Week 5: A Polished Finish: Preparing to Showcase 
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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Hello to all, as we aproach to the Christmas time and this time is like a yearly recap.....I wanted to record another couple of pieces, so today i´m posting another Fernando Sor one, in this case I recorded the etude op6 XII ( Segovia Nr14)....I hope you like it.....
greetings
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JUAN ALONSO Beautiful, Juan. You have a great feel for this music. Your technique and phrasing are great. I always found this piece to be deptively difficult. It sounds so simple but It is really challenging. It is also pretty long for a Sor Etude. Great job.
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JUAN ALONSO Nicely played Juan.
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JUAN ALONSO yes, I enjoyed it. It’s a difficult study, but you play it smoothly, fluently and very musically. Thank you.
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Schumannn Winterzeit I & II op. 68.38-39 final (probably)
I have made some small corrections to the transcription and made some interpretive changes as well. I tried to add a bit more color, especially to the the first piece (per Joosje's suggestion). I have also slowed the faster section in Winterzeit II and add staccato on the bass runs which is generally done in piano performances. (I have also included my requisite number of stumbles and 'senior moments[' to keep this in character.)
I think this is better , but in any event I don't think I will do another before I leave for Vietnam on Dec. 15.
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Jack Stewart Jack , great improvement on this piece....nicellly played......congratulations
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JUAN ALONSO Thanks Juan.
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Jack Stewart it’s so well done, Jack. Beautiful is the word. Enjoy your travels.
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joosje Thanks Joosje.
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Bach BWV 1009 Prelude (3rd Cello Suite)
I have had this piece in my repertoire for years (decades actually!). It had bee dormant for about 10 years when I revived it for the February Challenge. I wanted to really clean it up for this Challenge. Even though the Schumann pieces really took up most of my guitar time I was able to spend some time on this Bach Prelude. After I recorded the Schumann pieces (see below) I thought I would see where I was with this piece. I recorded it 5 times and all 5 were fairly good but all had glitches. The encouraging news for me was that the glitches were all different which suggest it is a matter of focus rather than technique.
This will probably be my last posting before I leave for VN. (I think I said that on my last posting)
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Jack Stewart Hi Jack. Just managed to find some time to log onto Tonebase so I haven't seen your earlier posts. This is awesome. I really enjoyed listening to it. I never seem to be able to really play Bach so I'm very impressed.
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Jack Stewart Congratulations......Bach its allways a challenge and you play it very well.....I like it ¡¡¡
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Derek Thanks Derek. I hope to eventually get a clean recording - but not for this challenge. I am leaving in less than 2 hours for a 3 week vacation.
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JUAN ALONSO Thanks Juan. This is finally coming around. I used to play most of this suite (except the Gigue) to varying degrees of success. Perhaps I'll try again on the other movements.
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Jack Stewart Excellent! Bon Voyage!
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Thanks, Dale.
I am currently in Phnom Penh waiting for our flight to Siem Reap (Ankar Wat): The first day has been a bit rough - about 20 hrs of transit w/ layover and no sleep. I have never been able to mix flying and sleep. I have managed a good night sleep so I am energized.
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Jack Stewart impressive, Jack. I always thought this suite is so cellistic, that it cannot sound true on a guitar, but you prove me wrong.
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Thanks Joosje. This transcription is by John Duarte which I think is pretty good. Stanley Yates also has a very good transcription. However his is in the key of ‘C major’ which I believe is the original key. My issue is with the higher tessatura. It seems to lose some depth of the cello, though some of his harmonic structure is very nice.
My other issue with the Yates transcription is that I learned this transcription years ago and still retain some of the muscle memory. So I guess that issue is my laziness.
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Jack Stewart Bravo Jack! Your playing has improved significantly this year-- both in technique and sound quality, as well as the ambitious transcriptions. It's a pleasure listening to your playing.
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Barney Thanks Barney. I hope I can squeeze in a better recording before the WP, though I doubt it. I arrive back to US on Jan. 5 at 6:35pm. That only gives me ca 2 days. Considering jet lag and 3 weeks away from the guitar my hope is more of a pipe dream.
i assume you are referring to the Schumann transcription. The Bach prelude is a transcription by John Duarte.
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Sorry for not posting for a while. I was having some pain in my left hand, so I decided to take a few days away from playing to let my hand rest. I also thought it might be best to play some simpler music, which is really like a treat for me. Naturally, these two pieces proved to be a bit more difficult than I thought (especially the Sor).
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Eric Phillips These are great, Eric. I don’t think I have heard this Sor piece before. Your excellent feel for his music is evident in this performance. The Carulli piece is also played very well. I am not very familiar with Carulli’s musc so it is great to hear more of it.
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Eric Phillips Well played.....Spaecialy Sor , which is always more dificult than we expects.....Bravo
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Eric Phillips charming pieces, you make them sound so calm and flowing.
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