super. I’m trying to not just randomly throw them out like I feel a lot of people do, but sometimes I do. Maybe if I’m ryu vs ryu and we’re both fireballing and I feel he is going to just start a new animation for fireball, I believe there is a timing which makes super unable to block if u just started ur fireball and u are close enough.
fj.mk c.lp throw
I use this as a mix up if my opponent just blocks everything I have a very basic throw mix up to keep my opponent guessing.
More advanced things I’m working on which I never do in real games.
fj.mk c.mp c.mp c.hk
Very difficult as other people have said, I only land it maybe 1/3 times so I don’t use this in real games, even though sweeps would be nice.
cr.mk xx shoryuken fadc ultra
Basic way to combo into ultra, but seeing as I land this maybe 1/10 or so I don’t do it in games. Everything except timing the ultra is pretty easy though with the shortcut for shoryuken imo, so I might try and start using this but ending with an EX fireball or something, not sure.
Other than these it’s just practicing fireball spacing and jump ins. Practice option selecting c.mk xx hadouken since it is used so often. What that means is that in training mode u stand away from ur dummy and do c.mk xx hodouken and if u succeeded u should only get the c.mk part. But if u instead do it and hit ur opponent, the hadouken should come out. I use this all the time in online play and it seems very good to do. Being very comfortable doing a shoryuken is also great since u should do it on reaction if some1 jumps in on u, or u can use s.hp, s.hk, s.lp, s.lk, c.hp etc for other anti air options even though they do less damage. Setting a training dummy to perform basic footsies against u and then u trying to punish that is also very good practice.
I have personally watched, enjoyed, and learned from the following videos which I strongly recommend u take a look at if u haven’t already:
[media=youtube]tcMVI-7cn04[/media]
[media=youtube]lz81hMjiwTQ[/media]
[media=youtube]v3cOd2doRqg[/media]
[media=youtube]jIsHUaFroJE[/media]
I hope that helps!