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Brendan Schlagel

Brendan wears many Code hats, including interview production, website wrangling, marketing strategy, and product design.

Mar 09 2015

Masters in Mechanics Subscription Giveaway

By News 9 Comments


Entries are now closed! Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by. Stay tuned for future giveaways!

Cracking the Code is giving away — not one, not two, — but FIVE subscriptions to Masters in Mechanics.

Masters in Mechanics already includes 12+ hours of video investigation, hundreds of slow-mo clips and tablature, and pages and pages of performance notes. Here’s your chance to get it all!

To enter, drop us your email by midnight EST April 5, 2015. We’ll select and notify the five winners by the end of April.

Note that entering the giveaway signs you up for our mailing list, but we don’t send newsletters often, and when we do they often include all kinds of fun freebies. Of course, if you’re already on our list you can still enter above!

Good luck, and we look forward to seeing you in Masters in Mechanics!

Feb 04 2015

Masters in Mechanics: Inside the Volcano Digital

By News 19 Comments
Despite launching a wave of interest in three-note-per-string scale playing, the irony of Yngwie’s system is that it lends itself much more naturally to unusual asymmetrical groupings — like sevens.

February’s Masters in Mechanics seminar is here!

Inside the Volcano is the ultimate investigation of the Yngwie Malmsteen picking technique — and the ultimate introduction to downward pickslanting.

In the seminar, we examine a trove of fascinating historical footage of the master, and demystify piles of his trademark phrases.

It’s a whopping four hours (and five minutes!) of lecture, plus a massive download pack with over 100 slow-motion clips. If you’re a Masters in Mechanics subscriber, you already have access. Inside the Volcano is also available as a standalone purchase. Read More

Jan 23 2015

The DIY Magnet

By News 15 Comments

We wanted to update you on the Magnet and the Kickstarter campaign we ran at the end of last year. We didn’t reach our Kickstarter funding goal for the Magnet, so we’ll be placing any plans for a larger scale production run on the back burner for now.

While we’d love to relaunch the campaign at some point, we don’t have a concrete timeline for doing so. But we do want to give you a way to get a Magnet, and to that end we’re offering DIY instructions so you can make one of your own. Read More

Jan 09 2015

Happy New Year from Cracking the Code!

By codenews, News 5 Comments

Thanks for an awesome 2014! We’ve hit quite a few milestones in the past year that we’re proud of:

  • Gained 15,000 subscribers to our YouTube channel…
  • …and 1.2 million views and counting!
  • Grown our mailing list by over 250%
  • Released a bunch of great material, from launching Cracking the Code Season 2 to introducing the Masters in Mechanics seminars

To show our appreciation for the views, likes, purchases, downloads, and support for all we do, we’ve got a couple cool Happy New Year freebies for you! Read More

Jan 08 2015
pickslanting vs edge picking

The Difference Between Pickslanting and Edge Picking: An Explainer

By Lessons 37 Comments

Here’s a question we get all the time: what’s the difference between pickslanting and edge picking?

This seems to be a source of frequent confusion. The two are very different, and do completely different things, but since both involve pick angles and rotation, this can be hard to intuit without a direct visual comparison. The above image is from an animation coming up soon in Episode 3, “Eric the Right”, and is designed to make the difference as clear as possible. Read More

Dec 18 2014

Introducing the Masters in Mechanics Video Series!

By codenews, News 30 Comments

Masters in Mechanics Video Series!

Sign up today for an amazing journey of monthly learning!

(Learn more here!)

Or, buy the Antigravity standalone download:

Antigravity: By Demand, On-Demand!

Our acclaimed Masters in Mechanics seminars are now an amazing monthly video series! And we’re jumpstarting the series with our incredible 4-hour Antigravity lecture.

The extensive Antigravity investigation is organized into 25 chapters, and includes a course pack of 70+ slow-mo videos with tablature and insanely detailed performance notes.

Delivering Antigravity live was an amazing way to develop the seminar. But as Troy began staggering into the office baggy-eyed and delirious from marathon four-hour sessions, only to read piles of emails from viewers who couldn’t make the seminar, but still wanted to watch it. It was clear there were still plenty of viewers we’d never be able to fit onto our calendar.

So, with dozens of Antigravities under our belt, we began translating the many live versions of Antigravity to an accessible video version, and we’re thrilled with how it’s turned out.

Read More

Oct 31 2014

Trick or Teach! Halloween Giveaway

By codenews, News 8 Comments


Contest registration is now closed! Thanks so much for the interest everyone. We’ll be announcing winners this week.

It’s that time of year! And in honor of this season of gluttony and hedonism, Cracking the Code is giving away — not one — but two Masters in Mechanics seminars.

Antigravity and Inside the Volcano deliver over 5 hours of our pioneering investigation of picking technique. Even more fun than egging your neighbor’s house! Read More

Jul 24 2014

Season 2 Arrives!

By codenews, News 18 Comments

Cracking the Code, Season 2

8 episodes and 2+ hours of groundbreaking technical insight. The Season Pass gets you:
Ad-free, HD downloads of all 8 episodes
Tablature from our episodes and features
Your choice of 1080p or 720p files
Special video downloads, like slow-motion footage of our new “Down Around the World” series
And to catch you up, we’ll even throw in a Season 1 Pass for free!

UPDATE: The Season Pass is now the Pickslanting Primer! Learn more here:

Cracking the Code Pickslanting Primer

We’re launching Season 2 of Cracking the Code, and with it, a truly groundbreaking exploration of picking technique.

Throughout history, great players — much like great athletes — have worked their magic by feel rather than by analysis. These gifted geniuses rely on mechanical optimizations to do things with picks and strings that they themselves may not even be aware of. In Season 2 of Cracking the Code, we’ll dive deep into what those optimizations are, and how they work.

Along the way, we’ll elaborate, for the first time, a complete system for advanced picking that unites a vast roster of all-time great players. Season 2 follows the thread that connects Yngwie and Eddie Van Halen, Eric Johnson and Albert Lee, Shawn Lane, Michael Angelo Batio, John McLaughlin, Steve Vai, Rusty Cooley, Al Di Mieola, Paul Gilbert, and so many more. It’s going to be an amazing ride. Read More