How to Learn New Skills with Amazon Alexa

You already use Amazon Alexa to check the weather, control what music you listen to, hear the news, and much more. However, what if you could use this handy assistant to teach you things? You can learn from Amazon Alexa from the comfort of your own home. Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn to play an instrument or speak another language. You can do both of those and more.

Adding Skills to Alexa

Before getting into what you can learn, you need to learn how to add new skills (things Alexa can do) to Alexa. There are three easy ways to enable any new skill:

1. With your voice – Say “Alexa, enable” along with the name of the skill. If you’re not sure what to add, ask Alexa to recommend skills. If you don’t know the name of a skill, it’s easier to browse using one of the other two methods.

2. Browser – Log in to your Amazon account. Open Alexa Skills. Then, search the Alexa Skills section of Amazon based on keywords. Open the result you want and click “Enable.”

3. Alexa app on your smartphone – Open the menu at the top left and choose “Skills & Games.” Search or browse for what you want. Tap “Enable to use.”

Also read:How to Create a Customized Alexa Skill Using Blueprints

1. Learn to Play Guitar with Alexa

Even if you’ve never touched a guitar before, Amazon Alexa can help. Let Alexa guide you through how to form different chords. Get help with tuning your guitar and maintaining a tempo. You can even ask Alexa for the chords to your favorite song. Some of the best skills to enable include:

• Guitar Chords – Teaches guitar chords
• Rock Out Loud – Teaches chords, helps with tuning, and helps find chords for popular songs
• Guitar Learner – Teaches more common chords
• Guitar Teacher – Teaches notes and chords along with tuning
• Four Chords – Learn common four-chord songs (great for beginners)
• Guitar Tuner – Helps tune your guitar
• Guitar Backing Tracks – Plays background tracks for your practice sessions

2. Learn a New Language with Alexa

Wish you could speak a second or even third language? Learn from Amazon Alexa. Using Alexa is actually highly effective since you get to hear the words and phrases and practice at your own pace. It’s a good idea to also write down what you’re learning so you can easily review after each lesson. Depending on the skill you choose, you’ll pick from dozens of languages. Some of the best skills to use include:

• Daily Dose – Learn any of 34 languages in free eight-minute daily lessons (a premium version is available)
• Translated – Learn by asking Alexa to translate phrases into a chosen language
• Learn Spanish SpanishPod101 – Learn Spanish one word at a time
• Chineasy – Learn Chinese
• Language Tutor – Learn Italian, French, Spanish, and Australian English

3. Learn to Cook

It shouldn’t be a surprise that many people want to learn to cook. What you might not know is you can learn from Amazon Alexa. There are numerous cooking skills ranging from basic recipes to how to perform advanced cooking techniques. While you could spend hours digging through what’s available, try some of these skills to get started faster before your stomach growls any louder:

• Best Recipes – Name three ingredients you have and get recipe ideas
• Allrecipes – Get a wide variety of recipes
• America’s Test Kitchen Daily Cooking Q&A – Get daily tips and tricks (Echo Show users get weekday videos, too)
• Instant Pot – Great guidance for Instant Pot users
• The Bartender – Make thousands of amazing drinks
• Ingredient Sub – Learn what to substitute and how

4. Get Smarter

Do you love trivia? Want to learn more about history and current events, even if you’re short on time? Continuing to learn something new is a skill that helps your mental health, improves your confidence, exercises your brain, gives you things to talk about, and helps you crush it on trivia night. You may even discover a new hobby or interest in the process. Besides, some of the most productive and successful people devote time to learning new things each day.

Amazon Alexa helps with skills such as:

• Question of the Day – Daily trivia
• Make Me Smart – Learn about current events, pop culture, and more in just a few minutes each day
• AnyPod – Pick educational podcasts
• This Day in History – Get a daily history lesson
• Curiosity – Learn history, science, life hacks, and more
• TED Talks – Learn and get inspired

Also read:7 Ways You Can Make Amazon Alexa Smarter

5. Relax Through Meditation

Meditation is often a hard skill to master, but you can learn from Amazon Alexa. Even if you only do it five minutes a day, you’ll reduce your stress. Plus, with a clearer mind, it’s easier to learn other skills. Use these Alexa skills to help you:

• Guided Meditation: Meditation of the Day – Learn new daily meditations between one and nine minutes long
• Mindful Meditation – Master five different meditations
• Headspace – Learn a variety of meditations

6. Master Fitness

You don’t always want to go to a gym to exercise, but you still want to learn how to get fit. Become a fitness guru just by asking Amazon Alexa to help. Get step-by-step guidance to help you learn how to exercise at home, even if you don’t have any equipment. It’s fun, easy, and there aren’t any judgy people watching. Try these skills to see for yourself:

• Fitness Exercise – Get daily exercises
• Five-Minute Workout – Quick workouts
• ALOP Pilates Class – Try twenty-minute pilates classes
• 6-Minute Full Body Stretch – Six-minute stretches
• Easy Yoga – Go through ten- to fifteen-minute yoga routines
• 7-Minute Workout – Quick seven-minute workouts

7. Learn to Play Piano with Alexa

Guitar not quite your style? Learn how to play the piano from Alexa instead. Learn the basics and start playing songs quickly. All you have to do is follow what Alexa says. These skills will help you start playing right away:

• Piano Teacher – Basics lessons and drills
• Piano Teacher With Echo Show Integration – Echo Show isn’t required, but offers visible lessons as well as audio lessons
• Chord Whisperer – Learn the notes in different chords. (Learn notes in the other skills first.)

Of course, when in doubt, just ask Alexa how to learn a particular skill. Even if Alexa can’t teach you directly, she just mau be able to set you on the right path. If you need more skills, here are some “must-have” skills you should enable for Amazon Alexa.