Rob Chapman’s “6 Awesome Guitar Hacks,” Some of Which Are More Useful than Others

The internet’s most jovial guitar maker and man about town, Rob Chapman, just posted this video of “6 Awesome Guitar Hacks” on his YouTube Channel. I went into it hoping for physical hacks, like Ben Weinman’s badass internal wireless system. So I have to admit to a little disappointment, since for the most part this video was just filled with playing tips.

Still, some were cool, like the method of wrapping a hair tie around your fingers to build up speed, or sharpening picks on the rug. I can’t say the “fish hook” string method is useful to me personally because once you go locking tuners you can never go back, but I’m sure someone will glad to know about the hook.

But dropped D as a pro-tip? And open tunings? Come on buddy, do you just really like the number 6? I know that 6 is a crucial digit in the number of the beast, the most crucial digit in fact, but I think it’s safe to say we’re all well aware of dropped D.

Let me throw in my own tip: has anyone ever used a knife to carve an “X” on the face of their picks, for extra graspability? I don’t do it myself, mainly due to laziness, but I have friends that swear by it.