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Masters in Mechanics: The Jimmy Bruno Interview

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In this intimate chat with the amazing Jimmy Bruno, we explore the intricate two-way pickslanting and two-way sweeping mechanics that power his masterful bop excursions.

In the conversation, Jimmy dives into his seemingly endless reservoir of creativity and produces a veritable rainbow of harmonic ideas: dominant, diminished, augmented, altered, suspended and more. Download includes the one-hour conversation and over 60 slow-motion clips with tablature.

Our latest Masters in Mechanics release features over two hours of incredible investigation:

  • One-hour in-depth interview
  • Addition hour-long performance of Jimmy Live at the Iridium
  • 65 slow-motion examples with tablature
  • An analysis video on Jimmy’s pickslanting mechanics

Masters in Mechanics: The Carl Miner Interview

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Take a journey into the world of bluegrass flatpick virtuosity in this Masters in Mechanics double feature!

This month we’re taking you on a trip to Winfield Kansas for the 2007 National Guitar Flat Pick Championships. Bluegrass is a unique world where mechanical standards, competition, and creativity work together to produce amazing players like Carl Miner. Carl won the whole thing as a teen, and placed second twice, including the year we interviewed him.

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Masters in Mechanics: The Steve Morse Interview

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Cracking the Morse Code!

Steve Morse’s mind-boggling chops and peerless creativity have garnered him historical renown and captured the imagination of a generation of players.

His one-note-per-string alternate picking technique is one of the most magical in all of rock guitar. But behind the technique lies an amazing mechanical solution. In this interview, we not only witness the magic — we discover how it actually works.

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Introducing the Cracking the Code T-Shirt!

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This is something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and we’ve finally figured out a great way to do it! We’re working with Printful, an on-demand printing company with awesome ecommerce integration.

Three styles to choose from, one classic Code logo!

Three styles to choose from, one rocking Cracking the Code logo!

We have three styles to choose from. They each incorporate the awesome Code logo — the ultimate evocation of mechanical-meets-musical! — and are designed like a concert tee. Each shirt you buy helps support production of the show.

We have two styles of the short-sleeve tee. One is 100% cotton, which won’t stretch and won’t dramatically shrink when you wash it, and is a slim- to moderate-fitting shirt. The other is a premium tri-blend (polyester + cotton + rayon). It’s lightweight, a bit stretchy, and super-soft, like an old vintage tee, and is more of a charcoal than a pure black. Finally, we have a long-sleeve version of the 100% cotton tee. These are all American Apparel shirts so if you’ve worn them before you know what to expect!

You can order as many as you like, in any size, short- or long-sleeved. Click the links below to take a look!

UPDATE: We don’t currently have the t-shirts for sale, but will try to get them up in the new store soon!

Pentatonic Puzzle Contest

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In the first three episodes of Season 2 of Cracking the Code, we spent a lot of time understanding the downward pickslanting system of Yngwie Malmsteen and Eric Johnson. And now it’s time to put that understanding to the creative test!

Yngwie is famous for his mastery of sequenced ideas, like fours. Eric Johnson is famous for his mastery of the pentatonic scale. And if we join these two aesthetics, we can do something really awesome: ascending pentatonic fours. There’s actually a really simple way of playing this that fits perfectly with the Yngwie and Eric picking system we’ve outlined so far. It sounds great, it’s easy to do…and we’re not going to tell you how to do it. And that’s because you are going to tell us!

If you can figure out the picking pattern to ascending pentatonic fours, we’ll give the first five correct responses a free Masters in Mechanics subscription. Watch the video above to learn more!

UPDATE: After 80+ responses in < 24 hrs, we've closed the contest. Contest aside, though, this is a great practical exercise in the power and flexibility of pickslanting — a homework assignment that will add an awesome pattern to your arsenal. We encourage you all to give it a try!