Welcome to the October 2025 edition of the Captrice newsletter.

30-day guitar/music practice challenge in November

I'm kicking off a 30-day music practice challenge this November on the Captrice Telegram group! I ran the first one back in June with a small circle of friends and acquaintances, and this time I'm opening it up to a wider group. But I still prefer to keep it invite-only, so if you’d like to join, simply send me an email at vineet@captrice.com or naikvin@gmail.com.

Mixed meter support coming soon!

While demoing Captrice to a local music teacher a few months back, he pointed out that the metronome could only be set to play steady rhythm - “What if I want to practice time signature changes?”. Sounds like a useful feature but I ended up shelving it at the time. Recently I was working on my own composition that shifts between 8/8 and 7/8 which inspired me to build a proof of concept. Here’s a sneak peak at the “mixed meters” feature. It’s coming soon!

Controlling the metronome with a foot switch

Last week I was visiting my cousin who is also a guitarist. We experimented with using his Chocolate M-Wave MIDI controller to operate the metronome, and it worked amazingly well! We recorded a small video:

I'd known this kind of setup was possible but had been putting it off due to lack of access to requisite hardware. While Captrice already supports keyboard shortcuts for convenient metronome control when playing guitar, hands-free operation takes the experience to another level. If you have a MIDI controller or a programmable footswitch that can map switches to keyboard keys, I highly recommend setting it up.

I am planning to spend some time in the coming weeks to explore MIDI input and programmable footswitches. Although, first I need to acquire a MIDI controller for myself (It’s difficult to get the M-Wave here in India at present for some reason).

Another good thing that came out of this visit was that my cousin was able to see how I use Captrice. I had shared an early version of the app with him but apparently he never tried it out seriously (understandable, considering that Captrice is not the kind of app that immediately sells you on its benefits). I got him started with a basic alternate picking exercise from the library, which he practiced that afternoon. A couple of days later, he called to say he could actually see improved finger strength and a noticeable difference in his playing. Small win! And a couple of lessons in there for me:

1. I need to produce more video content that demonstrates Captrice in action. Unfortunately, that's not my strong suit!

2. The onboarding experience needs to be so frictionless that users stick around long enough to experience the immediate benefits and are able to grasp the long-term potential.

New library addition

String skipping lick by Chandresh Kudwa

It involves string skipping + legato and Chandresh plays it blazingly fast at 16th notes @200 bpm!

Tip of the month

In a previous newsletter, I mentioned that Captrice's tablature feature was mainly for future reference and that as a new user you shouldn't worry about it and instead just focus on practicing.

But after tabbing exercises for the Captrice library for nearly a year now, I've come to realize that writing tablature is actually a skill worth developing as a musician. It involves paying attention to time signatures, note durations and other details that aren't always obvious when you're just playing by ear.

Recently, I've started using Captrice not just for practice, but to transcribe my own riffs and licks. I’ve become comfortable with the alphaTex format, so the editor comes in handy. I feel that earlier, I used to rely on memory/ear, but now I have a much deeper understanding of what's actually happening in my playing.

I’d still standby my original opinion that as a new user, you should practice first and not worry about tabs. But once you feel comfortable playing a lick, do take some time out to try writing the tabs yourself. Highly recommend it!

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. More updates next month.