Mary Magdalene (2018) Mary Magdalene is a 2018 film directed by Garth Davis. It stars Rooney Mara, and Joaquin Phoenix. This is one of Johann Johannsson’s final film scores before his sudden death in 2018. This film dispels the myth (by Pope Gregory in 591) […]

Their First Time Their First Time, by composer Adam Taylor, is the standout piece from the Hulu original series, The Handmaid’s Tale. I love the simplicity and repetition of this motif. My hope is to pair back my own songwriting to something this sparse and […]

Morning Morning is the central theme from August: Osage County — a highly underrated soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla. Much like Brokeback Mountain, the film’s score has Santaolalla exploring uniquely American themes. Known for his minimalism, Santaolalla uses a subtle, often sparse approach that acts as […]

Aniron I saw The Lord of the Rings movies years ago and thought they were breathtaking. I recall The Hobbit films more recently, and they were equally as good. Both series of films have spectacular music by composer, Howard Shore. This piece is actually called […]

Tomorrow I’ll Leave Blaviken For Good It’s well known that The Witcher soundtrack is one of the best ever. The Netflix series is extremely music forward, as a central character, Jaskier (played by Joey Batey) is minstrel who follows Geralt of Rivia on his adventures. […]

Valhalla Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has a really strong melody that was easy to capture as a short guitar arrangement. It turned out to be a perfect étude; a short musical composition, designed as an exercise to improve technique and demonstrate skill. I love these short […]

Intro by The xx Within my lifestyle as a guitar teacher and guitar blogger, nothing is more apparent to me, then people’s lack of self-confidence, or perceived status, as a guitarist. I’m not immune either. However, it’s important to realize that it’s often your identity […]

But for the Fall of Rain This is piece of music I wrote for Adam Taylor’s micro-short animation, But for the Fall of Rain. [Parents, although it’s an animation, there is an F-bomb in there.] Adam is a Hollywood based editor and filmmaker. The voice […]

Soft Descent | Inextinguishable Flames While Inextinguishable Flames is the prototypical riff from The Last of Us Part II — Soft Descent is more reminiscent of Gustavo Santaolalla’s work on The Motorcycle Diaries. The latter is quite possibly his greatest soundtrack. With this piece, the […]

Only Solitude I adore this piece of music from Gustavo Santaolalla’s Monsterland soundtrack. So creative, so beautiful. While it’s actually played on a violin, I reimagined it as a solo guitar piece in Santaolalla’s signature, minimalist style. You might also like to play… The Haunting […]

The Haunting of Bly Manor This performance is musical suite comprising the central themes from The Haunting of Bly Manor. The Newton Brothers (Andy Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart) have really outdone themselves in dramatic fashion. As with its predecessor (The Haunting of Hill House) […]

Everything In Its Right Place It’s hard to believe that Radiohead’s Kid-A was released exactly 24 years ago. The record is still one of the most futuristic albums you’ll ever hear. The opening track, “Everything In Its Right Place”, was also used as the opening of […]