i can't get the cheats to work! i am using a controller, is that the thing i am messing up on?

I believe you have to use the Guitar when typing in the cheats as most of them are done by colour though it is possible to do it by Six Axis, also a small consideration is that the cheats you are trying to implement might actually be inaccurate. It would be best to look around on multiple sites and try out what each of them say. Neoseeker has a few of them but I for one have no idea if they are accurate.