Photo by Max Böhme | Unsplash

The Apology Song

The Apology Song (Si Puedes Perdonar) was composed by Gustavo Santaolalla for the 2014 animated film ‘The Book of Life’. It’s a beautiful ballad about the power of forgiveness and redemption. The song is sung by Diego Luna, who voices the character of Manolo Sánchez. To me, it was instantly the most compelling guitar piece from ‘The Book of Life’ soundtrack.

This is one of my favorite compositions by Gustavo Santaolalla. The song’s instrumentation is sparce, with only an acoustic guitar accompanying Luna’s voice. This simplicity gives the song a sense of intimacy and vulnerability.

I performed the guitar line of ‘The Apology Song’ on this blog years ago. I always wanted to revamp that performance and thread the vocal through the chords for a true fingerstyle/solo-guitar composition. I hope you enjoy it!

You might also like to play…

Maya and the Three: Zats the Prince of Bats (Gustavo Santaolalla) + TAB

The Last of Us Part II: Longing (Gustavo Santaolalla) + TAB

The House (Netflix): This House Is… (Jarvis Cocker & Gustavo Santaolalla) + TAB

How to play The Apology Song | fingerstyle guitar

The guitar tab for this piece is beautifully written across 3 pages. The song is deceptively easy to play — as there are no difficult chord shapes. However, it sounds very sophisticated — so it will be a nice addition to the repertoire of all guitar players.

Enjoy, the guitar tab is available below:

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

Intro, Main 2x, End

On the second go around of the “Main” section, follow the arrow at the bottom of page 2. This will take you to the End section of the song.

**Gustavo Santaolalla: The Apology Song | fingerstyle guitar

The Apology Song is played in standard tuning with a capo on the 5th fret.

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