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
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.
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
Today we’re launching an amazing new way to learn about picking technique. It’s called Masters in Mechanics, and it’s something we’re really excited to offer — in fact it builds on all the work we’ve been doing so far. Read More
Join us for our first-ever Talking the Code discussion — a live webcast where we’ll discuss the latest episode, play additional examples, and take viewer questions to help you break the cycle of the constant search for technique. Read More
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
The design of our smartphone camera mount has taken a quantum leap of sophistication in its most recent iteration. In fact, it has matured to such an extent that we’ve been using it in our own projects here at Cracking the Code. We recently produced a series of special features spotlighting Season 2 picking techniques in various musical styles. Read More
If you’re finding this post via search (or heroic blog-dive) please note that the Code Archives are a legacy product, no longer available in the form described below. They were, however, an important predecessor to our Masters in Mechanics interviews — of which you can find many on the Interviews page, with more coming soon!
—The Cracking the Code Team
The Cracking the Code project is the most comprehensive investigation of picking technique ever undertaken. And now, we’re making the raw materials of that investigation available for you to watch, study, and enjoy. Today we’re officially launching the Code Archive, the most unique collection of high-speed analytical guitar footage ever assembled, and a rare opportunity to study world-class technique up close and in action. Read More
In 1986, Steve Vai was having one of those years. March saw the debut of the film Crossroads, for which Steve wrote and performed both the rock and neoclassical sequences of the now-famous guitar duel, and in which he also landed a starring role as the devil’s swaggering henchman, Jack Butler. Trailer clips of the film’s climactic musical showdown, with its mesmerizing cascade of diminished arpeggios, had just begun to explode adolescent minds across the country when David Lee Roth stepped into the studio with Steve to record his highly anticipated post-Van Halen grudge album.
