Just a quick update from the factory making the Magnets. They’re still cutting the “tool”, which is the manufacturing term for the steel mold that actually forms the plastic parts. If you’re not familiar with the injection molding process, as we weren’t when we started this, molten plastic is injected into the steel mold and allowed to cool. Then the two halves of the tool are pulled apart, and voilá, Magnet parts.

Pour yourself a caipirinha and grab your thumb picks because the awesome César Garabini is taking us on a trip to Rio for an introduction to the beautiful and grooving sounds of Choro guitar.

For a long time now, you’ve asked for an easy way to find and read about core Cracking the Code concepts, and we’ve delivered on that with a brand new section of the Pickslanting Primer: the awesome new Picking Motion section.

Cracking the Code members, our latest release with jazz and Gypsy swing wizard Olli Soikkeli is here! Olli Soikkeli’s tasty vintage stylings wouldn’t be out of place at a jazz age lawn party with linen suits and coupe glass cocktails. But when he fires up his 21st-century alternate picking technique, you’re about to take a ride in a DeLorean time machine of jazz guitar.

The Magnet, our custom designed guitar mount for smart phones, is currently speeding toward the successful conclusion of its Kickstarter campaign. If you haven’t yet checked out the project, now’s the time! As of this writing, you have about five more days to get in on the first batch of these liberating little devices, and unravel the mystery of your own technique.

The amazing David Grier returned to Cracking the Code for a second meeting, and that interview is now live on the platform! At just over an hour, it contains 31 musical examples, including a handful of David’s trademark beautiful full-song playthroughs. It was an awesome conversation on a sunny summer day where we learned some fascinating things about his creative and mechanical process. This includes a valuable peek into David’s higher-speed mechanics that we didn’t get the first time around.

If you’ve spent much time on our forum, you know Tommo for his amazing covers of the likes of John Petrucci and Vinnie Moore.

The forearm is one of the most important joints in all of picking technique. And in the newly updated Forearm Motion section of the Pickslanting Primer, we’ve rolled out over one hour and forty minutes of in-depth, hands-on tutorials for getting its many superpowers working in your own playing.

Nearly five years after our first Kickstarter attempt, we think it may be time for another go at getting the Magnet manufactured!

The Magnet is that red camera mount you’ve probably seen clamped onto a guitar neck in our lessons and interviews. It’s an awesome tool for filming your technique, and it works with any smartphone.