Week 1 - A New Hope 🌟

Hello tonebuddies! 🎶

A long time ago, in a practice room far, far away... you picked up a piece. You were excited. You cracked it open, worked through the first page, maybe the second — and then something happened. Life struck back. A new piece caught your eye. The fingering felt impossible. The score quietly migrated to the bottom of a stack where it's been sitting ever since. 🎸

This May, we're bringing back the Unfinished Business Challenge — and we're kicking things off on May the 4th, because what better day to summon the Force and finally finish what you started? Every guitarist has an abandoned piece (or three). This is your chance to rescue one from the Sarlacc pit of your music folder and bring it home.

This challenge is open to all levels. Whether you left off at bar 8 or bar 80, whether it's a Bach fugue or a beginner study that got away — if there's a piece waiting for its return, it belongs here.


🌟 The Challenge

Revisit a composition you started but never finished — and this time, see it through. It might be:

  • 🎯 A piece you abandoned because it felt too hard
  • 🎯 Something you got halfway through before a new obsession took over
  • 🎯 A passage or section you never quite nailed
  • 🎯 A piece you learned years ago but never polished or performed

Share the story of why it got left behind and what it means to finally complete it. That's half the magic of this challenge.


📅 Challenge Dates

Start: May 4
End: June 12
Watch Party: June 12


🎥 How to Participate

  1. Pick your piece – Choose the piece (or section) that's been haunting you. The one you've been avoiding. That's the one.
  2. Share your goal – Post in the forum thread and tell us what you're finishing and why it got abandoned in the first place.
  3. Post your progress – Share updates along the way — rough takes, slow-tempo run-throughs, the gnarly passage you finally cracked.
  4. Engage with your fellow rebels – Cheer each other on, leave constructive feedback, and celebrate every piece that makes it across the finish line.

Bonus points: Share a recording of your favorite performance of the piece you're revisiting — the version that first made you fall in love with it.


🎬 Watch Party — June 12

The Watch Party on June 12 will feature recorded submissions from everyone who completed their Unfinished Business. Make sure to submit your final performance videos so we can celebrate your finished piece together! 🎉


💡 Need a Little Help from a Jedi Master?

If the reason you left the piece unfinished is still giving you trouble, tonebase is full of lessons, masterclasses, and courses from world-class guitarists ready to help you through the tricky parts. Search for the piece, the composer, or the technique — chances are, there's a Master ready to help.


May the 4th be with you, tonebuddies. Let's finish what we started. 🎸⚔️

271 replies

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    • Amateur with too little time and bingeplayer with sore arms and fingers
    • Lars_KjollerHansen
    • 2 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Well, well..  Unfinished business could be an endless recital..

    I m a little ambivalent about the pressure of these challenges .. but this pressure may give me the opportunity to reconnect with this Bach Gavotte I never really got through it in the challenge 3 years  ago and haven’t played it since .

    For 2023 In a new year Martins newyear resolution post I wrote I might go got Gerhards fantasia .. and now I will finally go for it .. it really contrasts with Bach. I have primarily concentrated on getting the notes right .. rhythm sure need some consideration.….
    .. Yes , I memorize pieces fast around 2% in ..both good and bad .. I am a bad sight reader.. also hate to wear glasses when I play

    There are so many elegant videos up already..so a little embarrassing with these early takes .. runthrus ..but isn’t. that really the true deal with the challenges. 
    ‘I hope.. and there is a chance .. with 5 more weeks that I will improve.. if I can keep away from pieces that I would rather play.!

      • Ron.3
      • 10 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Great start Lars - not familiar with the Roberto Gerhard Fantasia. Look forward to hearing more of it through the challenge!

      • Amateur with too little time and bingeplayer with sore arms and fingers
      • Lars_KjollerHansen
      • 8 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       There is a lesson on the piece on Tonebase, that’s where I know it from.

      You are doing very well well after  just 3 years. Great Catedral.

      • Amateur with too little time and bingeplayer with sore arms and fingers
      • Lars_KjollerHansen
      • 8 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you and excited to hear you from down under

      • Amateur with too little time and bingeplayer with sore arms and fingers
      • Lars_KjollerHansen
      • 8 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       I am not really away I just don’t make so much presence. but I do enjoy your progress and your keeping practice diary alive 👌

      • Amateur with too little time and bingeplayer with sore arms and fingers
      • Lars_KjollerHansen
      • 8 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       my dream is to do as good a playing and recording and video as you do consequently 👍🏻.Hope to one day!

      • BLaflamme
      • 8 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       You're too kind... but ideally better! 🙏

    • BLaflamme
    • 10 hrs ago
    • Reported - view
     said:
    Not a vampire just the Highlander

     Yeah... a lot better!

    • Eric
    • 10 hrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Ponce - Chanson (May 9)

      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 10 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Wow! That was spectacular, Eric. Absolutely beautiful. You have really been able to put this piece together in a very convincing performance. Previously, the triplets (quasi trills) were more of an intrusion. But in this performance you have made them an integral part of the music that clearly are derived from the previous phrase. This was masterful.

      Bravo!

      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 10 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Really great playing, Eric. Pretty much flawless, technically, and musically very sensitive too. (Great dynamic control!) A real pleasure to listen to!

      • Dale_Needles
      • 8 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Excellent performance and a perfect fit to your tone and style. What's next?

      • Reinhard
      • 5 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       beautiful. I like your  tone or better said the variety of your tones and dynamics. 

      • Retired
      • Andre_Bernier
      • 4 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Bravo Eric, so much progress in so little time. Very impressive.

    • Retired
    • Jim_king
    • 9 hrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Thought I would join in this Challenge since the group could use a bit more late beginner/early intermediate type pieces.  I am going with Tarrega's Study in C.  Normally there is a repeat of the A and B sections, but I played here without the repeats. It's a piece that I have recently learned, but there is still much work to be done including building up the dynamics and creating a better balance of the arpeggios in order to bring out the melody.  I'm looking forward to see how far I can get over the duration of the Challenge.

      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 9 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Great start on this piece by Tarrega, Jim. You demonstrate a good command of this work. I look forward to seeing your progress.

      • Retired
      • Andre_Bernier
      • 4 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Great to see you back in the challenge. This is a very good choice and you already memorized each sections. You will definitively have the chance to polish every aspects in the next 5 weeks.

      Bravo

    • Retired
    • mgshirk
    • 7 hrs ago
    • Reported - view

    First week of practice, decided to resurrect Se Ela Perguntar from the ashes. After listening to audio, it needs a little work to resolve missed notes, bad barre's and just the sound in general is bad. This was recorded on my phone, so the sound will be a little compressed. I'll keep working on it and then record it with better mics. 

      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 6 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       That was a beautiful snippet, Michael. It took me several listens to realize this just a fragment and not a problem with my browser. Your tone and phrasing are really good in this segment. I am really interested in hearing your progress.

      • Retired
      • Andre_Bernier
      • 4 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       I agree with Jack. This looks like a great start.👍

    • Reinhard
    • 5 hrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Since I have no finished pieces it was easy to find one, but hard to choose one for this challenge. I startet to learn "letter from home" 14 months ago when i did not yet play on a classical guitar. It is originally from Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays but classical guitarist Jason Vieaux recorded it too. This had a lot of impact to start my interest in classical guitar. I abandoned the piece soon since i started to discover the classical repertoire. My goal now is

    to play it with a steady pace, better flow, more legato and better tone. 

    https://youtu.be/wPCjdc7Bvfs?is=yWfyTfdBMjPKcDel

      • Retired
      • Andre_Bernier
      • 4 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Very nice piece and a very good start. Well done 👍

Content aside

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