ryuichi sakamoto

The Revenant

The Revenant is a 2015 American western survival film, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. It is based on Michael Punke’s 2002 novel of the same name, which is inspired by the real-life frontiersman Hugh Glass. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass, a frontiersman who is mauled by a bear and left for dead by his companions. He then embarks on a harrowing journey through the American wilderness to seek revenge on those who betrayed him.

The Revenant is a visually stunning film that features some of the most breathtaking cinematography ever seen in a Hollywood film.

This music in the Revenant says a lot about world-class director, Alejandro González Iñárritu. He’s clearly a minimalist when it comes to the music in his films – valuing open space between notes.

In addition, the music is just off the center axis. Whether it’s Gustavo Santaolalla’s score for Babel, or Ryuichi Sakamoto’s score for The Revenant — there’s an unusual mix of notes and a density to the chords. I personally value music and movies that disrupt any notion of what’s “normal”. The Revenant is totally in my wheelhouse.

How to play The Revenant Atmospheric for classical guitar

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Ryuichi Sakamoto’s theme for The Revenant is so unexpected. There’s two chords then nothing. Two more chords then nothing. There’s tension, then emptiness.

I’m playing The Revenant Atmospheric variation from the soundtrack. It still has the stops and the open space — but the intervals are much closer together. The Revenant Title Theme has the wide open 8 second intervals — whereas Atmospheric is more around 4 seconds.

The Revenant theme was tough to get. It’s not too difficult to play, but from a transcribing standpoint, the chord voicings were difficult to hear and express on the guitar. I’m very proud of this arrangement to say the least.

The guitar tab is a single page long.

[I’m using my thumb to fret the low note of the chord shape at 0:44 of the video.]

Enjoy this! The guitar tab is available below:

**The Revenant Atmospheric for classical guitar

The Revenant Atmospheric is played in standard tuning.

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