Welcome to Cracking the Code

Cracking the Code has transformed the way guitarists learn. We pioneered the use of slow motion video to reveal techniques used by world-class players that weren’t being explicitly taught, but absolutely should be. Along the way, we created many of the concepts and terminology that are now used by players the world over to understand and perfect their own picking technique.

Through discoveries like escape motion, we've made clean picking technique accessible to everyone. With a Cracking the Code membership, you'll gain access to all our teaching, including:

The Pickslanting Primer

The Pickslanting Primer is our core instructional product for picking mechanics. It takes an evidence-based approach to testing your speed, finding your smoothest motion, synchronizing your hands, and more.

Interviews With Elite Players

Our groundbreaking slow-motion interviews have revealed expert playing techniques that were hiding in plain sight for decades.

They comprise hours of investigative converstions and thousands of musical examples, painstakingly filmed in slow motion video and transcribed with live Soundslice tablature. Watch the complete collection with your subscription.

Technique Critique

You've covered the fundamentals in our courses, and you're ready for an expert assessment? Get feedback on your mechanics directly from us with a Technique Critique.

We've spent years filming experts and helping hundreds of players at all levels. By reviewing clips of your playing uploaded by you, we will see things others won't, and can quickly recommend targeted steps for improvement.

All Things Plectrum

The Cracking the Code instructor team has played just about everything you can play with a pick — acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar, mandolin — you name it. And we've done it with every technique, from alternate, to economy, to hybrid. This includes all types of alternate picking, because these motions are all different, and don't work interchangeably on all phrases. If there's an issue you're experiencing, you can be sure that we've seen it, and probably experienced it ourselves.