Intellimusica

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

[Updated from 2019] Like Real People Do Irish singer/songwriter, Hozier, is an extraordinary talent, and visionary musician. His voice is a breathy, rounded baritone. His guitar playing is comprised of an avant-garde, alternate tuned fingerstyle. If Hozier’s lyrics were stand alone poetry — he’d be […]

The Light of Hidden Flowers My thematic inspiration for this piece was love sonnet XVII, by Pablo Neruda. Specifically this line: “I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off. I love you […]

Her Life Was Over, by Gustavo Santaolalla, is a short fingerstyle motif from the soundtrack of Wild Life. This film is a documentary about life of Doug Tompkins (founder of North Face) and his wife, Kris. Although the documentary is not widely known, the guitar […]

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 […]

Theme for a Father Lost at Sea This piece is from Netflix’s Outer Banks, Season 3. The composer is Fil Eisler. It’s a beautiful, cinematic guitar piece that found it’s way onto my Spotify recommendation’s. While the beginning of the passage is relatively simple, and […]

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 […]

Innocent Kids, by New Invisible Joy If you’ve read my bio, you might know that I was in a touring Alt-rock band called, New Invisible Joy. We operated (mostly) from the late 90’s well into the early 2000s. We were the real deal. Here’s a […]

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 […]