One of the most common requests we get at Cracking the Code is to help players identify which picking motion they’re using. In this most recent update to the Pickslanting Primer, we’ve leveraged our years of experience in studying expert players to put together what is probably the most detailed guide ever produced for figuring out which picking motion you’re using.
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Checking in with another update, and we have some nice progress to discuss as the first functioning Magnet prototypes go for a test drive.
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Magnet backers! We hope you’re doing well, and with the pandemic and the current winter bearing down on everyone, we understand that’s no small task. Just a quick update on Magnet production. The short story is we’re still stuck — pun intended — at the rubber phase, which we discussed in our last update.
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Learning picking motion is a tricky process made all the more complicated by having to operate an actual guitar while you do it. In this exciting new one-hour update to the Pickslanting Primer, we take a big step toward simplifying the challenge with a new collection of valuable hands-on tests.
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Magnet production moves forward as we tackle the technical challenge of crafting the rubber pads that grip the phone.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Man, it’s rough out there right now! There’s a lot going on in this country, and we at Cracking the Code wanted to do something to help in whatever small way that we can.
On the one hand, we’re facing a viral invader that simply won’t take no for an answer, and on the other, the spectre of systemic racism that we still struggle to vanquish. Both have impacted our country in significantly real and material ways. The virus in particular has delivered a one-two punch in poorer communities, and specifically communities of color, where long-standing economic disparity has made worse health outcomes an unfortunate reality and an especially impossible challenge this year in particular.
So we decided to see if we can get some cash into the hands of COVID-affected families, and also families of color who need it most right now, especially since these two groups often overlap in poorer urban areas. So for the week starting on Juneteenth, or Friday June 19th, we’ll be donating all revenue from our store to GiveDirectly, a very cool online platform that facilitates electronic cash payments directly to needy individuals.
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