I just returned home from a short vacation — where I intentionally didn’t bring a guitar or a computer. In the 48 hours since returning, I raced to get Coldplay’s new single, Atlas (for the upcoming Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack) arranged for classical guitar […]

How to Play Outro (M83) for Classical Guitar As soon as I posted M83’s Midnight City for classical guitar, a few people recommended Outro to me a possibility for this blog — specifically the piano bit at the end, which was used in the Cloud […]

I posted a version of Gustavo Santaolalla’s The Last Of Us theme in January of 2012. At that time, the only thing I had to go on, was an unmixed, un-mastered, and ultimately incomplete “leaked” version of what we now know as The Last Of […]

Both of my grandfathers passed away when I was very young. In my adult life, my de facto grandfather was actually (my wife’s) grandfather, David Mills. “Pap”, as we called him, passed away last week at the age of 91. Thankfully, his mind, body, and […]

This will be my final The Last Of Us post. I didn’t mean to spend half the summer transcribing one score, but (the game and soundtrack) were so popular, and I knew I could expedite the entire thing to this blog fairly quickly. If you’re […]

I’ve been so busy with my blog in the past few months, that I haven’t had the desire to write new music at all.  However, as I post the final The Last Of Us transcriptions (there’s probably one more), I’ve been inspired to play my […]

I am not a great guitar player; I’m merely a good guitar player. I would only consider myself “great” at transcribing and arranging music for the guitar — but only within my capacity to do so. For the most part, I’m a musician who happens […]

From an recent interview with Access WOBI, in which Gustavo Santaolalla was asked what advice he would give to a young artist: “I would focus on three fundamental qualities. First of all, discipline. The famous “80% perspiration and 20% inspiration”. The second thing is to […]

I sort-of created my own style for nylon string guitar.  I don’t have long fingernails (creepy), and I’ve never really learned the different right hand techniques.  For that matter, I can play a little bit of Cannon In D, and Fur Elise — but that’s […]

I imagine that Gustavo Santaolalla charges a serious fee for his composition work. The Quarantine Zone illustrates precisely why that fee is worth it — for any production company. When it comes to music, I value genius over prowess.  Guitar chops and fast licks really don’t […]

The soundtrack/score for Game of Thrones: Season 3 was released with a guitar version of the main theme called, For the Realm. I decided against doing my own arrangement of the Game of Thrones theme because the internet is saturated with them (and really good […]

“If you’re remarkable, then it’s likely that some people won’t like you. That’s part of the definition of remarkable. Nobody gets unanimous praise — ever.”  -Seth Godin This post will only appeal a very small minority of people — and that’s probably a good thing.  […]