"Easy Pieces" Mini Challenge
HELLO TONEBUDDIES! 
We're excited to bring you a fresh mini challenge that aligns with our upcoming live stream featuring the renowned guitarist Stanley Yates! As he deciphers the notion of "easy" guitar pieces, we thought it'd be fun for our tonebuddies to join in on the exploration and challenge their own musical growth! 
THE CHALLENGE:
We invite you to record and upload a video of yourself performing a piece that you consider to be "easy" on the guitar. Discover the hidden depth within the simplicity and share how you're engaging with the piece in new and profound ways.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
Record a video of yourself performing your chosen "easy" piece. Upload your video to your preferred platform (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo, etc.). Share the link to your video in the comments section below. Don't forget to include a brief description about your chosen piece and what insights you've gained from revisiting it.
Bonus Points: Share a link to a performance of your chosen piece by a renowned guitarist!
INTERACT AND ENGAGE:
This is a great chance to engage with your fellow tonebuddies! Show your support by leaving comments, offering constructive feedback, and expressing appreciation for their performances. Let's inspire each other to delve deeper into the music we thought we knew.
REWARD:
There isn't a physical prize, but the reward lies in your personal growth, the feedback you'll receive, and the connections you'll forge with other guitar enthusiasts. Who knows? You may even strike a chord with someone new!
NEED INSPIRATION?
If you're unsure about which piece to pick, don't worry! Tune into the upcoming livestream with Stanley Yates. His insights into the hidden depth within "easy" pieces will surely spark your imagination.
READY, SET, RE-DISCOVER!
We're eager to see your fresh interpretations of familiar tunes and hear about your new insights. Let's join together to explore the uncharted depths of the "easy" pieces we thought we knew!
HAPPY PRACTICING, TONEBUDDIES! 
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This easy piece is a simple arrangement I made of a summer song, Visa vid vindens ängar (Song by the meadows of the wind) by the Swedish singer/songwriter Mats Paulson. The original was released in 1966.
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Håvard Tjøstheim beautiful interpretation and relax playing, I was surprised to see no other guitar video on your YT channel and lots of maths stuff! I hope you'll enjoy sharing here and post more of you
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Eric Phillips Thank you! Yes, I teach maths and physics. I want to share more music, maybe start a separate channel for that.
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Håvard Tjøstheim That is good to hear. I really enjoy creating and sharing videos, mainly because it gives me motivation to bring pieces up to a performance level.
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Håvard Tjøstheim This is a beautiful arrangement, Havard. Your playing is beautiful as well. Great job.
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Mauro Giuliani - Etude Op. 51 No. 1
I love easy pieces, and I wanted to learn some Giuliani music recently, so I decided to find an easy little Giuliani piece for this challenge. There were a lot of sf marks in this piece, and I wasn't quite sure how to play them. When I tried playing these notes particularly loud, it didn't quite sound right to my ears, so I decided to play them at a more natural volume instead.
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Wai Sounds great, Wai! I know this is a common opus for beginner studies, but I never worked through it myself. I probably should, as that sounded really nice.
I looked at the score, and you’re right, that is a lot of sf markings! It stands for sforzando, and means to play it suddenly strong. I think I like how you handled it. I’d probably just treat them like accents, and maybe use them a bit more sparingly than Giuliani indicated. The way you played it sounded great, I think.
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Wai great little study by Giuliani and as you I would have played it without too much accents. I haven't look at the score but possible somewhere before he explains how he want them to be played?
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Eric Phillips Blaise Laflamme Thank you, Eric and Blaise! I have listened to other people playing on YouTube, but I didn't find anyone who really accentuated the sf marks. And no, my version of Giuliani's studies (Mel Bay's Complete Giuliani Studies) didn't explain how they should be played. Anyway, these are fun studies to be played, I really enjoyed it.
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Wai It has been a long time since I played this etude. Thank you for reminding me how much I like it.
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Wai A nice little study by Giuliani and well played. This must be a nice break from all those Carlevaro's Microestudios you have been playing. One little suggestion, if you want to vary the timbre and dynamics of the bass line, you might try using the nail of the thumb for sf accents and the flesh of the thumb for softer bass lines. Just a thought.
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Wai This is very nice, Wai, and your playing is wonderful.
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Mertz – Adagio in E minor
This morning, while listening to music on my walk, I happened across a YT video of this piece, and I remembered how much I like it. It seems like a perfect piece for this mini-challenge. It’s very simple, but it has so much to teach us. It also perfectly captures the emotional quality of so much of Mertz’ music. Peter Graneis has a wonderful lesson on this piece here in TB.
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Eric Phillips great take on this beautiful piece by Mertz, perfect for this challenge and to start the day! Thanks Eric
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Eric Phillips I also love this piece. Metz music is so beautiful that I am planning to buy a book to learn more about it. Thank you for sharing, Eric!
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Eric Phillips I have not learned anything by Mertz. Your video inspired me go to the TB lesson where I printed out the edition and will view the video soon. Thank you.
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Martha Kreipke Glad to hear it! I love Mertz. It's not everyone cup of tea, but I love the emotion in his music. He has plenty of pieces at every level of technical ability.
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Eric Phillips Great, Eric . This is a new work to me. It is very nice.
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peter hancock Sanz never fails to bring me joy! Well done, Peter.
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Eric Phillips Thanks
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peter hancock I love Sanz's music, thanks for sharing, Peter!
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Wai Thanks
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peter hancock This is very nice, Peter. Great job.This sounds like one of the Sanz's pieces that Rodrigo used in his Gentilhombre Concerto, (though I might not remember correctly.)
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Molino – Romanza
I am having one of those days when I can’t seem to play any of the pieces I am working on. That’s when I really like to break out something simple, that does not take too much effort to make sound reasonably good. Typically, I’d turn to Sor. But for some reason, today I was led to this piece by Francesco Molino, whose music I have no memory of ever having played before. It has a simple, beautiful melody, supported by a few bass notes and arpeggios. Just what I needed today!
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Eric Phillips Nice little sweet piece. I know what you mean when you just need to find something simple to sight read through to give oneself a rest from the more challenging pieces, we all work on. I usually turn to Lauro's Children Songs.
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