Week 2: Finding Momentum: Small Steps, Big Progress 
End of the Year Challenge: "Finish Strong!" 
As the year comes to a close, it's the perfect time to look back on your guitar journey, celebrate your progress, and set the stage for a powerful finish! Whether you've been steadily refining a piece all year, revisiting past favorites, or holding onto that "one day" project, now’s the time to bring it to life. Let’s wrap up this year with a final push, together!
Challenge Theme: Complete, Conquer, and Celebrate!
Goal:
Choose one guitar piece or project that has been on your list this year. This might be a piece you’ve been working on in lessons, something you’ve always wanted to learn but never started, or a performance you’d like to polish. Dedicate the final weeks of the year to bringing it to completion—whatever "finished" means for you!
Challenge Options:
Complete a Piece: If you’ve been working on a piece throughout the year, let’s aim to bring it to the finish line. Focus on refining tricky sections, memorizing it, or even recording it as a performance!
Start & Finish a New Piece: Is there a piece that’s been sitting on your "someday" list? Dive in! Start fresh, put in dedicated practice time, and see how far you can get by the end of the year.
Polish for Performance: Got a piece you can already play but want to perfect? Use this time to iron out the details and maybe even perform it for friends, family, or the tonebase community!
Challenge Guidelines:
Set Your Goals: Decide on the piece or project and set a few concrete goals (e.g., "play smoothly at tempo," "record a full video," or "memorize all sections").
Share Your Journey: Post your progress, questions, and reflections with the community! Let us know what you're working on, why you chose it, and any hurdles you’re overcoming.
Celebrate the Wins: At the end of the challenge, share your "finished" version! Whether it’s a recording, a progress update, or simply sharing your reflections, let’s celebrate together.
Dates:
This challenge runs from now until December 30th. Finish the year with a sense of accomplishment and the motivation to take on new pieces in the coming year!
Why Join?
This isn’t just about completing a piece; it’s about proving to yourself what you can achieve with focus and support. Join us for a fun, collaborative way to end the year on a high note. 
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Regondi - Etude 1 (Nov 26)
Well, I can (sort of) play through the whole piece now. As this recording shows, I am still just getting it into my fingers. It is exhausting to play it straight through. I have played much longer pieces, but this just has so many notes and so much going on. I'll keep chipping away slowly!
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Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary Thanks, Nijwm! Playing it makes me feel like a gymnast performing a floor routine. Hopefully, I'm a better guitarist than gymnast though!
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Eric Phillips I'm glad you replied with a sports analogy because I'm a sports nerd too, apart from being a recent convert to classical guitar nerd.
Your fingers are like Nadia Comaneci and Simone Biles with perfect 10s on floor exercises, uneven bars and vault. Playing classical music on the guitar is indeed a gymnastic and athletic feat as we all are aware of. But it's also the art and music we strive to bring out and you always do it beautifully.
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Posting my first recording of the Prelude in C minor by Barrios.
I almost have it on my fingers, some position changes are quite challenging, need more work to make them smooth and keep the legatos.-
Calin Lupa This is beautiful, Calin. you playing is very expressive and effective in this plaintive work. It is interesting how Barrios can create such emotion out of a simple repeated rhythmic/melodic pattern. Great job!
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Calin Lupa Beautifully played, Calin. You really brought out the emotional nature of the piece. This piece is so hard on the left hand. When I play this piece, my LH really struggles towards the last few bars.
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Jack Stewart Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary , thank you, it's still a long way to get that level of fluidity and sound quality that it deserves. I am experimenting with balancing volume and tempo as well.
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Calin Lupa Good work, Calin. It's such a challenging piece for the left hand, but you are navigating it well!
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Eric Phillips thank you , practicing it does feel like pumping nylon!
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Calin Lupa Sure, Calin. Have you checked out the TB lesson on this piece by Celil Refik Kaya? You'll get some useful tips from there.
I think your doing great with the tempo as it has a steady rhythm and tempo mostly throughout. My humble suggestion would be a bit of variation in dynamics and tone colour. I mostly use a warm, dolce sound, especially in the first section. But you've done a great job already.
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Calin Lupa very beautiful Calin.
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joosje Thank you!
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Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary , I'll check Celil Refik Kaya lesson, I was not aware of it , thank you for the suggestions!
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Posting my first video, of the promised Vivaldi sonata VI. This is the 2nd movement Allegro, only the 1st part. As part of my learning process.
It may look or sound pretty easy, but I’m still struggling to find the balance between upper voice and accompaniment. This involves special attention to articulation. I still have 4 weeks to go. Next will be the complete Allegro, then the 1st movement, Largo.in the meantime I’m shaping and polishing Saudade lll. I hope to have more time for recording, soon. I’m traveling between my two countries, so I don’t have my hardware with me all the time, and my travel mic stopped functioning….
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joosje Beautiful, Joosje. Your work on articulation and balance of voices is really apparent. I am excited to her your progress on this work.
I had become somewhat jaded on Vivaldi due to the ubiquitous 4 Seasons. (sort of - 'Stairway to Heaven syndrome). I don't think I have heard any of Vivaldi's chamber works. I am really thankful for this presentation.
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joosje Great job, Joosje! The articulation gives it such a nice sense of pulse.
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