“Never let your head hang down. Never give up, sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains — if you don’t pray when the sun shines.” – Richard M. Nixon I am fascinated with people who find their ultimate success […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Rooftop Kiss materialized into beautiful guitar piece. Looking through the score for The Amazing Spider-Man, I immediately gravitated to Rooftop Kiss on it’s name alone — recalling the rooftop scene from Superman (1978) and it’s iconic music. The second page of the transcription contains a couple difficult […]

Like many of you, I find myself still listening to the big three from the movie Drive. I particularly enjoy listening to Nightcall — oddly enough, while I’m driving — at night. Having listened to Nightcall dozens of times, I couldn’t help but wonder what it […]

Photo by Vruyr Martirosyan | Unsplash Riding Horses (This post and tab have been updated as of 8/31/20) Riding Horses is one of my favorite selections from Gustavo Santaolalla’s iconic, Academy Award winning score for Brokeback Mountain. It’s truly one Gustavo Santaolalla’s most beautiful melodies. […]

Photo: Mauro Bruno | Otra Cancion [Updated: August 2017] Lima Lima is one of my favorite tracks from Gustavo Santaolalla’s The Motorcycle Diaries soundtrack. Rather than (his usual) simple playing approach, Lima really displays Santaolalla’s guitar prowess. I had an opportunity to see Gustavo Santaolalla play live […]

[Updated September 2017] Biutiful Biutiful stars Javier Bardem and is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (The Revenant, Birdman). Biutiful is a love story between a father and his children. Uxbal (Bardem) is a conflicted man who struggles to reconcile fatherhood, guilt, and mortality amidst the […]

The Motorcycle Diaries: masterpiece score by Gustavo Santaolalla [Updated post and tab: May 2017] The Motorcycle Diaries The Motorcycle Diaries is considered to be one of Gustavo Santaolalla’s greatest film scores. Film synopsis (edited from the official Focus Features site): The Motorcycle Diaries, depicts the […]

[Updated for 2017] Things We Lost in the Fire, is a 2007 drama starring Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro: A recent widow (Berry) invites her husband’s troubled best friend (Del Toro) to live with her and her two children. As he gradually turns his […]