About

Hi, I'm Alex! I founded this site in 2025 to serve as a publishing base for my own thoughts about guitars, creative workflows, and the role of software in guitarists' artistic lives. Guitarists and bassists need places on the web where they can read about amp sims, audio interfaces, and more while still respecting the place of tube amps in their setup.

As a working software engineer, a lot of my career is dominated by having tools and workflows set up to enable seamless creation. And there are often concerns about reproducibility vs. friction. I have identified the same thing both in my musical hobby and the lives of professional musicians (whose livelihoods can be dependent on things like creative breadth and reproducible performances). Also, software is becoming more and more of our signal chain in so many ways, yet the body of analysis/commentary I see online misses stuff that is obvious to me having built a career in tech over a decade (server technician-> SaaS customer service rep -> software engineer).

Music in general is in a battle for its soul right now. Technology has made recording and production at home widely accessible, and there is such an abundance of knowledge about music that is shared freely on platforms like youtube. But the ability of musicians to make a living also faces threats from tech platforms like Spotify and Suno. And I think we are still figuring out what collaboration means in this day and age. Being in a band isn't as cool or desirable as it once was, but I think making music together is such a strong part of human culture that we need to figure something out besides "we all make bangers alone in our own bedroom, office, basement, etc."

As I was writing a blog post for my personal website with some connected perspectives on technology within the guitar industry, I just kept connecting more and more ideas. Eventually, it became clear that I didn't need to keep writing a longer and longer article with more and more sub-rants. What I really needed was to give my guitar essays a home. And by starting with this website instead of a youtube channel, I am buying myself some room to pick topics and write honestly without algorithmic pressure to produce "high-performing content."

My biggest artistic influences include bands like Metallica, Nirvana, Bon Jovi, Avenged Sevenfold, In Flames and Death but also Yaxu (aka Alex McLean) whose work has been pioneering for livecoding in music.

Values

• Dogfooding: if I build a product and sell it here, it is because it's something that I wanted to use it first and foremost

• Celebration (but not commoditization) of human authorship, emotion, and vulnerability and tech that amplifies these human strengths

• Skepticism of algorithmic influence on culture

• Skepticism of "influencer culture" paired with recognition that we all have to play in a saturated attention economy

• Celebration of the opportunity created by open source software, frameworks, etc.

• Guitar (and music creation in general) shouldn't be an enshittified subscription. Musicians and students should be able to invest in musical gear for the lifetime optionality it creates

• The local music economy is essential. Support local shops and pedal makers!

• Applying an engineering mindset to creative gear/tools that support a your artistic flow isn't overkill, but survival

• Artists and fans need their own fun places on the web!

• Connect with others! Collaboration often yields the best music, and paradoxically, frictionless isn't better here

• Anti-ableism: I am against systems that value lives differently based on disability. I think music is a way people can explore the effects of living in an ableist world, and it is also is a way that you can advocate for change in a world that forces people into contradictions

• Music is a valuable form of political "speech": not all music has to be or should be political, but political expression is a natural part of the human experience and music gives artists a structurally powerful medium for that.

Support the site with small (or not so small gear purchase)

I have an invested an nontrivial amount of time into building out the content for this site to try to make it a useful resource to guitarists and bassists. Servers also cost some money too. If you want to support the articles written here, you can purchase a one of the products below (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

• Ernie Ball Super Slinky Strings: What I use on my Super Strats. Single or 3 Pack

• Ernie Ball Regularly Slinky Strings: What I use on my explorer style guitars. Single or 3 Pack

• Lizard Spit Guitar Polish: everyone wants their guitar to look cool when you post it on social media. I use this polish to keep my guitars looking great!

• Sonicake Pocket Master: Mini multi-FX unit that now features support for Neural Amp Modeler with a recent firmware update. Very affordable! See my detailed review here!

• Pedaltrain nano: what would you do with a pedalboard small enough to fit under your desk without intruding when you aren't playing/recording? I built a mini pedalboard for bass to help me practice with less friction

• Focusrite Scarlet 2i2: While still being in Focusrite's entry-level Scarlett line, this interface gives you some room to grow with 2 inputs. Use multiple mics, switch seamlessly between guitar and vocals, and more. If you are new to this kind of gear and looking to get started check out my article comparing the Focusrite Scarlett Solo and 2i2.

Collaboration

I value opportunities to collaborate with fellow musicians, gear brands, music retailers, engineers, and studio owners on music, web/software, and content projects. Please see the contact page to get in touch!

While I love writing about music, my editorial independence is never for sale. I'll never recommend products that are designed to waste my readers' time. I think a lot about incentives, and I have given myself incentives to preserve my credibility here