How does one go about making homemade sauces?

When I was young I used to watch my grandfather make chili from scratch. The two of us would watch cook-offs on TV, admiring all of the different chilies, hot sauces, and barbecue sauces. For years we had talked about making our own special hot sauce and barbecue sauce.

Sadly, he passed away a few years back and we never got around to it. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot of the promises we made to make the world’s best hot sauce and barbecue sauce, and I’ve decided to go through with it. The only problem is I have no idea how to make sauces. Does anyone know what the basic steps would be to make sauce? Where would you begin? Also do you have any suggestions I should attempt first?