If you’ve seen 10-year-old Japanese guitar phenom Li-sa-X’s YouTube performances, you’re probably as impressed as we are. Her preternatural ability on the instrument has garnered millions of views, frequent Guitar World coverage, and even a spot in a TV commercial!

Bookended by blazing shred performances, this interview provides a close up look at Li-sa’s technique, and shows her a quick student of challenging technical exercises. This is a great example of how advanced mechanical ability can develop at a young age without overt instruction.

Marty Friedman, whose command of the Japanese language now rivals the fluency of his playing, was kind enough to guest host on this one!

Even among virtuoso players, Steve Morse could be considered a daredevil. In following his subversively creative muse through groundbreaking projects in fusion, rock, and metal, Steve has set the benchmark for a certain kind of originality on the guitar, routinely facing down licks other players simply won’t touch.

Seemingly unhindered by the physical limitations of the instrument, and equally unimpeded by barriers of genre, Steve has forged a distinctively — to use his term — un-guitaristic style. His work as the creative force behind The Dixie Dregs reinvigorated the fusion movement of the late seventies with an injection of sounds that was equal parts roots and sophistication. In the process, Steve stole elements of rock, jazz, and bluegrass to create spellbinding unison lines for guitar and fiddle, pianistic one-note-per-string arpeggio figures, and greasy chicken picking guitar grooves.

Without the safety net of guitar-approved box patterns and legato cop outs, Steve innovated an approach to right-hand technique that remains the benchmark of dexterity on the instrument. In particular, his approach to alternate picked arpeggios, and other tricky string-skipping motifs, has never been equaled. Since 1994, Steve has applied these talents as successor to the iconic Ritchie Blackmore in the legendary proto-metal band Deep Purple. Steve’s iconoclastic compositional and mechanical approaches have helped the band break new stylistic ground, winning acclaim from both critics and long-time Purple fans alike. Not bad for a Dreg.

Behind some of the biggest names in country and rock is one of the biggest names in country guitar.

A session player and sideman since his teens, Albert Lee’s talent took center stage in the early ’70s as lead guitarist in the seminal roots rock group Head, Hands, and Feet. One part Doobie Brothers, one part Stanley Brothers, the short-lived HH&F nevertheless supplied enough spiritual grist for generations of alt-country rockers. A key ingredient in this was Albert’s groundbreaking sound — an effortless fusion of picking, slides, bends, and rolls that evoked country while embracing the energy of rock.

Albert’s HH&F country-rock showpiece Country Boy was a huge crossover hit when it was covered by flatpick legend Ricky Skaggs in the ’80s, introducing the toe-tapping virtuosity of bluegrass to a wider commercial audience. Meanwhile Albert’s ever-expanding list of fans grew to include notably non-country luminaries like Eric Clapton and Eddie Van Halen, both of whom have shared the stage with him. Indeed, few players can claim so much admiration from so many musical quadrants — fitting for a country player who was born in England, raised on rock, and who has called the rolling hills of California his home for the majority of his highly influential career.

In his Masters in Mechanics interview, we take an in-depth look at the fascinating mechanics behind Albert’s unstoppable groove. The hour-long interview includes 7 chapters of analysis, and over 50 slow-motion, up-close examples with one of the all-time great right hands in country and rock.

Nashville studio ace and bluegrass flatpicking champion Carl Miner tackles scalar and arpeggiated phrases with startling ease in this revealing discussion of his flawless crosspicking fluidity.

Our first interview with Carl was conducted at the 2007 National Guitar Flat Pick Championship in Winfield, Kansas, and also includes three hours of the competition itself: over 30 first-round contestants, four second-round finalists, and three winners.

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.

Get ready for an unguarded conversation with one of metal’s most inimitable lead guitar voices: Marty Friedman.

In this hour-long discussion, we touch on topics both mechanical and musical, and go under the hood with one of the most distinctive picking techniques of the last thirty years.

Cascade is an incredible six-hour exploration of the ethereal guitar genius of Eric Johnson. In the seminar, we unlock the magic of Eric’s downward pickslanting system, the source of his legendary precision for blazing pentatonic lines.

Through an exhaustive examination of historical footage, we deconstruct all the classic elements of the EJ sound: cascading multi-position phrases, arpeggios, right-hand harmonics, mixolydian lines, the “bounce technique”, and more.

Antigravity is a groundbreaking four-hour investigation that completely demystifies the difficulty of using pure alternate picking to play scales.

Scale playing is a basic exercise on other instruments. But on the guitar, it’s a feat that has historically been mastered only by the elite few. It turns out, there’s good reason for it. In the Antigravity seminar, we discover a new world of upward pickslanting, two-way pickslanting, and swiping.

Across four hours of in-depth investigation, we review dozens of historical clips in slow motion, and take an exhaustive look at the hyperspeed picking techniques of Michael Angelo Batio, Paul Gilbert, Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Vinnie Moore.

The Masters in Mechanics interview with the amazing Marshall Harrison features a detailed 40-minute investigation of his sweep and hybrid picking wizardry, harmonic inventiveness, and blazing speed. The interview is also complemented by over 40 minutes of our trademark in-depth analysis.

We’ve spent years filming elite players, documenting their amazing techniques, and using that experience to help the rest of us get a better handle on our instruments.

Cracking the Code’s pioneering use of slow-motion video to film world-class players was the first systematic attempt to understand and categorize the different picking motions great players make.  The footage we’ve captured with our high-speed cameras provides a rare and unprecedented look at how technique really works at the upper levels of mastery.  We’ve augmented that fieldwork with conversations with researchers in related disciplines like motor learning, biomechanics, and psychology, to help understand how that mastery is acquired and maintained.

Our interviews contain thousands of real-world examples of technique in action, along with clip pages featuring slow motion video, live Soundslice tablature, and downloadable tablature files.

For conclusions and practical advice built on what we’ve learned here, be sure and check out The Pickslanting Primer.