It’s easy. Go to seeqpod.com. Type in an artist or song, click the song in the results, and listen. Want to make a playlist? Make an account, add a couple more songs to your list, and save it. Now you can listen to your playlist anywhere you have an internet connection (and lax firewalls). You can click the little TV icon and watch a music video from YouTube, or you can send your playlists to friends. You can even embed them right here!

I’m currently listening to this Beatles playlist.

Despite how great it is, it has its faults. Sometimes a song you’ve had in your playlist for a while won’t work, and you’ll have to search for it again and choose a different source. Not a huge deal, but there’s no way to tell if the song is broken without watching the program skip the track; there’s no big red X saying the link is bad. This is a meager complaint, but one worth noting.

Seeqpod is useful if you want to listen to a full song without (legally) downloading it or going to YouTube. You can’t download the music, so hopefully it won’t come under legal scrutiny for a while. Oh, too late. Use it while you can!

This photo was taken from the Faculty Lounge in the new Shelby Center building at UAHuntsville. Note the Saturn V in the distance. Yes, I’m allowed to be in the faculty lounge…

Want to learn how to play the intro to Stairway to Heaven? Visit this site for the tab and watch these videos:

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I’m not perfect at playing this (far from it), but I’m pretty good at it thanks to the guy’s explanation. It definitely takes some practice, but I’ve found I get measurably better each time I try it.

One thing I do differently from him, is after you play the first few notes (7, 5, 5, 5), he slides his ring finger over to the 6th fret to play the next note. I personally found it easier to just use my middle finger for that. It’s all up to what’s comfortable for you, though.

What Guitar.gg lacks in visuals, is more than makes up for in content. I stumbled across this site while looking for tabs of Wonderwall by Oasis, but stayed for the solid beginner’s info. Not only did this guy (it’s only one guy, Hotdog, the headless guitarist) have tabs, but he had MP3s describing the strumming pattern, videos showing you finger placement, and tips on how to play it if you’re having a hard time.

The site itself is pretty slim (you can read everything in a couple hours), and if you want more from the site, you have to pay. Before you scoff, he offers some free info, too; just ask for a free lesson, and he’ll help you out. I filled out the form and had a response in about a week. The email had links to three songs on the “HUGE” list he asked you for, each of which was just as detailed as the Wonderwall lesson.

He also included a golden nugget of practice info. He said, “…do D/Cadd9/Gadd5 with DDUUD strumming; don’t bother with any other chords. Just throw your fingers around these 3 while keeping the strumming going(be a plonker!) i.e. “plonk” your fingers on while not stopping the strumming. Use Gadd5 to Cadd9 as the very first attempt as gravity will help you!!” He has the most comprehensive and easily readable chord sheets I’ve seen right here.

If the dollar wasn’t so weak compared to the pound right now, I would definitely consider paying this guy for some more lessons, especially for Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees.” I just can’t figure out that song’s strumming pattern…

My current project is to learn how to play “Slide” by the Goo Goo Dolls.

To play, you need a capo on the first fret. You can find a pretty good tab for it here. The strumming pattern is weird; I can’t quite figure it out. I noticed that strumming DUD/UDUDDU (Down Up Down, Pause, Up Down Up Down Down Up) while playing with a few chords like Cadd9, A7sus4, D, etc. actually sounds pretty decent. It won’t pass for the original under scrutiny, but if you’re playing for friends (or a special girl), then it’s just fine.

Before I knew I would really like playing a guitar, I thought I’d get something cheap. That was perhaps the greatest guitar decision I ever made. My first purchase was the $110 Oscar Schmidt by Washburn.

No, I didn’t own four of them. Mine looks like the one on the left. I’m not going to call this guitar a piece of crap, because it’s not, but it sure feels like it in comparison to other guitars. The action (space between the strings and the neck of the guitar) was significantly high, making it harder to hold the strings all the way down. For a greenhorn to play a guitar with high action is like being thrown into a war without basic training. Not only do you have to learn all the chords and finger positions, but you have to learn to hold them down reeaally hard.

My Oscar Schmidt gave me some calluses pretty quickly. It hurt like a bitch to play this guitar after about ten minutes when I was just getting started. I would try to come back to it after a thirty minute break, and still couldn’t play because of the pain. People kept telling me to keep at it and I’ll eventually get calluses to make it easier, but it took weeks for those damn calluses to come to the rescue. Perseverance definitely paid off, though, and learning to smoothly change chords while strumming felt pretty good. If you’re just getting started, remember to keep at it, no matter how badly your fingertips hurt. And hurt they will, especially if you get a guitar like this one.

After I got better playing the Oscar Schmidt (about three months later), I felt like I deserved an upgrade. I recently purchased a $800 Walden at half-price, so $400. I love it.

Here’s the product page for my Walden D710CE. It’s an acoustic-electric, meaning it’s an acoustic that you can plug in to an amp and play a lot louder. It has a unique sound that really attracts me; it even makes my mistakes sound okay. The action is way lower, so I don’t have to hold the strings as hard to play, for which my now-callused fingers are thankful. I’m also excited about that cutaway part near the base of the guitar’s neck; it allows for much easier access to the higher frets, which make certain songs easier to play.

I’m glad I got such a good deal on it, and I look forward to many years of service from it.

Edit: As of  the end of February 2008, I sold my Oscar Schmidt to a budding guitarist.

JustinGuitar has an entire article about acoustic vs electrics. If you’ve never played and just want to learn how to play, learn this: get an acoustic. It’s harder to play because you need more finger strength, but you’ll be glad you did. Think of it like learning to drive. If you learn to drive a manual transmission, you can drive any kind of car! If you learn to drive an automatic transmission, you can only drive automatic transmissions, not manuals! Same applies to guitars. If you learn an acoustic, you can play either type of guitar.

Here’s another factor to consider: You can play an acoustic anywhere, but you can only play an electric with an amp (guitar speaker). Imagine this situation: You’re on a date. You’re staring out across the entire city with a beautiful girl sitting next to you on your car. The date hasn’t been going so well, and you know the perfect song to lighten up the situation. Unless you have a guitar-input jack inside your car, an electric guitar just won’t cut it. You need to bust out the perfect-for-pick-up-and-play acoustic guitar and strum your heart out. Just be careful; the beautiful girl might fall in love with you.

So yeah, learn the acoustic first.

One of the reasons I picked up a guitar was because of Justin. Ever since I played Guitar Hero, I wanted to jam with a real guitar, but I had no idea how I would start. Tutors and books are expensive, and that’s not even counting the cost of a guitar! I happened upon one of Justin’s YouTube videos, and he explained everything so simply! I clicked around, and found his Beginner’s Course. Most of his lessons have a video accompaniment that break things down real easily.

Thanks to the beauty of the internet, all you really need is a guitar (plus a tuner!) and a computer to learn how to play. It might take some professional guidance to become the next Joe Satriani, but the internet gives you a great head-start.