Recently, a friend connected me with Jacob who’s building https://singonesong.com/ another music app. He was kind enough to not only review Captrice and give honest feedback but also record a video of himself trying out the app. One phrase from his feedback that stuck with me was "progressive disclosure of complexity".

I'd always known the practice interface was optimized for users who are at least somewhat familiar with the working and purpose of the app (i.e. myself 😄). But that means it could be overwhelming for new users, especially beginners. Watching someone navigate the app without guidance was an aha moment and it gave me concrete ideas to improve the onboarding experience.

The recently shipped “guided sessions” feature is a result of that. When a new user lands on app.captrice.io for the first time, they are invited to take the guided session. It walks them through step-by-step instructions as they record their very first practice session.

Here’s a demo video where you can see it in action.

You'll also notice that components on the practice screen have been reorganized and renamed for clarity.

Building guided sessions took quite a bit of experimentation, and this is the iteration I'm most satisfied with so far. I believe it addresses progressive disclosure of complexity to an extent, introduces beginners to practicing with a metronome, and gives users a glimpse of what’s possible with Captrice.

Current status of Captrice and the road ahead in 2026

I started building Captrice as a personal project in August 2024 but much of the foundational work happened in this year.

After our daughter was born in Oct 2024, it felt increasingly pointless to return to full time work (I was already on a career break then). I wanted to avoid any high-commitment consulting work and prioritize spending time with my family (extremely grateful to have been able to afford it). Captrice was the perfect project to work on in this situation. In retrospect, in spite of working on it at my own pace, I was able to put in substantial amount of work, as well as think deeply about guitar/music practice in general. As a bonus, I've noticeably leveled up my own playing too.

To promote the app, I had to push myself out of my comfort zone by reaching out to users, guitar teachers and accomplished local musicians that I look up to. I’m grateful for their positive and encouraging responses.

Since last couple of months, I've returned to consulting work alongside building Captrice. But I'm truly happy about where it stands today. Thanks to some early design decisions and investments in tooling and documentation, I'm able to build more in fewer hours. Keeping the app free costs me very little, and I can now afford to invest financially as well if needed. It's a great time to bootstrap!

What’s coming in 2026

Premium plan: This is the top priority. It will enable data backups and cross-device sync.

Expanded toolkit: I'm exploring ways to evolve Captrice into a comprehensive toolkit for music practice, covering not just technique, but the various skills needed to become a confident musician. 

Teachers edition: This has been on my roadmap for a while and I’ll continue to reach out to teachers to see if there’s enough interest and alignment.

But even as I explore monetization opportunities through premium plans and partnerships with teachers and music schools,

1. the self-motivated guitarist will always be at the center of the app, and

2. the free version of the app will always remain free

Thank you for being a subscriber. More updates in 2026. Happy new year!