# idea behind (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 3 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover idea behind. Page: Feed: --- ## [From the Feed: Brad Barr Plays a Fluttering Arpeggio Study](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/from-the-feed-brad-barr-plays-a-fluttering) _2026-08-18 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ A transcription of Barr’s recent Instagram reel, plus his thoughts on the etude’s technique and harmonic language, and the Gibson ES-175 he filmed it with. ## [I have a problem with my long blog posts](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/08/16/i-have-a-problem-with.html) _2026-08-16 · The Reed and Pickup_ I don’t know why, but when I start a new blog, there’s a tendency for posts to get longer and more complicated over time. It could be a confidence thing, it could be that I just don’t know when to shut up, but it is becoming a problem. The cycle repeats I have had many blogs over the years. Blogging has been part of my life since the late 90s and early 2000s, although back then we didn’t call them… ## [From the Feed: Matt Munisteri and His Number One Guitar](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/from-the-feed-matt-munisteri-and) _2026-08-12 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ Munisteri shares the fascinating history of his 1930 Gibson L-5, and the ideas behind his arrangement of “My Blue Heaven,” transcribed here in addition to Snoozer Quinn’s “Telephone Blues.” ## [The Analogue Revolution](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/08/08/the-analogue-revolution.html) _2026-08-08 · The Reed and Pickup_ As big tech continues its march towards owning nothing and being miserable, I keep hearing that the Gen-Z youngsters who will eventually take our place are rebelling against this. Point & shoot cameras; MP3 players, wired headphones and paper notebooks are all the rage. Just today, an article on the BBC News website goes into more detail. Underpinning a fondness for more basic tech is… ## [L.A. Story: Meg Duffy’s Expanding Guitar World](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/la-story-meg-duffys-expanding-guitar) _2026-08-07 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ Duffy on falling in with a community of players and builders in the city, guitars as orchestration tools, and a mysterious Rick Beato book. Plus, transcriptions of “Good Person” and “Graves.” ## [From the Feed: Alex Skolnick on Getting to Know a Prized D’Angelico](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/from-the-feed-alex-skolnick-on-getting) _2026-08-05 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ Skolnick shares what it’s been like to bond with a 1949 Excel, on loan from the Archtop Foundation. Plus, a transcription of his improvisation on the historic guitar. ## [Old-Time, Reimagined: Sophie Wellington Finds Her Own Voice in Tradition](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/old-time-reimagined-sophie-wellington) _2026-07-29 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ The guitarist, fiddler, and percussive dancer reflects on the collaborations and communities that have shaped their artistry. Plus, a transcription of their DADGAD arrangement of “Scolding Wife.” ## [Why low powered PC hardware matters](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/07/23/why-low-powered-pc-hardware.html) _2026-07-23 · The Reed and Pickup_ It feels like such a long time ago that we could count on exponential improvements in computing power. The leaps between one generation of consoles in the early days was massive, just as it was between graphics cards in the PC space. However, it is becoming clear that those days are long gone. The computer hardware industry has been ransacked by Grand Theft Autocomplete (AI), collusion by DRAM… ## [On the Record: Two Jim Hall Takes, Same Tune](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/on-the-record-two-jim-hall-takes) _2026-07-20 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ How a pair of versions of “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes” with the Paul Desmond Quartet reveal the jazz great’s endless inventiveness. ## [Putting The Internet Back In Its Place](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/07/19/putting-the-internet-back-in.html) _2026-07-19 · The Reed and Pickup_ Inspired by a video by Sarah Davis Baker talking about how the internet used to be a place I had an idea. What would happen if I put the internet back in its place? I’m not shy about the fact that my internet use is a little higher than I would like, but curing it sounds like an interesting challenge. The idea The basic idea behind this is that back in the dial-up days, the internet lived… ## [Reach prospects with real signals (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/3HcQ701QfSxD) _2026-07-19 · **Sponsored**_ Find prospects talking about your problem and get context-backed moments to engage ## [Beyond Borders: Marisa Anderson Reimagines Music from Folklorist Harry Smith’s Global Record Collection](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/beyond-borders-marisa-anderson-reimagines) _2026-07-17 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ The exploratory guitarist discusses listening across cultures and rethinking tradition. Plus, a transcription of her arrangement of “Sarvi Simin,” originally performed on Badakhshan rubob. ## [From the Feed: Stash Wyslouch and His Atonal Flatpicking](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/from-the-feed-stash-wyslouch-and) _2026-07-15 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ A look inside an unconventional take on “Fiddler’s Dream,” with the guitarist’s own explanation and a downloadable transcription. ## [From the Feed: Wolfgang Muthspiel’s New Guitar](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/from-the-feed-wolfgang-muthspiels) _2026-07-10 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ The acclaimed Austrian jazz guitarist-composer introduces an unusual nylon-string archtop by luthier Theo Scharpach. Plus, a transcription of the free improvisation he plays on it. ## [Among Friends: Tal Mashiach on Deep Musical Community](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/among-friends-tal-mashiach-on-deep) _2026-07-08 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ The longtime Anat Cohen collaborator discusses the joy of making music with friends, playing nylon-string guitar and upright bass, and a pair of note-for-note transcriptions from his latest album. ## [Physical Media - A Slight Return](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/07/07/physical-media-a-slight-return.html) _2026-07-07 · The Reed and Pickup_ Whilst I’ve written about my fondness for physical media already, the recent announcement by Sony that it was ending the production of physical PlayStation games from 2028 lit a fire up the internet’s metaphorical rear-end and I think I need to talk about it again. This announcement from Sony coincided with the news that they were removing around 500 movies from the collections of… ## [From the Feed: Ethan Sherman’s Arrangement of “The Lakes of Pontchartrain”](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/from-the-feed-ethan-shermans-arrangement) _2026-07-02 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ A closer look at a beautiful Instagram performance, with notation, analysis, and the guitarist’s thoughts on arranging the traditional ballad. ## [What we choose to share](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/06/27/what-we-choose-to-share.html) _2026-06-27 · The Reed and Pickup_ One thing that often gets missed in debates around the internet, particularly now that governments are locking everything away behind an age-verification wall is how our relationship to the internet has changed. In the early days, our computers were relatively benign. They didn’t know anything about us besides what we chose to share. Even though most people were running some form of Windows back… ## [In the Shed: Courtney Hartman on Building Songs and a Musical Home](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/in-the-shed-courtney-hartman-on-building) _2026-06-26 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ The guitarist and singer-songwriter talks about motherhood, musical community, and Bourgeois guitars, along with a transcription of her new song “Companion.” ## [Waiting to Be Asked](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/waiting-to-be-asked) _2026-06-23 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ On my daughter discovering the guitar and exploring open-D tuning on a family heirloom, along with her requested transcription of the Longest Johns’ arrangement of “Fare Thee Well (Dink’s Song).” ## [Hearing Everything: Duck Baker Looks Back on a Long and Rich Life in Music](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/hearing-everything-duck-baker-looks) _2026-06-18 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ The fingerstyle great reflects on a lifetime of pursuing whatever caught his ear—and where it has taken him. Plus, a transcription of his quirky arrangement of “Limehouse Blues.” ## [One Cloud, Every AI Layer (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/DTaTh1as2znL) _2026-06-18 · **Sponsored**_ Run agents, inference, and infrastructure on one stack — economics improve as you scale. ## [The unlikely upside to age-gating](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/06/17/the-unlikely-upside-to-agegating.html) _2026-06-17 · The Reed and Pickup_ In an attempt to address the harms caused by algorithmic social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, governments around the world are scrambling to put barriers up to stop youngsters from being led astray, instead of, you know, regulating the companies peddling these harms. What seems laudable on the surface, the idea behind age gating certain parts of the internet is flawed for a number of… ## [Remembering James Blood Ulmer (1940–2026)](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/remembering-james-blood-ulmer-19402026) _2026-06-16 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ A few thoughts on a true guitar original, along with a transcribed excerpt of his piece “Page One: Grand Finale.” ## [Lady Day: An Unaccompanied Intro by Julian Lage](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/lady-day-an-unaccompanied-intro-by) _2026-06-05 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ A free-time improvisation from Joe Lovano’s new Paramount Quartet album, transcribed here, showcases the guitarist’s melodic imagination, harmonic sophistication, and keen sense of direction. ## [The Time Between Thoughts](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/06/05/the-time-between-thoughts.html) _2026-06-05 · The Reed and Pickup_ Back in 2006 there was a movie starring Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale and Christopher Walken called Click . It may have been dismissed as a typically shallow Adam Sandler movie, but there was a kernel of depth to it. On fast forward Have you ever arrived at work remembering nothing of how you got there? If you are still young you may not have had this happen to you yet, but after a decade or two… ## [A Blank Canvas: Matthew Stevens on the Fender Telecaster’s Chameleonic Appeal](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/a-blank-canvas-matthew-stevens-on) _2026-06-03 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ The guitarist-composer discusses growing up in Toronto, the ideas behind his music, and playing an acoustic once owned by Elliott Smith. Includes a transcription of his new composition “SLMS.” ## [Far From Standard: Emma Harner on Alternate Tunings, Odd Meters, and Finding Her Own Path](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/far-from-standard-emma-harner-on) _2026-05-27 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ The guitarist and singer-songwriter discusses intuitive harmony, contemporary classical influences, and the thinking behind her “math folk” songs. Plus, a transcription of “You're Right.” ## [You can’t always force the words out...](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/05/23/you-cant-always-force-the.html) _2026-05-23 · The Reed and Pickup_ After a flurry of activity on this blog, there has been a couple of things in my world that have sent my words packing. It feels like a long time since I have blogged, although it has only been a few days. The seeds of partially formed ideas scattered to the four winds. Sometimes it is best to wait for things to happen, for ideas to form, instead of trying to force words onto the page that you… ## [Animal Crossing and the Joy of Simple Games](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/05/18/animal-crossing-and-the-joy.html) _2026-05-18 · The Reed and Pickup_ As I’ve got older, I’ve become acutely aware of how quickly the sands of time are running out. I started my gaming journey with a Sinclair Spectrum +2, way back in the mid-80s, but games have been a fairly constant part of my life. Lately something has shifted. Fun, not a second job... Gaming in the mid 2020s is pretty bleak. The push towards derivative ‘live services’ that want to occupy all of… ## [Chasing Perfection: Steve Nall of Collings Guitars on Craft, Curiosity, and the Pursuit of Better Tone](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/chasing-perfection-steve-nall-of) _2026-05-17 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ The Austin, Texas maker’s head luthier discusses new models, tonewoods, and the obsessive details behind some of today’s most sought-after guitars, plus a Bob Minner transcription. ## [Inside the Song: Wendy Eisenberg on Time, Memory, and the Emotional Lives of Guitars](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/inside-the-song-wendy-eisenberg-on) _2026-05-11 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ The Brooklyn-based musician discusses improvisation, writing, and the ways certain instruments can reshape a player’s relationship to the past—plus a transcription from their new self-titled album. ## [Stop CI/CD & Supply-Chain Attacks (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/d8MbZ7cRZL3X) _2026-05-11 · **Sponsored**_ Per-PR: 17 CI/CD checks and package malware scans with inline Check Run findings. ## [Small Web Discoveries - 9th May 2026](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/05/09/small-web-discoveries-th-may.html) _2026-05-09 · The Reed and Pickup_ Ever on the lookout for what is good in the small web, I wanted to bring your attention to something that has been quite popular on Mastodon of late. A beautiful essay by Terry Godier. The internet you grew up on isn’t dying. A commercial veneer glued on top of it is. The Boring Internet by Terry Godier The second one is a blog about being wrong about the Fediverse, by Matt Duggan. I never… ## [Minimalism](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/05/07/minimalism.html) _2026-05-07 · The Reed and Pickup_ I have referenced it in passing a couple of times now, but a few years ago when the Minimalism documentary blew up on Netflix, the whole thing made a lot of sense to me. Back in 2017 I immediately set about trading in everything I could. Life at the time was incredibly and unusually complicated, so simplifying everything seemed like the solution I was looking for. Getting it wrong The thing about… ## [Regional Riffs - South Wales Edition](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/05/03/regional-riffs-south-wales-edition.html) _2026-05-03 · The Reed and Pickup_ My Mastodon chum Chris recently laid down a challenge to list some bands that we love based on where we live . Now, coming from rainy South Wales, there are slim pickings to be had in the metal department, but a smorgasbord of guitar pop/rock bands. So, let’s get cracking. Cool Cymru During the 1990s and 2000s a movement began that came to be known as Cool Cymru. There was a wave of new bands… ## [The Blue Guitars: Sean McGowan on Spending Time with a Rare Archtop Collection](https://adamperlmuttermusic.substack.com/p/the-blue-guitars-sean-mcgowan-on) _2026-05-01 · Adam Perlmutter · The Eclectic Guitar_ A conversation with the guitarist and educator about making an album with instruments commissioned by Scott Chinery—plus a transcription of “Fanny Power,” as played on a custom Collings AT 18. ## [Ten albums to take to the grave](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/04/30/ten-albums-to-take-to.html) _2026-04-30 · The Reed and Pickup_ In my previous post I challenged you to come up with ten albums that you think would see you out. Ten CDs (or vinyl) that you have either always listened to, or you think will stay with you for the rest of your days. A collection you would own instead of renting forever. It is only fair that I try the same exercise myself. The trouble is, I already have the CDs because I've been re-acquiring them… ## [Ten bucks a month adds up...](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/04/26/ten-bucks-a-month-adds.html) _2026-04-26 · The Reed and Pickup_ Back in the early 90s I bought Pearl Jam’s ‘Vs’ on CD. It was a great album that I’ve listened to regularly ever since. I know subscriptions for all of our cultural artefacts are the in thing in the mid 2020s, but have we stopped to think about what that is going to mean as we reach old age? Nothing to show for it On the surface, £10 or $10 per month seems harmless enough, especially when access… ## [Think Linux-y Thoughts...](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/04/25/think-linuxy-thoughts.html) _2026-04-25 · The Reed and Pickup_ I first started tinkering with linux back when Ubuntu 6.04 was released. April 2006 was my first hint that things were not so good in Windows land, so I started looking for the exits. Unfortunately, as someone who has always bought Nvidia cards, those cards were stacked against me and I never managed to make Ubuntu stick. Thankfully, it is now 2026 and my word things have changed. Kubuntu 26.04… ## [Small Web Discoveries](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/04/22/small-web-discoveries.html) _2026-04-22 · The Reed and Pickup_ Just a quick post to share a couple of recent small-web discoveries you may be interested in. The first one is another blogroll -- https://blogroll.org This one is apparently sponsored by the good folks behind Micro.blog , where the Reed & Pickup is hosted. It looks very slick and I should see if I can get the R&P listed on there at some point. Music In a world where many of us are using different… ## [The unlikely upside to age-gating social media](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/04/17/the-unlikely-upside-to-agegating.html) _2026-04-17 · The Reed and Pickup_ In an attempt to address the harms caused by algorithmic social media platforms like Facebook, governments around the world are scrambling to put barriers up to stop youngsters from being led astray, instead of, you know, regulating the companies peddling these harms. What seems laudable on the surface, the idea behind age gating certain parts of the internet is flawed for a number of reasons,… ## [Reclaiming Email for Ourselves](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/04/16/reclaiming-email-for-ourselves.html) _2026-04-16 · The Reed and Pickup_ Whilst I was browsing the Kagi Small Web, which has become a bit of an escape of late, I came across a blog post which got me thinking. It talked about sending emails to each other , out of the blue, like we did in the old days. Where did we go wrong? The post sums the current state of affairs pretty well. If I open my email inbox right now, I see two things. The first is my abject failure to… ## [The Pineapple Thief](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/04/15/the-pineapple-thief.html) _2026-04-15 · The Reed and Pickup_ I’m a little ashamed to admit I’ve thoroughly slept on The Pineapple Thief. I’m a sucker for music which sits at the proggy end of the spectrum, but I also think Gavin Harrison is one of the greatest drummers on the scene right now. Harrison joined The Pineapple Thief in 2017, so I should have been all over them. I’m not sure what happened, but I’m here now. PT It seems like a strange coincidence… ## [Thoughts on blogging](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/04/12/thoughts-on-blogging.html) _2026-04-12 · The Reed and Pickup_ It is far too easy to contribute to the noise and the anger in the world. It certainly pleases the algorithms, but it doesn’t please me . I suspect you’re not much of a fan of it, either. I’ve been thinking about how I want to approach this blog from now on and, I’m going to focus on writing about the things that I find fascinating, or exciting. By doing this I hope it’ll force me to look for the… ## [Blogrolls and Web Rings](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/04/06/blogrolls-and-web-rings.html) _2026-04-06 · The Reed and Pickup_ Before big tech commandeered the internet from the people and pushed us to the margins, we had our own social network of sorts. Not an algorithm, or a predatory data sponge to follow us around, but a simple hyperlink to another human’s homepage. Rebuilding This morning I had a feeling . A feeling of excitement as the building blocks of a new World Wide Web was forming. This isn’t another… ## [An April Fools Done Right](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/04/03/an-april-fools-done-right.html) _2026-04-03 · The Reed and Pickup_ If you have been following along at home, lately I’ve been prattling on about the 90s internet for the past couple of posts, railing against the constant enshittification of the internet and the mind-boggling greed of some of the biggest companies in the world right now. April Fools Day is one of those days where you can never quite trust what you see on the internet, which admittedly in… ## [The early internet was a feeling](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/03/30/the-early-internet-was-a.html) _2026-03-30 · The Reed and Pickup_ Whilst it is true that the internet is still out there , if you know how to find it, one thing I neglected to talk about was how it felt to be a teenager on the early internet. Nostalgia continues to be a hell of a drug, but I don’t think it is right to ignore how much of an impression it left on me and my peers back then. Different times It is remarkable to think there was a time when most of us… ## [#AI is the final frontier of late-stage capitalism](https://reedandpickup.com/2026/03/27/ai-is-the-final-frontier.html) _2026-03-27 · The Reed and Pickup_ Capital realised there were limits to how much useless junk it could sell to people. But, what if they could get you to pay for things your brain would otherwise learn to do by itself? What if they could get people to outsource cognitive functions like ’reading a document’ or ‘making some art’ to the point where they can’t do them anymore, but can pay $20 a month to replace what they’ve lost? The…