Uninvited I know, this was an odd choice for me. However, having worked out this rendition for a guitar student — I just had to post it on on this blog — it turned out great. City of Angels (Nick Cage, Meg Ryan) is one […]

Prospector Arrives In the American classic, There Will be Blood — a ruthless oil prospector, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) moves to oil-rich California. Using his adopted son HW to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for […]

Sendero I originally posed this song in 2012, but I’m much better at sound quality now and wanted to update Sendero for 2018. I love how Gustavo Santaolalla stays tight to the beat, almost like fingerstyle funk. As per usual, he’s only working with a […]

The Wings The Wings completes my arrangements for the Oscar winning Brokeback Mountain Soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla. This song is what initially drew me into Gustavo Santaolalla’s film score work, way back in 2005. The film was very controversial then, and I remember cleaning my […]

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs I’m a huge Coen Brothers fan, and the The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Netflix) is one of their best. It’s really the Coen Bros unleashed — as Netflix doesn’t have the same constraints as a Hollywood studio. My favorite of […]

A Game of Croquet A Game of Croquet is one of Johann Johannsson’s best pieces from his Golden Globe winning score for, The Theory of Everything. The piano arpeggios of Croquet did not lend themselves well to the guitar. However, the overall chord progression did. […]

Brokeback Mountain 3 Brokeback Mountain 3 is an achingly beautiful piece of music from Gustavo Santaolalla’s Academy award winning Brokeback Mountain score – most of which was played on a single solitary acoustic guitar. ‘Wings’ is the most memorable theme from Brokeback Mountain. However, the […]

Billie Eilish My job as a private guitar teacher keeps me young. I’m 41 at the moment, and long past the age where most people take in new music. My peers have retreated to the music of the college years, only popping their head above […]

The Landing First Man, is the first-person account of Neil Armstrong’s moon landing. The movie explores the cost, sacrifice, and danger of the NASA mission from 1961 to 1969. The Landing, by composer Justin Hurwitz is arguably best piece of music from First Man. It’s essentially the same tense motif […]

Hairclip Hairclip is the guitar variant of the True Blood “love theme” by composer Nathan Barr. True Blood was a GREAT show, and I always thought the score was exceptional. The music had a slight Celtic/Appellation theme to it, that worked really well in the […]

Fields of Gold Fields of Gold has long been one of my favorite songs from Sting. It first appeared on his 4th studio album, Ten Summoner’s Tales (1993). In his book Lyrics By Sting, the singer described the view from his 16th-century Wiltshire manor house, which […]

All Gone (No Escape) All Gone (No Escape) is originally an orchestral piece. It’s arguably the most achingly beautiful selection from The Last of Us soundtrack. It was fun to imagine what Gustavo Santaolalla might’ve played on guitar. The piece turned out to be a […]