🎶 Latin American Music Challenge | Week 2

Welcome to our tonebase Guitar Community Challenge! For the next few weeks, we’ll be diving into the vibrant world of Latin American music, exploring rhythms, colors, and styles that have inspired guitarists around the globe.

This is your chance to work on masterpieces and hidden gems by some of the most iconic composers:

  • Heitor Villa-Lobos (Brazil) – lush, virtuosic preludes and études

  • Agustín Barrios Mangoré (Paraguay) – romantic, poetic works full of soul

  • Abel Carlevaro (Uruguay) – brilliant studies and innovative techniques

  • Leo Brouwer (Cuba) – modern masterpieces mixing folklore and avant-garde

  • Manuel M. Ponce – sonatas, and romantic masterpieces

  • Antonio Lauro – famous Venezuelan Waltzes

  • Atahualpa Yupanqui – folk-rooted pieces

  • Jorge Morel – virtuosic concert works and arrangements

  • …and many more treasures from across Latin America!


How it Works

  1. Pick your piece(s) – anything from the Latin American repertoire that excites you.

  2. Introduce yourself – share what you’ll be working on and why.

  3. Post updates – you can share progress videos, practice tips, or reflections.

  4. Support others – comment, encourage, and learn together.


📅 When?

  1. Start: September 29th

  2. End: October 30th

  3. Watch Party: October 30th 🎉


Why Join?

✅ Discover new repertoire
✅ Build consistency in practice
✅ Get feedback from peers
✅ Celebrate Latin American music with the community


💡 Whether you’re tackling a full Villa-Lobos Étude, polishing a Barrios gem, or exploring a short Brouwer piece, this challenge is for everyone — from curious beginners to advanced players.

👉 Jump in by introducing yourself below and telling us what you’ll be working on!

Let’s bring the sounds of Latin America to life together. 💃🎶 

46 replies

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    • matt.1
    • 5 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Here's my week 2 on Candombatan by Maximo Diego Pujol.  Making progress. I still have some memory issues and a couple of buzzed or flubbed notes, but getting there.  These challenges are always great motivators to make sure I am making consistent progress.

      • matt.1
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thanks Steve. I really like this composer. I also recommend Preludio Triston, Tristango En Vos, Candombe En Mi, and Alma Verde. But honestly all of his stuff is really catchy and has the "feel-good" vibe. I think he's in a similar vein as Sergio Asad, except normal humans can play the Pujol stuff. 😜

       

      The support I use is called a Dynarette. I really like it. It works great with jeans, but can slide around a lot on dress pants. Some people use those sticky cabinet liner sheet thingies between their pants and the dynarette. 

      • Dale_Needles
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Sounding very nice. I like that Candombe rhythm and the Rio de la Plata vibe. 

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Great job on this piece, Matt. Yeah, I agree with the others that it's an energetic and feel good piece and you look like you're really enjoying it, which is why we we're here to play the music we love.

      • Steve_Price
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thanks for the info on the pad. And I completely know what you mean about Assad. I bought his Six Short Pieces, figuring they shouldn't be all that hard, and I was very wrong. I'll have to explore Pujol some more. 

      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

      @matt  Nicely played, Matt. This is a new work for me, I am aware of Maximo Pujol though I don't think I have ever heard any of his music. Is he any relation to Emilio Pujol? Thanks for sharing this.

    • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
    • 4 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi everyone, I think most of you are familiar with this piece. I've been practising this gorgeous piece for the last few weeks. As with many beautiful pieces, it has its difficult parts. I especially struggled with the barres and shifts in the B part. Anyways, hope you enjoy my submission.

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

       Beautifully played Nijwm - I love these sorts of pieces - definitely one for my to learn list!

      • Dale_Needles
      • 4 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Very nicely played. Your sweet tone suits this piece well. Maybe adding a little constrasting tone color would be interesting.  

      • Barney
      • 4 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Beautiful Nijwm!  I really enjoyed it.

      Also, the bird sounds somehow added to the mood.   Nice work!

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you Barney! Yeah, I'm in my village, it's a rural area, early morning and these birds were going crazy outside my window. I'm no expert on birds, but perhaps they were singing along with me or criticizing my playing, or more likely they were looking for mates or worms, and then towards the end, the ducks were quacking, demanding their breakfast😀 I'm glad you enjoyed it.

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thanks Ron! I really appreciate it.

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you, Dale! That's really good advice, I'll try to vary tone colour when I play it again. There are quite a few things I need to work on this piece.

      • Barney
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       I think they were enjoying it, as I was🙂🦆🦜, haha.

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

      Which edition are you using?

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       I learnt from a score in musescore I'm not sure which edition it was. I think the score is copyrighted, so I didn't download it. But I also listened to YouTube recordings on loop to figure out the music.

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

      Thanks Nijwm

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

       well done and with the birds signing it is magical  👍 

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you, Andre. Yeah, the birds are providing a nice background music.

      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Beautiful, Nijwm. You have a wonderful tone and your performance was very expressive. 

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Thank you, Jack. I'm hoping to get an updated one when time allows me to record.

      • Steve_Price
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Very nice, Nijwm. That's a lovely piece, and I really like your interpretation and phrasing. It has a really nice subtle ebb and flow of time that is perfect for the piece, I think. Congrats. 

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