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. 🎸⚔️

218 replies

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    • BLaflamme
    • 7 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Let's start the challenge with a work that made me discover the musical universe of Michel Dalle Ave. I should have recorded this work a long time ago, so it's done!

      • Sam_Greenblatt
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       this was really great, I enjoyed it tremendously. Playing of an extremely high standard. I am not familiar with the composer - I can detect trace amounts of York, Piazzolla and Pujol in there I think. Beautiful.

      • BLaflamme
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you Sam, I'm glad you like it. Michel is a finger style guitarist and he easily integrates different styles in his music, so York is definitely in the lineage, and this piece has some latin influences for sure, particularly the middle section that I very like!

      • LIVE
      • martin.3
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

        Welcome into the challenge, Sam — what's the unfinished piece you're bringing in? Would love to hear what you've been sitting on.

      • Sam_Greenblatt
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       from an "unfinished business" point of view, top of my list is Milonga del Angel (Piazzolla) and also Courante HWV 441 (Handel), both of which really need polishing after collecting some dust on my music stand for a long while

      • BLaflamme
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Sounds like a plan for the challenge, can't wait to hear that Sam! Which transcription of the Milonga are you working on?

      • Sam_Greenblatt
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

      it’s the Benitez version apparently 

      • BLaflamme
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

      it's usually good stuff from him!

      • Marilyn
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

      Such a beautiful place- and performance!  Thank you for broadening my horizons!

      • BLaflamme
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

      Thank you Marilyn... I'll have a few others to share!

      • Debbie
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Well THAT didn’t take 6 weeks! 😉 Such a beautiful piece, Blaise. And our excellent phrasing and articulations really showcase just how nice of a piece it is. 

      • Reinhard
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       thank you for bringing something new to my ears. It is a beautiful, "dreamy" piece and played at professional level.

      • BLaflamme
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Thank you Debbie, it's a piece I've been reading here and there and never got the time to finish and record, then now it's done! Like all of us I'm missing time so I try to ensure when I do audio and video recording it's good enough to produce and put on my channel.

      • BLaflamme
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Thank you Reinhard, I'm glad to have made you discover something new!

      • Retired
      • Andre_Bernier
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

        Very nice. Great discovery. Merci

      • Debbie
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       this one is definitely good enough. I love it. Some parts of it remind me of Jorge Morel. I’m wondering if he was an influence.

    • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
    • 6 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Difficult to match Blaise's opening post! But I offer my humble beginning to this challenge. Recorded on my phone, back in my village with insects and the evening noises in the background. Quite a few mistakes, memory slips and string buzz. Looking forward to your valuable feedback. Thanks for watching.

      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 6 days ago
      • Reported - view

       You're off to a great start, Nijwm - it sounds practically finished already! The tone you produce for the melody is outstanding. It's amazing how much progress you've made in just a few years. Are you planning to learn all three movements of this staple of the guitar repertoire? (I hope you do!)

      • BLaflamme
      • 6 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Wow Nijwm! I'm amazed by how you've musically progressed (and technically too)! As David said it's almost finished, your tone is beautiful, the music flows, your finger are strong and smooth... and already sounding great recorded with an iPhone... Imagine with a better setup! Bravo!! 👌💪

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

       This is great work Nijwm! It's such a beautiful piece and your tone is really good - well done!

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you. I've been working on this on and off without really nailing it down. Hopefully, with a clear deadline of this challenge, and your encouragement, I can finally make it performance ready.

      I love the other movements as well. Yeah, I'll definitely learn them, but it's going to be a long road, especially the third one is so difficult for me. 

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you Ron.

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you🙏, Blaise! Yeah I feel I've been improving a lot since I joined TB. It wasn't an iPhone btw, just a cheap Chinese phone🙂

      • BLaflamme
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       then just buy an iPhone and upgrade your gear! 😂

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       yes, I need to invest in better gear🙂

      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       The third movement is certainly the most challenging of the three, but it's not nearly as difficult as it at first seems. The main problem is working it up to 'concert' tempo. But there's no need to play it as fast as today's virtuoso guitarists! All that's required (in my opinion) is a certain fluency. That's all I ever aimed for! Anyhow, I'm sure you'll know when you're 'ready' for it - but don't let yourself be intimidated by it!

Content aside

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