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. 🎸⚔️

303 replies

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    • Amateur with too little time and bingeplayer with sore arms and fingers
    • Lars_KjollerHansen
    • 5 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.!

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

       Great selections, Lars. You have an impressive command on these pieces  already. I'm really looking forward to following your progress. The Bach Gavotte is always a great piece and it is really nice to see the Gerhard Fantasia.

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

       I actually had decided to leave the middle part/page for next month. It is somewhat demanding because of the speed, but much easier in terms of rhythm and expression.

      it sounds really interesting and envying? with the guitar retreat and your study/exams.

      that piece and performance you were inspired to by Thomas Viloteau was so emotional I really liked it. - and that Passacaille I am sure you will pass.

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

       enjoyed your Gilardino and definitely noted your progress. Also a modern advanced piece. Very well done - or does that sentence scratch the ears of a former chef.?

      Excited to hear what you come upon next always exciting choices. I would love to hear En Los Trigales! If I had it to the level you had I would keep it in my repertoire 

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       You've made a great start with what looks like a very challenging piece. I'm not familiar with this one. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to more from you.👏

      • Retired
      • Andre_Bernier
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

      Welcome back Lars, Well done so far. Just memorising this piece is already a challenge. 

      • BLaflamme
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Great to see you back Lars, I didn't know this Fantasia by Gerhard, a very beautiful work that already sounds very good under your fingers, I'm curious to see where it will take you by the end of these weeks! 💪

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

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

    • BLaflamme
    • 3 days ago
    • Reported - view
     said:
    Not a vampire just the Highlander

     Yeah... a lot better!

    • Eric
    • 3 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Ponce - Chanson (May 9)

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

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

      • Reinhard
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

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

      • Retired
      • Andre_Bernier
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

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

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       👏👏👏. What more can I add to what others have already complimented. A masterful, beautiful and complete performance in technique, tone, dynamics and musicality. Really enjoyed it and a tad envious of your playing.

      • joosje
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       really beautiful, Eric. As  mentioned, the vivo part sounds so much more integrated, fluent and naturally phrased. Now, the whole movement is really convincing. Enjoyed every bit.

      • BLaflamme
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

      That was excellent Eric, a perfect performance of this beautiful Chanson! 👌

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

       Wow!! What a superb performance Eric - very inspiring!

      • Steve_Price
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       That's gorgeous, Eric. It's lovely to hear you turn this in such a short time from notes on a page into art.  

    • Retired
    • Jim_king
    • 3 days 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.

Content aside

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