WEEK TWO Updates: Main Thread - Following the Path to Tárrega
Alright, welcome to WEEK TWO of the Main Thread for this challenge! 
Where is the Week 1 thread?
Find the Week 1 thread here!
Please use the following format when commenting (feel free to copy & paste!)
- One thing you found easy:
- One thing you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
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Hello challengers, I apologize for being late with my first submission but last week was kind of busy, as most of you probably. I practiced every day but instead of focusing on one advanced piece I opted for reading through a lot of easy and intermediate pieces, to better understand that fantastic music. As they shape and sound enough good I’ll try to record and submit some of them, so let’s start with two easy to read but harder to make them sound good, and I apologize for missed notes
. Martin I’ve been using the SRM1 ribbon stereo microphone for the following, totally different than the CM4!
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks Blaise for your thoughts on the Ribbon mic. Interested to see if Martin has anything further to add regarding using them in a non-professional setting.
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Barney for sure Martin always has excellent advices!
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Blaise Laflamme very clear and beautiful tone Blaise, and also recording quality is wonderful. Well done!
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Gokce Turkmendag thank you Gokce!
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Barney Blaise Laflamme Ribbon Mics are generally not so sensitive as due to their construction (air literally needs to move a ribbon of aluminum to induce voltage), that's why they are typically used in front of louder sound sources or - in our case - quite close! That's why we'd need a proper preamp which doesn't introduce additional noise!
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Martin right, AEA sells a great preamp for ribbons as I can see, but in my case I bought two FetHead, a high quality and phantom powered in-line preamplifier for ribbons.
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Martin Thanks Martin! I guess Ribbon Mics and appropriately matched pre-amps is a whole new topic to address. If I ever decide to try a decent ribbon Mic, I suppose my Scarlett 2i2 would not be sufficient to obtain the full benefit and quality sound from the Ribbons.
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Barney you'll need a cloudlifter like preamp, like the FetHead I have and it works pretty well, or a dedicated one like the AEA TRP2.
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Blaise Laflamme Super tender playing! Blaise so expressive I love it
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Blaise Laflamme Got it. Thanks Blaise!
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Jaime Zaldua Thank you Jamie!
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Blaise Laflamme wonderfull playing and recording quality, Blaise! It's the first time I hear you. Beautifull sound
and thanks for the very instruccional information!
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Blaise Laflamme Both Lagrima and the Etude were played beautifully. Very enjoyable to listen to.
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Olalla Thank you Olalla!
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I have been working on Capricho Arabe and Recuerdos de La Alhambra, both pieces I have played before but just thinking about submitting recordings has made feel like I don't know how to play them at all. Perhaps I'll try submitting a recording of Adelita first and see if I can pull that off! Practicing the pieces and recording them to a standard one is comfortable to submit to this forum is proving to be a very worthwhile exercise.
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Olalla I agree with you... and Adelita is also next on my list
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Olalla Remember, the goal is not to impress anybody in this forum, but just to learn and grow, and share our common love of the guitar and its music. There is no need to worry about reaching any "standard". Share any piece, or part of any piece, that brings you joy, and that will be a very welcome addition to the forum.
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Eric Phillips I agree with you, no need to impress or put pressure on ourselves, as you said in a beautiful way... as long as it brings you joy... I couldn't find a better way to express this, thanks Eric!
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Eric Phillips I agree and aware there's no particular standard required which is great. I was only referring to my own personal expectations of myself and my own playing.
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Olalla Fair enough. I apologize if I mistook your hesitancy for apprehension.
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Eric Phillips no worries at all.
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Olalla I'm with you on this, I also have strong expectations of my playing towards my artistic views and internal hearing and it took me time to have the courage to share the results when one doesn't follow the other.
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Olalla I second Eric Phillips , this forum is a place to motivate and inspire each other, the Community Challenge creates a common playground to do just that! While there is absolutely no requirement to post a video, everybody is very happy to listen to some music and see the progress that we make over the course of this challenge, and for that matter it's also absolutely fine to just post a snippet of a piece!
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Hi, this is my first take of the A section of Capricho Arabe. The techniques I've learn over the past few weeks are beginning to help as this was my first take video. I decided to keep all the mistakes and hesitations in so I can see this as a reference - it will be interesting to see my progress in another two weeks. Kind Regards Dennis
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Dennis Greensmith Well done, Dennis. A good start!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
