Clocks To this day, Clocks is still mesmerizing. A truly compelling 4 bar progression: Eb Major, Bb Minor, Bb Minor, F Minor. That’s 3 minor shapes in a row — yet the riff sounds overwhelmingly positive — which is normally the domain of major chords. […]

“Gabriel’s Oboe” is the title theme for the 1986 film The Mission. The piece was written by Italian composer Ennio Morricone, and is widely considered to be one of his greatest musical achievements. The Mission is a period drama about the experience of a Jesuit […]

Yellow Recently, early Coldplay songs have made a comeback with my teenage guitar students. I had forgotten how extraordinary these songs were, specifically from the first two albums, Parachutes and Rush of Blood to the Head. With “Yellow” I wanted to do a fingerstyle arrangement […]

The Prince That Was Promised House of the Dragon, begins nearly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. The show portrays the reign of House Targaryen, and their children battling for control of the Iron Throne. The glorious music is from Game of […]

Invited “Invited” is of course, by multi-instrumentalist composer, Gustavo Santaolalla. Having won 2 Academy Awards, he’s widely considered one of the greatest film-composers of all time. This piece is originally played on Santaolalla’s signature instrument, the Ronroco (a small Andean guitar). The Last of Us […]

Leaves From The Vine Leaves From The Vine was recommended to me by one of my guitar students. This piece is from the original anime series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. I thought it was beautiful and poignant. There’s also a nice orchestrated version from the […]

Across the Stars This song is a beautiful motif by the greatest film composer of all time, John Williams. Across the Stars was recommended to me by one of my long time Intellimusica members, and it’s one of the all-time classic Star Wars themes. In […]

A Model of the Universe This has been one of my all time favorite pieces by the late composer, Johann Johannsson. While I love all of his music, The Theory of Everything, won the Golden Globe for ‘best score’ and is widely considered to be […]

Fleeting One of the things that gives Gustavo Santaolalla his je ne sais quoi is the element of surprise within his music. Often times, he’ll have a verse section that is slightly minor keyed, and emotionally ambiguous (perfect for film). Santaolalla will then proceed with […]

Rooftop Kiss This a beautiful piece of music from The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). It’s by the late composer, James Horner, who also composed the music for modern classic film’s like Titanic, Braveheart, and Legends of the Fall. The song is from a romantic and well […]

What Was I Made For? is the prototypical tune from Billie Eilish. However, the underpinnings show incredible musicality and restraint. Billie Eilish and her brother/writing partner FINNEAS created a very intimate song. I especially like Eilish’s choice of a delicate, breathy falsetto. She explains and demonstrates […]

El Paso El Paso is beautiful little étude for Spanish guitar. The piece is by composer, Harry Gregson-Williams, from the 2004 film, Man on Fire. The film starred Denzel Washington as “Creasey” a washed up former special forces operator, who takes a gig as the […]