The recent detection of a black hole binary inspiral has ushered in a new direction in science, namely gravitational wave astronomy. This field has the potential to shed light on astrophysics, cosmology as well as nuclear physics. However, the utility of the observations is predicated on our ability to make precise theoretical predictions with which we can perform parameters extractions. In these lectures I will present a systematic method of calculating templates using effective field theory techniques developed for studying QCD. I will explicitly show how to calculate wave forms for spinning compact objects. In so doing several interesting formal issues will also be discussed including: How modern amplitude methods can be utilized to find solutions to Einstein' s equations directly from the S-matrix, and the generation of a sum rule which must be obeyed by the short distance degrees of freedom that are ultimately responsible for the bulk behavior of black hole horizons.