You might not know Andrew Synowiec's name, but chances are you've heard his guitar playing. Heck, chances are you heard his guitar playing this week.

Synowiec makes his living as an LA session guitarist, with a list of credits as long as the California coastline. Among those credits: you can hear him on the score for pretty much every recent Disney film (Frozen, CoCo, Zootopia), as well superhero flicks like Logan and Spider-Man: Far From Home, TV shows like The Simpsons and The Good Place, as well as on records with recording artists like The Who, HAIM, P!nk, Nick Jonas, Donna Summer, and so many more.

A couple weeks back, Kirk sat down with Andrew to talk about his career as a session player, how he finds a good balance when doing creative work for hire, his approach to practicing and guitar tone, how he designed and built his home studio, and why he continues to make the time for his own personal music projects.

FEATURED/DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE:

• Guy Lacour etude No. 4 • as performed by David Hernando Vitores: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyGo9NmZUNw • Wes Montgomery on “No Blues” from Smokin’ at the Half Note w/ the Wynton Kelly Trio • , 1965 • “Where The Streets Have No Name” by U2 from The Joshua Tree • , 1987 • “Sad But True” by Metallica from Metallica • , 1991 • “Blood and Thunder” by Mastodon from Leviathan • , 2004 • “Last Goodbye” by Jeff Buckley from Grace • , 1994 • “Already Taken,” “Second Story,” and “Humor Me” by Andrew Synowiec from Second Story • , 2019 • “Jonkoloni” by Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba from Segu Blue • , 2006, feat. the Ngoni • “Salsa Caliente (Versión Aumentada)” by Meridian Brothers from Desperanza • , 2012 • “You Are Young” by Keane from Strangeland • , 2012 • A video with Andrew • about his work and his home studio • A Spotify playlist • Andrew maintains featuring things he's played on Andrew's website • , with lots more credits and other info

STRONG MERCH

Check out the Strong Songs merch store for some cool t-shirts, mugs, totes, and more: store.strongsongspodcast.com

JOIN THE STRONG SONGS DISCORD

The Strong Songs Discord server is now open to everyone! Come join the conversation and get (or give) some music recs: https://discord.gg/GCvKqAM8Sm

KEEP IT SOCIAL

Follow Strong Songs on Twitter: @StrongSongs

And find Kirk on Twitter @Kirkhamilton and on Instagram at @Kirk_Hamilton

NEWSLETTER/MAILING LIST

Sign up for Kirk's mailing list to start getting newsletters with music recommendations, links, news, and extra thoughts on new Strong Songs episodes: https://kirkhamilton.substack.com/subscribe

STRONG PLAYLISTS

Kirk has condensed his Strong Songs picks into a single new list, which you can find on Spotify and Apple Music, and YouTube Music.

SUPPORT STRONG SONGS!

A huge thank-you to all of Strong Songs' Patreon supporters! For more on how to support the creation of this show, go here: https://Patreon.com/StrongSongs

You can also make a one-time Paypal donation here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/kirkhamiltonmusic

FEBRUARY 2022 WHOLE-NOTE PATRONS

Daniel Hannon-Barry RR Prince M. Levy-Benitez Elliot Rosen Ashley Hoag Mark and Michelle Kelsair Rob Bosworth Kyle Cooke Donald Mackie Melissa Osborne Christopher Miller Tim Byrne Jamie White Christopher McConnell Joshua Jarvis Niko Joe Laska Laurie Acreman Ken Hirsh Jez Melanie Andrich Jenness Gardner Simon Cammell Guinevere Boostrom Narelle Horn Bill Rosinger Erin Aidan Coughlan Jeanneret Manning Family Four Doug Paton Dave Sharpe Sami Samhuri AccessViolation Ryan Torvik Merlin Mann Glenn Jim Chokey Andre Bremer Mark Schechter Dave Florey

FEBRUARY 2022 HALF-NOTE PATRONS

Portland Eye Care Adam Ray Anupama Raghavan Demetri Detsaridis Carrie Schneider Alenka Grealish Anne Gerry Richard Sneddon David Judson Julian Roleff Melissa Gallardo Janice Berry Doreen Carlson mtwolf David McDarby Abigail Duffield Raphadavid Wendy Gilchrist Lisa Turner Paul Wayper Miles Forman Dennis M Edwards Jeffrey Ferris Bruno Gaeta Kenneth Jung ben Adam Stofsky Zak Remer Rishi Sahay Jason Reitman Greg Burgess Ailie Fraser Simon Prieto Paul McGreal Karen Arnold NATALIE MISTILIS Josh Singer Phino DeLeon Schloss Edward J. MD Amy Lynn Thornsen Adam W Kelli Brockington Stephen Rawlings Ben Machta Victoria Yu Kevin Rivers Brad Clark Christopher Michael J. Cunningham Kari Kirk Mark Boggs mino capossela Steve Paquin Mary Schoenmaker Sarah David Joske Emma Sklar Bernard Khoo David Blackman Robert Heuer Matthew Golden Brian Meldrum David Noah Geraldine Butler Richard Cambier Madeleine Mader Timothy Dougherty Jason Pratt Caroline Miller Abbie Berg Sam Norton Nicole Schleicher Doug Belew Dermot Crowley Achint Srivastava Ryan Rairigh Michael Berman Olivia Bishop John Gisselquist Elaine Martin Kouroth Bonnie Prinsen Sharon Tree Belinda Mcgrath-steer Liz Seger Eoin de Burca Kevin Potter M Shane Borders Pete Simm Susan Plein Dallas Hockley Jana J Jason Gerry Nathan Gouwens Will Dwyer Alethea Lee Lauren Reay Eric Prestemon Cookies250 Damian Brady Angela Livingstone JeffyThanadros David Friedman Phillip Dalton Sarah Sulan Diane Hughes Kenneth Tiong Jo Sutherland Michael Casner Michael York Barb Courtney Derek Bender Jen Small Lowell Meyer Etele Illes Stephen Tsoneff Lorenz Schwarz Wen Jack Sjogren Geoff Golden Robyn Fraser Pascal Rueger Randy Souza JC Clare Holberton Diane Turner Tom Coleman Tijs Soete Mark Perry Dhu Wik Mel Eric Helm Jake Roberts Bill Fuller Steven Maron Michael Flaherty Jarrod Schindler Zoe Little Caro Field michael bochner Duncan Naomi Watson David Cushman Alexander Chris K Gavin Doig Sam Fenn Tanner Morton AJ Schuster Jennifer Bush David Stroud Amanda Furlotti Andrew Baker Matt Gaskell Jules Bailey Eero Wahlstedt Andrew Fair Bill Thornton Brian Amoebas Brett Douville Jeffrey Olson Matt Betzel Mueller Nate from Kalamazoo Melanie Stivers Richard Toller Alexander Polson Earl Lozada Jon O’Keefe Justin McElroy Arjun Sharma James Johnson Andrew Lee Kevin Morrell Kevin Pennyfeather Nicholas Schechter Emily Williams