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
- Pick your piece – Choose the piece (or section) that's been haunting you. The one you've been avoiding. That's the one.
- Share your goal – Post in the forum thread and tell us what you're finishing and why it got abandoned in the first place.
- Post your progress – Share updates along the way — rough takes, slow-tempo run-throughs, the gnarly passage you finally cracked.
- 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. 🎸⚔️
218 replies
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Didn't expect to see this much going on already — the challenge doesn't even officially start until Monday! 😄 Really nice to see playing, encouragement, and a few stories about pieces that have been sitting on the shelf for a while.
— glad you're all here. 🙌
Use the weekend to get organized, plan your practice, pick your battles — and then let's make a real splash when things officially kick off Monday. Looking forward to it. 🎸⚔️
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Gilardino Study #31 Theme and Variations
Wow! This opening caught me by surprise. I have kept checking periodically but somehow missed the beginning, not that I was ready to post until now.
This is a full recording of the #31 Study from last challenge, so I figured that qualifies for the Unfinished Business category.
There are still my requisite slips, blunders and lapses but, for the most part, it is reasonably well done. I find the arpeggiated variation really difficult to play convincingly, though I have heard some very successful versions (Attademo and Porqueddu). I was surprised how difficult this study was for me to get this to a reasonable level. But then, I am always surprised to wake up every morning.
I intend to keep working on this but I have already started on my next project. Much of what I will be doing for this challenge will be revising and resurrecting previous repertoire that have fallen by the wayside.