Mare of Easttown Mare of Easttown was an awesome limited series on HBO. I was emailing back and forth with my friend Derek about the finale this week. His synoptic take was better than anything I could write: “Mare of Easttown was a stunning piece […]

Calmamente Calmamente is from the soundtrack of Qhapaq Ñan — Gustavo Santaolalla’s docuseries about the pre-Columbian ‘Inca road system’, which winds for 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) through the Andean region. It’s a serene song that exemplifies Santaolalla’s minimalist ability to extract the maximum from a few […]

Their First Time Their First Time, by composer Adam Taylor, is the standout piece from the Hulu original series, The Handmaid’s Tale. I love the simplicity and repetition of this motif. My hope is to pair back my own songwriting to something this sparse and […]

Intro by The xx Within my lifestyle as a guitar teacher and guitar blogger, nothing is more apparent to me, then people’s lack of self-confidence, or perceived status, as a guitarist. I’m not immune either. However, it’s important to realize that it’s often your identity […]

Only Solitude I adore this piece of music from Gustavo Santaolalla’s Monsterland soundtrack. So creative, so beautiful. While it’s actually played on a violin, I reimagined it as a solo guitar piece in Santaolalla’s signature, minimalist style. You might also like to play… The Haunting […]

Interstellar This must be Hans Zimmer’s greatest complete score. While Man of Steel, The Dark Knight, and Gladiator have their selections — the entire score of Interstellar is wondrous and immensely listenable. This piece is known as, First Step and Day One from the soundtrack. […]

A Christmas Carol (2019) “What was the purpose of our gross accumulation?” – Jacob Marley A Christmas Carol (2019) is a British miniseries (starring Guy Pearce) based on the 1843 novella of the same name by Charles Dickens. It aired on FX in the United […]

Daily Battles Motherless Brooklyn is a 2019 American neo-noir crime film written, produced and directed by Edward Norton. It’s based on the 1999 novel (of the same name) by Jonathan Lethem. Motherless Brooklyn is set in New York City in 1957. The film follows a […]

Isolated System I love this instrumental piece by Muse. It worked perfectly as the theme song for Brad Pitt’s World War Z in 2013. Using it was a brilliant stroke — as it set a tenor of unease, right from the beginning of the film. […]

Bird Box I just watched Bird Box (Netflix) and I loved it. Obviously the film draws comparisons to The Happening and A Quiet Place but it still feels highly original. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross bring the melancholy and creeping dread with their typical sound. […]

Revelation I love this song. Revelation is so minimalist — specifically the “vinyl” version from the Boy Erased soundtrack. I used the vinyl version as a template for this guitar arrangement. The power of Revelation is in it’s subtlety; the unprocessed (unproduced) delicate way Troye Sivan sings. […]

Leave No Trace Leave No Trace is about a father (Ben Foster) and daughter who live an off-the-grid existence in a National Forest Park/nature preserve near Portland, Oregon. They rarely making contact with the outside world. However, a small mistake tips them off to authorities, […]