The Deaf community was way more nuanced and interesting than I expected. ASL is a really cool language and it's fun and relatively easy to learn.
Learning the alphabet is a great way to start, and only takes about 30 minutes. This video[1] should do the trick.
When you spell words letter-by-letter it's called "fingerspelling". Here[2] is the sign for it.
I recommend taking a class, though. I took classes at ASL NYC[3], and it was awesome. They started doing Zoom-based classes during the pandemic, I'm not sure if they still do that.
It's best to learn from a teacher, and in an environment where you can practice with other people (via Zoom is perfectly fine). Even with something "simple" like fingerspelling, there is a lot of nuance that a good teacher can help you with.
For example, in the alphabet video I linked, she does some letters differently than how I learned them (she shows her "C" to the side, I show it facing forward). She's not wrong, it just turns out that there are a lot of different styles and ways to do things in ASL. You don't want to learn the "wrong" way and then have to unlearn it -- your teacher will have a specific way they want you to do things in class.
A class is also a natural gateway to other resources. For example, I now do an informal, monthly ASL meetup with a couple people I met in class (we go to a bar and play sign language games). You'll discover a lot of avenues to get good practice and continue learning.
Hope this helps, good luck!
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5BD8SjhPSg
It seems strange to me to suggest more complicated structures to replace simpler ones! Is there another reason to use the more complicated structure?
The things that get nitpicked on this site confound me to the level of not being able to look away from the train wreck.
There is a joke in the deaf world that hearing people are emotionally repressed. I don't think it's taken seriously, but it's because speaking ASL requires you to be so expressive with your face and body. For example, instead of raising the pitch of your voice to indicate you are asking a question, you raise or furrow your eyebrows (raised for a yes/no question, furrowed for an open-ended question). You also don't say things like "I REALLY like it", you just say "I like it" and show the REALLY part with your face and body. It's understandable how hearing people could look like a bunch of emotionless drones with that context! Learning to be visually expressive is one of the most fun parts about ASL.
As with the football team in the article, using ASL around hearing people can feel like a super-power. Imagine saying to your friend, "This place sucks, let's get out of here," while the bartender is right in front of you! Probably not the most polite thing, but useful. It's also great if you're somewhere crowded and/or loud. You can really zone out the noise and have a conversation.
Also, doing simple things like spelling people's names can be a fun party trick (for hearing people).
Anyway, I just wanted to emphasize that as a hearing person, there was so much more to learn about ASL and the deaf community than I thought there was. I can't recommend it enough.