Parting Ways

Gustavo Santaolalla’s iconic guitar motifs, which are essential to the The Last of Us games, form the backbone of the HBO series’ score. While many of the original tracks have been adapted—often revised, shortened, and retitled—Santaolalla has also woven in brand new compositions. One such new piece, “Parting Ways,” stands out as an over five-minute fingerstyle guitar ballad nestled within the soundtrack of The Last of Us season 2.

For my rendition of Parting Ways, I’ve trimmed some of the repetition, distilling the piece down to a more concise 3:35. Much like “The Choice” and Gustavo Santaolalla’s cult favorite “The Journey,” there’s a surprising and powerful major lift in the chorus section. I believe this unexpected shift is key to Santaolalla’s emotional appeal, creating moments that truly anchor the music in your psyche.

You might also like to play…

The Choice | fingerstyle guitar + TAB

The Journey | fingerstyle guitar + TAB

The Last of Us Part II | fingerstyle guitar + TAB

How to play Parting Ways | fingerstyle guitar

The guitar tab for this arrangement is beautifully written across 3 pages. I recommend this piece for intermediate guitar players and up. Enjoy! The guitar tab is available below:

My song structure looks like this, in accordance with the guitar tab:

Verse, Chorus

Verse, Chorus 2x, End

[guitar tab] **The Last of Us HBO: Parting Ways (Gustavo Santaolalla) | fingerstyle guitar

This piece is tuned  in a Drop D tuning. Your tuning will look like this from low to high: D A D G B E.