Need help with making a menu that sits on left side of JFrame

Okay, so I have code so far that shows a JFrame and JMenuBar at the top. My JMenuBar has no functionality as of yet. Before I add the functionality of the menu's I need to add a pane on the left hand side with JButtons. If you look at BlueJ, it needs to look like that in terms of its appearance.

Experience level: Beginner.

I'd appreciate it as I'm sure you will if you explained it to me rather than just provide the answer as otherwise I'd learn nothing. Thank you! :)

whats a BlueJ?

it would be helpful if you post your code, because its difficult to visualize and help without it.

Why dont you just make a new panel, add all your buttons to it, then use gridbaglayout to place the entire panel over to the left of your main Frame/Panel?