DIY Life

Many kids pick up a musical instrument or two at some point in their childhood. Sometimes I think that my own childhood could be retold as a chain of instruments adopted and discarded: piano, violin, clarinet, recorder, and a terrifying two-week stint on the French horn, not to mention years of singing lessons.

Once you're an adult, though, it can be difficult to pick up an instrument... particularly if you're doing it for your own amusement, and have no intention of pursuing a serious course of study.

What do you do when you don't want to become a classical virtuoso... when you really just want to play songs for friends at parties, and don't want to have to spend a lot of money, or work lessons into your schedule, to accomplish it?

Our friends at Lifehacker are here to help. Recently, Adam Pash wrote a post titled, "How To: Learn to Play an Instrument Online." It includes a great list of sources for several kinds of free online instruction: mostly videos, from YouTube and podcasts, but also tablature, and even a potential video game option (Rock Band isn't bad for drummers).

Adam admits that "guitar is the hobbyist's instrument of choice," so there are many more resources for guitarists than for just about anyone else. Still, you'll find lots of ideas both in the post itself and in the comments, like one from "gforster" that recommends sites for trombone, percussion, and music theory; other comments involve sites that will get you started in theremin and ukelele.

You'll be making beautiful music any day now.