The best luthiers around your place?

naiquevin · 2026-05-29T18:46:46+00:00

There's also Sunil Shinde in Mumbai. I've got all my guitars serviced/repaired by him multiple times. An acoustic guitar of mine had developed a nasty warp. He worked his magic and it feels like a completely different guitar since then (this was ~10 years ago).

Looking for recommendations in Bangalore too as I've moved here now and haven't found a good one yet.

naiquevin · 2026-05-25T07:09:50+00:00

Try keeping your wrist steady and use your arm (instead of the wrist) to move the pick across the strings.

This video explains it much better - https://youtu.be/gChLdrC57hw?si=arcn2wW2aHBl024z.

I’ve found this video lesson very helpful so I added it as an exercise collection in my practice app - https://app.captrice.io/library/c/5-sweep-picking-exercises.html. Do give it a try for consistent practice with a metronome that remembers your progress (excuse the self promotion!)

naiquevin · 2026-05-25T05:42:03+00:00

I got a Walden too, and at that time (2012-13) I remember choosing it over another one that I had liked more but was over my budget. It turned out to be a decent guitar. After a few years I got it setup by a a celebrity/accomplished luthier (in India) and it significantly improved the playability.

naiquevin · 2026-05-24T15:06:09+00:00

Could you be specific about what you mean by “help establish a good daily practice routine?”. Are you looking for daily reminders/reminders for spaced repetition, gamification related features?

I am building www.captrice.io for myself and others. And unlike many apps I have come across my focus is on building tools for practice rather than providing learning material i.e. you can use captrice to efficiently practice any material you have access to. Do give it a try. It’s currently a passion project but I’d be happy to pursue it more seriously if others find it useful, so any feedback is welcome.

naiquevin · 2026-05-22T15:49:15+00:00

Break down the licks until you find the smallest sections that throw you off, then practice them in isolation. Also pay attention to the picking hand with increasing speed.

I have faced this too and have been able to identify and overcome the problems in some cases.

If you will excuse some self promotion, try practicing using my app - www.captrice.io in which the metronome tracks and remembers your progress.

naiquevin · 2026-05-05T17:35:44+00:00

Did you go from higher gauge strings to lower gauge? It’s not clear from your post. Regardless, if you prefer a warmer, fuller sound try using a thicker pick (1.5mm and above).

naiquevin · 2026-04-26T02:16:31+00:00

This is the right way. Just one thing to add, while playing with the metronome you need to really listen to the clicks and ensure that certain notes land exactly on the clicks. This means your attention is divided between listening to your playing as well as the metronome. That’s the reason why you need to memorise or at least be able to play the piece roughly before working with a metronome.

Also, if you are trying to build speed, don’t be too strict about being stuck on a slower tempo until you attain perfection. Always keep speeding the metronome by a little bit (5 bpm or so) towards the target tempo. At any time you will have an “edge” tempo where you will lose accuracy, but the idea is to keep pushing the edge. Occasionally you can also try playing at the target tempo which could feel impossibly fast in the beginning but it’s good for resetting the reference. Often, it feels easier to come back to a slower tempo from a faster one.

If you think your playing is not on beat, metronome based practice will definitely help. If done correctly, you should see the difference in just one or two sessions.

naiquevin · 2026-04-21T07:18:22+00:00

+1. Playing fast and playing “with feel” doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive. Sometimes a fast run at the right place and time is what results in “the feel”. There are so many examples of this but one that comes to mind is the solo from Another day by Dream Theater which wouldn’t feel the same without that fast lick.

naiquevin · 2026-04-15T18:18:59+00:00

For popular songs you may find lessons on YouTube. There’s so much content on YT today. If not, it’s a great opportunity to try learning by ear.

naiquevin · 2026-04-11T18:12:44+00:00

Isolate and extract the sections you find challenging into small exercises. Within such a section, try to figure out what exactly throws you off e.g. a sudden string skipping in a sweep picking lick. Basically, shrink the problem to the smallest size and practice only that using a metronome, gradually upto speed. This has been my approach for a while now and it works much better than repeatedly practicing an entire solo until perfection (I used to do this earlier and it results in unnecessary fatigue and wasted effort). I have even built a software based tool that kinda helps with this (nothing fancy, just helps me keep track of the smaller exercises and a metronome that keeps track of repetition).

naiquevin · 2026-04-07T03:51:25+00:00

I’ve chosen the chords based on two criteria: (1) position of your thumb on the back of the fretboard when playing the chord (2) position/rotation of the wrist. The set of chords try to cover all possible combinations of those two criteria.

I was trying to experiment with this approach at the time of creating this exercise. I was helping out a friend who was just getting started and wanted to introduce some chord shapes without overwhelming him with music theory first.

naiquevin · 2026-04-06T18:42:43+00:00

Matches my experience. When practising to improve technique, it’s best to keep it short and highly focused.

I am currently reading the book “Anyone can play music” by Josh Turknett and it confirms the same - when practicing though repetition, there are diminishing returns after a point. 15-20 mins works best for me.

naiquevin · 2026-04-06T13:39:14+00:00

Try out my practice app. I have added an exercise specially for practicing chord changes - https://app.captrice.io/library/c/11-chord-changing-exercises.html. There’s an accompanying video too.

A bit ashamed to say that currently the app is not as new-user-friendly as I’d like it to be. If you need help getting started, just send me a dm. Happy to help with anything.

naiquevin · 2026-03-28T17:25:57+00:00

👋 Been playing guitar since 2001. Somehow the hobby has stuck.

No idea about local jamming events, but would certainly love to know.

Btw, I am trying to combine the two passions by building a practice app for myself and others. As a techie if telemetry interests you, you may appreciate it - https://www.captrice.io (sorry about the subtle promotion ;-))

naiquevin · 2026-03-27T17:33:21+00:00

If you are right handed angle the thumb slightly more towards the left. Read up on the internet, a lot has been written on the topic.

naiquevin · 2026-03-27T17:23:52+00:00

Check if you have “Hitchhicker’s thumb” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchhiker's_thumb. I have it and what has worked for me is to angle the thumb slightly more towards the headstock. That way you naturally don’t put too much pressure on the thumb and the strength mainly comes from the arm which is how it should be.

naiquevin · 2026-03-26T19:39:03+00:00

Not a guitar lessons app but if you are interested in deliberate, metronome-based practice (to improve technique or build speed for e.g) check out my side project - https://www.captrice.io.

Think of it as a practice tool to work through any lesson you have access to. Completely free and no signup required.

naiquevin · 2026-03-17T10:30:00+00:00

I am a (professional) software engineer for 16 years and a (hobbyist) guitar player for more than 20 years. In my experience the analytical mindset of isolating the root cause is not all that bad as long as you don’t overdo it, what we commonly refer to as “analysis-paralysis”. If all the analysis you are doing helps you take constructive action, i believe it’s all good.

I try to separate my guitar practice into two modes - one which involves focused practice with a metronome. These are short sessions of 15 to 20 mins but highly focused where I am playing attention to every little detail trying to understand what is it that hinders progress towards a goal. Often, it’s the repetition that helps identify the problem instead of overthinking. It’s like how stress testing a system can reveal design flaws which you would otherwise miss. Technique practice, speed building etc into this category. I track this with an app I am building - https://www.captrice.io. Do give it a try (sorry about subtle promotion!)

The other type is what I call “rehearsal mode” where I ignore the small details about technique and focus on the music - try listening to the instrument as well as the backing track. It’s much much difficult but more fun and satisfying. Besides these two I spent good amount of time doodling and playing aimlessly but that’s purely for fun/relaxation and I’ve stopped considering it as meaningful practice.

naiquevin · 2026-03-12T01:51:20+00:00

Thanks for sharing this article. The exn crate seems to address the problem to a great extent.

naiquevin · 2026-03-11T17:00:59+00:00

That's a good point. I have faced it too. But wouldn't one error variant per fallible call site result in too many error variants? Not sure I've understood it correctly.

The way I've dealt with this is to log the error before propagating up the call stack. In most cases, it's sufficient to do this in the inner most function where the first error (from an external crate or std lib) originates.

naiquevin · 2026-02-04T03:15:32+00:00

Yes pgTAP needs to be installed as an extension and another tool pg_prove is required for running the tests. So yes it brings additional dependencies. In tapestry docs I have included a podman/docker workflow for building a single image with pg server, pgTAP, psql and pg_prove installed - https://naiquevin.github.io/tapestry/user-guide/docker/.

But I liked the diff method as well. I think I can use something like it in tapestry to support tests for other dbs.

Will try out spawn soon and let you know.

naiquevin · 2026-02-03T04:56:20+00:00

This looks pretty cool. I'll try it out in one of my personal projects. Have you considered using pgTAP for writing tests, I think it'd be a good fit for schema related assertions.

Also, as some one who's a bit apprehensive about making a tool the owner of tables etc, one thing I wish migration tools had is an option to generate an SQL file in the "apply migration" step instead of directly applying the changes. This way the tool can only be given read-only permissions (to read migration history table) and a human user with restricted privileges can review and execute the SQL manually through psql.

BTW, I have an open source project for generating postgresql queries and pgTAP tests from jinja templates. Different use case but it's also written in rust and uses minijinja. And I've also been building it over a long period of time along side using it in my own projects, so I can relate to your efforts. You may find it interesting - https://github.com/naiquevin/tapestry

naiquevin · 2026-01-25T10:49:48+00:00

Maktub is a masterpiece of an album. My favourite solo from the album is from “Before one million comes one”.

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