🎯 The Etude Challenge: Study Pieces, Serious Progress - Week 1
Attention tonebuddies! It's time to embrace the music that was literally designed to make you a better guitarist. Welcome to The Etude Challenge — four weeks dedicated to the art of the etude!
Etudes occupy a unique place in the classical guitar repertoire. They're technical workouts disguised as beautiful music — pieces that sharpen your skills while rewarding you with something genuinely worth performing. From the elegant simplicity of Carcassi and Sor to the rhythmic brilliance of Brouwer's Etudes Simples, the virtuosic fire of Villa-Lobos's 12 Études, and everything in between — there's an etude out there for every player at every level.
This challenge is your chance to pick one (or more!), commit to it, and share your journey with the community.
🎯 Whether you choose to:
- Tackle a classic — Sor Op. 35, Carcassi Op. 60, Giuliani Op. 48
- Go for something bold — Villa-Lobos, Barrios, or Coste
- Explore the modern side — Brouwer, Carlevaro, or Bogdanovic
- Revisit an old friend — Polish a piece you learned before and bring it to a new level
…this is your moment to dig in and grow. This challenge is open to all levels — whether you're working through your very first Sor etude or preparing a Villa-Lobos for the stage, you belong here.
📅 Challenge Dates
Start: February 23
End: March 20
💡 How to Participate
- Pick your etude – Choose one that excites you and challenges you. Not sure where to start? Ask the community for suggestions!
- Share your goal – Tell us what you're working on and what you want to achieve (clean run-through, memorization, performance tempo, etc.)
- Post your progress – Upload short clips, practice notes, or reflections as you go. We want to see the process, not just the polish.
- Engage – Listen to what others are working on, leave encouragement, and trade practice tips!
63 replies
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Hi All, I am looking forward to all the great estudios that will be shared over the next four weeks. While I am traveling in Portugal and Spain until the end of April and will not be able to post anything new, I thought I would repost some of my previous posts showing the range of Estudios that Abel Carlevaro wrote during his lifetime.
Here is a short little Estudio, Carlevaro wrote for his students when he was teaching at the Conservatory in Montevideo in the 1960s.
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Hello everyone, today I started working on Sor Op. 35 No. 2. I find it beautiful and accessible. I will make a first video when it is 'audible'. If you know this piece, please feel free to give me some advice 😉
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This is so cool. Welcome back all and Thank's to Martin to bring back this challenge.
I will certainly participate, My only problem is to decide on what I will be working on..... My backlog list is getting quite Long 😉
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This would be a challenge. Sor op.35 no.22 Segovia estudio 5
"Do or Do not. There is no try." Yoda
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Hello, everyone. This challenge showed up when I needed it. I haven't decided what I'll work on yet, but I'm in. I'm not good at posting recordings, so we'll see how that goes.
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Okay, I'm going with Emilia Giuliani's Preludio No. 1 (Op. 46). I need to overcome my barre struggles. I've abandoned several pieces because I couldn't get beyond the barres. The spotlight on arpeggios is great, too.
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Awesome! Hi everyone! I'm working on Sor Op. 6 No. 11 (Segovia 17). This one has been a challenge since my left hand injury has caused some of the stretches to be impossible. But with a short scale Torres model guitar and some adaptations to the fingerings I've been able to learn it. My new motto is : improvise, adapt, overcome. My goal with this piece is to make sure I'm not cutting off any of the last notes of the current arpeggios when shifting to the position of the next one. I'd also like to memorize it. Thanks for your help with one of those tricky fingerings. Your idea has worked!
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Hello everyone,
I am currently working on Sors etude op. 6, 11. As someone else mentioned already, the stretches are a challange. At the moment I have to play it very slowly (110 bpm for each note...). So, I will spare you a recording for now. Perhaps I will present my progess at the end of the challenge.
I regularly play Sors etudes op. 35, 17 and 22, and also a jazz etude by Alexander Vinitsky. I will bruch up the jazz etude and record it during the next few days. -
This is quite a big jump from my last post, but I recorded the entire study. Going more slowly and methodically through the sections would probably be a better idea, so this shows my lack of patience. Now that this is out, however, maybe I can go back and slowly work on each section.
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Working on Sor Op 29 No 23. It has been always a month, but the last few bars have been very hard once I reach them. So posting slow practice, lifting carefully the bar when not fully needed and rotating my wrist (hopefully) when stretching the pinky.
Next video... i will try a bit faster, but still focusing on relaxing my hand.
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Before the challenge started I wanted to do Sor Op 29 No 24, as a follow up for Op 29 No 23. But then I saw video and I decided not to do it... but today I said why not! So here what I first prepared, and I will keep going this weekend.