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Latest Update: linking to a step by step guide on how to change the strings.

A collection of tips for those keen strummers out there.

Playing Guitar

• Guitar Noise think they have the Best Way to Learn Guitar. They mix in real music notation along with the tab, which I always find a little offputting, and there doesn't seem to be much on scales, but there are some very good lessons in the form of learning actual songs. If you want to be able to play a song or two reasonably quickly, or you're more interested in rhythm guitar than lead, there's plenty here. (Via Lifehacker, and as usual, there's more tips from their readers in the comments.)

I'm ashamed to admit it, but these past few months my creative side has been ignored so much I considered putting my gear on eBay. My work area was littered with half-completed projects, faded scribbled ideas on coffee stained post it notes, and a journal so badly neglected I could barely describe myself as an embodiment participant anymore.

Recently, Natalie at Craftzine posted her latest delivery from The Sampler - a business set up to promote independent creatives of all kinds - artists, crafters, independent record labels, anything quirky and handmade. Marie, Sampler Founder and Busy Bee describes it as...

>...a super fun marketing & promotional tool for indie businesses. Each month, independent crafters, artists, shops, zines and record labels who run web-based businesses send samples and promotional materials to a contribution pool. All the samples are photographed, posted to the site and then are portioned out, put in little packages and sent off to Sampler Subscribers, other Sampler Contributors and members of the Media all over the world!

Over at her blog, Emberlexi talks about taking part in The Creative Act:

>I’ve decided to do something that’ll really stretch me this month. The Creative Act is a challenge to create one thing a day during the month of February, each week choosing a new theme.

>This week my theme is “Red” just because I couldn’t think of anything profound like “cognitive dissonance” or “social misfits”...

Sounds interesting. Looking forward to seeing Emberlexi's progress in her flickr photostream.

• The Creative Act
• Wait... come back - Emberlexi's blog.

Spotted this at The Waving Cat - Musicovery, a really cool interactive online radio. You build your station by selecting the years (mine's set between 1965 and 1980 at the moment), and your mood (or your tempo if you're in the mood for a boogie), and it builds a web of tunes for you to explore. A nice interface and fun for those who like to skip and change a lot... like I do. :)

• Musicovery

Latest Update: added a link to a selection of templates for cards, envelopes and boxes.

When you want to make a quick calendar or list of some sort, you can save a bit of time by starting with a template - like a pre-designed calendar for you to insert your own pictures. Here's some of the best templates we've found...

A cute little video of 'TheCanCollecter123' playing various Windows XP notification sounds on his keyboard (musical keyboard, that is, not computer keyboard). I'm sure someone can port it to Mac and Linux, and update it for Windows Vista.

Latest Update: Added Splice - a sequencer you run in your browser - sounds like fun.

A collection of online gizmos for making and sharing music.

Online Collaboration

• NINJAM - Novel intervallic network jamming architecture for music. Via Make:

• eJamming - Via Make: -

Advice from Total Guitar on how to sound like Slash when your budget is, er... duff. (sorry)

>You're not going to like this very much, we're afraid. A Les Paul Standard will sting you for a good £2,200, while a couple of Alnico II Pro humbuckers will cost about £90 apiece. Admittedly, Slash did have a signature model created for him - but only 5- were ever made, of which Slash had two (one of which was nicked) and another recently went for $7000 at auction. Stop daydreaming, pal - it ain't gonna happen.

Latest Update: Added some stuff about Chrysalis Guitars, thanks to Gary.

The guitar is a great instrument to play, but it's not the most portable. OK, so they aren't quite as tricky to take along as a grand piano, but they're not pocketable like a harmonica either.

So, can you do anything to make things a bit easier? It turns out you can, but it's going to cost in one way or another - in cash or quality. Create Digital Music did an article about Foldable Travel Guitars and the Mobile Guitar Studio, including a foldable Strat copy that can fit inside a briefcase. I'd have thought tuning would be a problem, but with a Floyd Rose style tremelo and a locking nut, you can probably minimise it.