Presumably to showcase the expertise of its music analysts, the Pandora free listening service has posted a podcast that explains various types of guitar pedal, and the effects they have on a guitar signal.
Host Kevin Seal does a good job of explaining the various types of guitar pedal for the beginner, but without the liberal sprinkling of audio samples that dot the nine-minute podcast, it'd be considerably less interesting (half the fun is hearing what these pedals sound like).
If you don't play guitar yourself but want to be able to throw around terms like "tremolo" or "chorus" without embarrassing yourself, give a listen
