I’m still pumped about Bajofondo’s excellent performance in Pittsburgh last week. I find myself listening to their new album, Presente with an even greater depth of understanding –– having now seen Bajofondo live and watched Gustavo Santaolalla’s unique guitar wizardry from about two feet away. (Note: I […]

Intro, from Bajofondo’s newest release Presente, is originally from the film Les Yeux De Sa Mere (His Mother’s Eyes). Although Les Yeux De Sa Mere is little known in the states, I find it to be one of Gustavo Santaolalla’s best scores — if you’re into […]

I was really hoping to do something along the lines of Tom Farrell’s Hermano, from the Casa de me Padre soundtrack. That is STILL one of my favorite finger-picked songs to play. But alas, I’ve gotta go where the music takes me, and Luis Bacalov’s La […]

I was about 12 years old when the video for Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game was released, and at that age, I was not likely to forget it. Shot in black and white by photographer Herb Ritts, and featuring a semi-nude (and still looking good) supermodel, […]

I can’t seem to figure out if Ennio Morricone composed new songs for Django Unchained, or if Quentin Tarantino is borrowing them from Morricone’s previous work, Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970). Be as it may, Django Unchained’s Sister Sara is a nifty, spaghetti-western guitar riff that should […]

Many props to Quentin Tarantino for still putting so much emphasis on soundtracks. This time around his Django Unchained soundtrack/score is a highly stylized mix of old-school spaghetti western, retro R&B, and hip-hop. Rather than the all encompassing interpretations I normally do — this can be considered an instrumental version of […]

Misty Mountains is clearly the most popular and compelling piece of music from The Hobbit score. I couldn’t help but imagine how this low, Celtic sounding, Dwarf a-Capella would sound on a guitar. The Hobbit: How to Play ‘Misty Mountains’ Misty Mountains is tuned one […]

I have not yet seen Cloud Atlas, but a quick scan of the soundtrack on iTunes revealed some excellent pieces of music, most notably Prelude: The Atlas March and it’s end-credits counterpart, Cloud Atlas End Title. The Atlas March is played in standard tuning, and […]

Even before Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Babel, Iguazu was probably the best track from Gustavo Santaolalla’s 1998 solo album Ronroco. Since then, Iguazu has been Santaolalla’s most donated organ, used in film’s like: The Insider, Yes, Fast Food Nation, and Babel. Originally played on the ronroco, […]

My observation is that the iPhone (of which I’m an owner and a fan) has created an entire generation of “walkers” — or as the zombies are referred to in AMC’s The Walking Dead. We see them everywhere, and you might be one: a human-being […]

Extreme Ways is the default theme song for the Bourne franchise — specifically the conclusion of each movie. Just when you think Jason Bourne or (in Legacy’s case) Arron Cross has disappeared — the sampled violins strike and Bourne is on the move. To memorize […]

Comprised from a collection of  instruments and guitars, Apertura serves as a powerful opening to The Motorcycle Diaries. This post is an all-in-one arrangement for solo guitar of Gustavo Santaolalla’s classic song. I use my middle finger to “swipe” the high notes in the beginning (and […]