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. 🎸⚔️

224 replies

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    • Civil law notary with a passion for music
    • Bart_Versteeg
    • 3 days ago
    • Reported - view

    And this is the second piece. It's from the same book (Stunde der Gitarre). Ferdinando Carulli's Alla Polacca. It is very unfinished, I would say it is a rough sketch of the piece. I played it quite well last century, and it's time to learn it again! 

      • Civil law notary with a passion for music
      • Bart_Versteeg
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Well, Ron, I do need the scores…..

      • joosje
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       another nice one. Pretty secure in your hands, already. Nice tempo. Although I prefer Sor as a composer, this piece is quite agreeable too. Stunde der Gitarre part 3 I guess, if you play all the pieces it might be more than 1 hour of music…

      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Great work on this one as well, Bart. I remember reading thru this from some nondescript collection of guitar pieces. I always enjoyed it but never got around to actually working it up. I must look up that collection again. As I recall, there was also a polacca by Mertz that was pretty interesting as well. 

      • Civil law notary with a passion for music
      • Bart_Versteeg
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

      part 3 indeed. When i finish it i will play it in the GvM meeting in June.

      I wish you succes with your exam!

      • Debbie
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       it won’t take much for you to polish this one off, Bart. Looks like most of the hard work of learning it is already done.

    • Eric
    • 3 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Ponce - Chanson

    • 'Vivo' section before and after practice
    • Entire piece
      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       you've practised well and very diligently. The end product is great. I'm listening to it while watching the clouds drift by and I feel this sense of contemplative mood. I'm sure you'll surpass this already great version with even more greater versions throughout the challenge. I already love it.

      • Civil law notary with a passion for music
      • Bart_Versteeg
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       what a huge difference! Your practice really paid off! 

      • Ron.3
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Very effective practice Eric - it's really sounding good!

      • joosje
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       obviously very effective practice Eric. Great. This vivo part is tricky, but you make it work so elegantly already. The contrast between the lyrical and rhythmical episodes is so impressive. What a great piece it is. Keep going and take us along on your journey…

      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Beautiful, Eric. You have a wonderful sense of this music and present it with great sensitivity. 

      • Debbie
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Amazing improvement, Eric. You must have very focused, deliberate practice. It was lovely listen to 🌹 

      • Eric
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Thanks, Debbie. On my own, I do not focus well. But knowing I was making a video motivated me. That's one of the main reasons why I enjoy these challenges.

      • Debbie
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

      works that way for me too, Eric!

      • Dale_Needles
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Looking forward to following your progress on this great composition by Ponce.  

    • Jonathan_Lozoya
    • 3 days ago
    • Reported - view

    I love it! Great topic. I will look for Pavana from Francisco Tarrega.

    • Dale_Needles
    • Yesterday
    • Reported - view

    For the Unfinished Business Challenge, my goal is to complete the final five Microestudios No. 16-20 by Abel Carlevaro.  The 20 Microestudios were published in the 1990s and are an excellent set of compositions that both challenge the player musically and technically.  As many of you know, I have been working on a project over the past five years to learn and record as many of Carlevaro's 70 plus solo compositions as I can. To date, I have worked on approximately 50 of his compositions.  When these five Microestudios are completed, I will have approximately 15 more compositions to go.  Here is Microestudio No. 16. 

      • BLaflamme
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Great submission Dale, you're almost done with the full set of Microestudios! That's amazing how much you've worked on and shared with us in the last years, what's the next one after these studies? 👌💪

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

      Great job, Dale. This is a very interesting study. It packs a lot into 42".

      • joosje
      • 2 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       this is again a very nice and exciting study. Really well played. Thank you for sharing the whole set of micro studies with us.

    • Amateur with too little time and bingeplayer with sore arms and fingers
    • Lars_KjollerHansen
    • 20 hrs 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.!

      • Dale_Needles
      • 14 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

        Great choice with the Roberto Gerhard Fantasia. This will be quite the undertaking and I am looking foward to following your progress. 

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

       yes it is somewhat in the style of the Carlevaro pieces. Now I just hope to master it as well as your excellence in Carlevaros music

      • joosje
      • 2 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       yes, as  said, great choice. And a true adventure. Will be inspiring to follow. You made a great start. The allegro part is quite demanding. You have a good technique and energy to attack this intriguing piece.

      In September I started working on Gerhard, but couldn’t follow up. So, maybe next year’s unfinished business challenge…

Content aside

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