Week 5: The Guitar Awakens

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. 🎸⚔️

21 replies

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

    I have also worked on these unfinished pieces, after a swim in the 10 degree water I did a take to record these old unfinished friends to determine status. Outdoor iPhone recording on self build guitar , apologize less for the birds than for the cars passing by. 
    The Turina sonata is a finished unfinished work. This has reverb and other including obviously video editing. I recorded it almost 2 years ago but made the video and editing just recently, so I think qualifies for unfinished business.

    Week 4 seemed to have a theme with modern not very melodic music with my Fantasia and great performances of modern pieces by

      • Barney
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Wow, what great choices to post for us. ( you know these are some of my favorites...).  Beautifully played, as usual!  Bravo!

      Lars, I didn't know you were also a Luthier.   Wondering how it felt finishing that guitar and hearing it for the first time.   Amazing accomplishment !

      • BLaflamme
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Great Lars, you definitely like Spanish music, that's amazing you've built your own guitar, what an achievement! In fact the outdoor sounds are very welcome and I'm also surprised by the quality of the guitar sound for an outdoor take, congrats for your awesome work on these pieces! 💪

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

       All beautifully played.  I thought that the outdoor sounds added to the music.  Got me thinking that it may be interesting to try recording outside at home some time, but then my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of another lawnmower running.

      • Nijwm_Bwiswmuthiary
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Bravo! you finished these unfinished pieces beautifully. Yeah, the outdoor sounds adds to the beauty.

      • Steve_Price
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       Excellent, Lars. I forgot how much I liked Turina. OP 69 is closer to my range, so I need to pull that out again. Congrats on these. 

      • joosje
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       great achievements. Both as a luthier and a performer. Bravo! Some really great pieces and you seem so well in control of all of them. Thank you for sharing with us.

      • Retired
      • Lars_KjollerHansen
      • 13 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

            
      Thank you for listening and kind comments.

      There is something special about playing outside, it is my favorite place - except for cars there are not many machines in the neighborhood.

      What made me want to play Spanish guitar nearly 20 years ago was the outdoor evening scene in Woody Allens Vicky Christina Barcelona where Granada was played . It is still a Unfinished business for me although my first priority these weeks is Gerhards Fantasia

      • Retired
      • Lars_KjollerHansen
      • 13 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       it seems that when you mention that movie with that instructor the reply goes under review .I have experienced that earlier.  Ridiculous 😡😡😡

      • LIVE
      • martin.3
      • 13 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Sorry, we have a unreasonably strong profanity filter! 

      • BLaflamme
      • 10 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

      we should subject it to rigorous testing!😅

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

       These recordings are amazing, Lars. 13' of continuous music in 1 take is inconceivable to me. You have a really good command of these challenging pieces (and after a 10* plunge in. the pool - I'm still shivering).

      Your Turina was beautiful. Great job! - fun 'setting' also.

      • Retired
      • Lars_KjollerHansen
      • 10 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Thank you Jack

      BTW did you see that … movie

      • Retired
      • Lars_KjollerHansen
      • 10 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       I could better understand if I had written that Granada seriously helped the Spanish protagonist to get lucky with the prudish American girl…. Now let’s see what happens😉

      • Retired
      • Lars_KjollerHansen
      • 3 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Another take of my first but not yet fulfilled guitarlove

    • Steve_Price
    • 6 hrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Antonio Lauro, Vals 2 - Andreina

    This is the speed I want it, but still need to do some cleaning. 

    I'm trying to add some variety in the dynamics and tone colors in the different sections, but it's not always coming through, especially when I record. I'm finally realizing why it would have been much better to start thinking about these interpretive choices "from the beginning, the first reading, the first notes,"  , lol.  

      • BLaflamme
      • 5 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Great speed and version Steve! 💪 About interpretive choices, I would say that starting to experiment earlier in the learning process definitely helps to shape the end result and also in diversifying what we can do «on the spot» when in action.

      • Steve_Price
      • 5 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Thanks a lot, Blaise. You mentioned before that you don't apply those interpretive choices as a filter after you learned something, which I'm finding is smart. I think muscle memory is working against me in that regard, and I'm finding my hands just go back to the default way I learned it, especially when trying to get a good recording. This was another good lesson for this challenge. Thanks again.

      • BLaflamme
      • 4 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       I'm glad if it makes sense to you. Whenever I try to play a piece I learned in my first years, if I haven't re-worked them after (with more experimentation), then the muscle memory is still strong and I'll more than likely play it as it was back then!

      • Dale_Needles
      • 4 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Very Nice!  I think the speed is good and it flows well. I totally agree that having an idea of and apply the dynamics that you want to employ earlier on in the learning process is optimum. In that way, you do not have to relearn your muscle memory. Additionally,  I find that once I have a piece memorized and I have solved the technical challenges of a piece, I am able to better apply more nuanced touches, e.g. cleaning up squeaks and adding some dynamic variations.

      • Retired
      • Lars_KjollerHansen
      • 4 hrs ago
      • Reported - view

       Great!

Content aside

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