🎯 The Etude Challenge: Study Pieces, Serious Progress - Week 2
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!
79 replies
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Still coming to you from Terceira Island in the Azores, here is a former post of mine of Etude No. 6 by Heitor Villa-Lobos to honor his birthday which was on March 5th.
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Sor Op 29 No 24 (Mar 7)
Here is a run through of the whole thing.
A few things I need to work on: consistent tone and smooth dynamic shaping of the melody line, left-hand finger placement to eliminate buzzes, and right hand gaffes (although that is a bigger problem than I can solve during this challenge, if ever).
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Here is my first practice recording for this Challenge. The background is that I started last fall on the Premium + program and am working with Jakob Wagner. He has recommended many times to improve my right hand skills including resting the thumb or other fingers in order to pluck more precisely. I finally decided in January to start working on this with some exercises. However, as you can imagine I have a tendency to fall back on my bad but comfortable habits....
For this challenge, I decided to revisit two studies (Leo Brouwer Estudio Sencillos no.1 and Sor Op. 60 No.9) using all the great techniques proposed by Lukasz Kuropaczewski, Eduardo Inestal and Scott Tennant in their respective courses on Tonebase.
Earlier this year I had to change my golf swing (Back issues) and I felt it was difficult but today; I can tell you that this is much easier than adopting these new right hand techniques. Anyway, with today's recording of my practice, the comforting thing is that it can't be worst, it can only improve.
Don't feel necessary to watch.......⛳