[no spoilers] The Bone Temple Hildur Guðnadóttir is a cellist and composer who has become a leading figure in post-classical and film music. She represents a bit of a funny paradox: she is a beautiful, cheerful Icelandic woman who is best known for creating unrelenting, […]

Amores Perros The 2000 Mexican film Amores Perros, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, is a powerful and gritty triptych of interconnected stories set against the backdrop of Mexico City. Its emotional intensity is significantly heightened by the masterful score by Argentine composer, Gustavo Santaolalla. Santaolalla’s […]

The Glinting of Waking Fields I wrote the “The Glinting of Waking Fields” to evoke a morning’s gentle beginning. The song represents a landscape in the first light of dawn, with dew or sunlight creating a shimmering, sparkling effect across fields as they come to […]

When I Sleep, Your Eyes Close I wrote and recorded this song in 2016. It was intended for a film (that I was ultimately fired from, lol). The song is very easy to play, as I tried to pick the low hanging fruit and not […]

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 […]

Wake Me Up When September Ends (Jonathan’s Version) I couldn’t stand Green Day. I respected the band as musicians and songwriters, but as a guitar teacher, they’ve been the bane of my existence for 30 years. A constant deluge of ever changing power chord riffs […]

The Last of Us (HBO) The HBO series “The Last of Us” is a critically acclaimed adaptation of the popular video game. Contributing to the show’s atmosphere, is the soundtrack by composer Gustavo Santaolalla. Having also composed the music for the original game, Santaolalla’s work […]

21 Grams I completely lifted my right-hand technique from composer, Gustavo Santaolalla. He effectively arpeggiates chord shapes by rolling through them with his fingers. This is a beautiful way to voice chords, and pretty easy to do with a little practice. The best way to […]

Interstellar This must be Hans Zimmer’s greatest complete score. While The Dark Knight, and Gladiator have their selections — the entire score of Interstellar is wondrous and immensely listenable. The central theme of Interstellar has a few iterations within the soundtrack. My fingerstyle version is […]