 Hey everybody, it's Ben Popper, writer at The Verge. Today I'm going to use the internet to learn how to play guitar. I'm going to be using a service called Instinct. It's a piece of software that works on the browser. You don't have to download or install anything, just register for the site. And what makes it really interesting is that there's no notation. It listens to what you're playing through a microphone, tells you if you're doing it right and tries to teach you how to play guitar. So the first thing you're going to want to do is make sure your guitar is in tune. And Instinct has a program that teaches you how to do that. You play the note. And Instinct shows you if you're too high, if you're too low. Alright, so I've tuned my guitar. It was pretty painless. I felt like it helped me to hear kind of the notes a little bit and to get a sense of which one of these thingamabobbers over here goes with each one of the strings. So the next thing I'm going to do is try out a series of courses called Year of Rock. The guys at Instinct were inspired by Code Academy, which did a year of coding. And each week they would send you a weekly lesson. And you get little points and badges. They've kind of gamified it. The riff I'm going to try and learn to play today is Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes. That's not working at all. Oh, there we go. Okay, I hit the first note. Okay now it wants me to take my, what is that, my pinky? This is hard. Nope, let's, got to make sure I start in the right spot. One thing I didn't realize, which I see now, is that they show you these little spots on the guitar. And if you line your fingers up with that, it's a little easier to tell what fret you're supposed to be playing. But it's not explaining to you, you know, why you might start in some place or where a good place to put your fingers would be. It's not, it's not easy man. This guitar sh** ain't easy, I'm telling you. I enjoyed the lesson. I felt like at the end I could kind of hear the riff I was supposed to play. And you know, I definitely would have, I would keep practicing because it's simple. You could just sit down at home with a guitar, open up your browser and do it. Did it teach me to play the riff in five minutes? No. Do I feel like I learned a little bit about how to play the guitar? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, you starting to hear it?
 Hey everybody, it's Ben Popper, writer at The Verge.
 Today I'm going to use the internet to learn how to play guitar.
 I'm going to be using a service called Instinct.
 It's a piece of software that works on the browser.
 You don't have to download or install anything, just register for the site.
 And what makes it really interesting is that there's no notation.
 It listens to what you're playing through a microphone, tells you if you're doing it
 right and tries to teach you how to play guitar.
 So the first thing you're going to want to do is make sure your guitar is in tune.
 And Instinct has a program that teaches you how to do that.
 You play the note.
 And Instinct shows you if you're too high, if you're too low.
 Alright, so I've tuned my guitar.
 It was pretty painless.
 I felt like it helped me to hear kind of the notes a little bit and to get a sense of which
 one of these thingamabobbers over here goes with each one of the strings.
 So the next thing I'm going to do is try out a series of courses called Year of Rock.
 The guys at Instinct were inspired by Code Academy, which did a year of coding.
 And each week they would send you a weekly lesson.
 And you get little points and badges.
 They've kind of gamified it.
 The riff I'm going to try and learn to play today is Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes.
 That's not working at all.
 Oh, there we go.
 Okay, I hit the first note.
 Okay now it wants me to take my, what is that, my pinky?
 This is hard.
 Nope, let's, got to make sure I start in the right spot.
 One thing I didn't realize, which I see now, is that they show you these little spots on
 the guitar.
 And if you line your fingers up with that, it's a little easier to tell what fret you're
 supposed to be playing.
 But it's not explaining to you, you know, why you might start in some place or where
 a good place to put your fingers would be.
 It's not, it's not easy man.
 This guitar sh** ain't easy, I'm telling you.
 I enjoyed the lesson.
 I felt like at the end I could kind of hear the riff I was supposed to play.
 And you know, I definitely would have, I would keep practicing because it's simple.
 You could just sit down at home with a guitar, open up your browser and do it.
 Did it teach me to play the riff in five minutes?
 No.
 Do I feel like I learned a little bit about how to play the guitar?
 Yeah, I think so.
 Yeah, you starting to hear it?