Week 3 - The Empire Strikes Back ⚔️

Hello tonebuddies! 🎶

A long time ago, in a practice room far, far away... you picked up a piece. You were excited. You cracked it open, worked through the first page, maybe the second — and then something happened. Life struck back. A new piece caught your eye. The fingering felt impossible. The score quietly migrated to the bottom of a stack where it's been sitting ever since. 🎸

This May, we're bringing back the Unfinished Business Challenge — and we're kicking things off on May the 4th, because what better day to summon the Force and finally finish what you started? Every guitarist has an abandoned piece (or three). This is your chance to rescue one from the Sarlacc pit of your music folder and bring it home.

This challenge is open to all levels. Whether you left off at bar 8 or bar 80, whether it's a Bach fugue or a beginner study that got away — if there's a piece waiting for its return, it belongs here.


🌟 The Challenge

Revisit a composition you started but never finished — and this time, see it through. It might be:

  • 🎯 A piece you abandoned because it felt too hard
  • 🎯 Something you got halfway through before a new obsession took over
  • 🎯 A passage or section you never quite nailed
  • 🎯 A piece you learned years ago but never polished or performed

Share the story of why it got left behind and what it means to finally complete it. That's half the magic of this challenge.


📅 Challenge Dates

Start: May 4
End: June 12
Watch Party: June 12


🎥 How to Participate

  1. Pick your piece – Choose the piece (or section) that's been haunting you. The one you've been avoiding. That's the one.
  2. Share your goal – Post in the forum thread and tell us what you're finishing and why it got abandoned in the first place.
  3. Post your progress – Share updates along the way — rough takes, slow-tempo run-throughs, the gnarly passage you finally cracked.
  4. Engage with your fellow rebels – Cheer each other on, leave constructive feedback, and celebrate every piece that makes it across the finish line.

Bonus points: Share a recording of your favorite performance of the piece you're revisiting — the version that first made you fall in love with it.


🎬 Watch Party — June 12

The Watch Party on June 12 will feature recorded submissions from everyone who completed their Unfinished Business. Make sure to submit your final performance videos so we can celebrate your finished piece together! 🎉


💡 Need a Little Help from a Jedi Master?

If the reason you left the piece unfinished is still giving you trouble, tonebase is full of lessons, masterclasses, and courses from world-class guitarists ready to help you through the tricky parts. Search for the piece, the composer, or the technique — chances are, there's a Master ready to help.


May the 4th be with you, tonebuddies. Let's finish what we started. 🎸⚔️

125 replies

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    • Retired
    • mgshirk
    • 6 days ago
    • Reported - view

    As part of this challenge I rolled two old pieces back into my practice schedule and will work on them till the close of this challenge. I put them on the shelf for lack of a better reason then I just go bored playing them.  I'd like to get them to where I can make a somewhat decent recording of them. I'll use this challenge to push me. 

    Here is the second of the two pieces "Tiento Antiguo" by Joaquin Rodrigo, this one presents some challenges for sure, the Cadenza clearly needs some work in execution, to many hesitations or memory slips and some other note worthy clams. Also maybe to much reverb. lol 

    I'm always open to constructive critique, anything that I can improve to make it better is always welcome.  

      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 4 days ago
      • Reported - view

       This is well done, Michael. I don't remember hearing this piece before. It really nice and you have a good command of it already. Looking forward to hear more and thanks for sharing this.

      • Ron.3
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       What a great piece and performance Michael!

    • Retired
    • mgshirk
    • 5 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Thanks, The cadenza, lol, I’ve been trying it all. Three finger fast scales following Matt palmers suggestion of 3 notes per string and crossing over only with the “a”, I tried the two finger method,  using Tenants method.  Speed bursts. I even tried a harp like scale using open strings. Definitely a work in progress. I found that speed bursts work best and seem to be the quickest means to an end. Like you said Pepe’s legacy is not in danger. lol

      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       I tried speed bursts too, but the passages are long enough that my little 'bursts' (even though they did get longer with practice) always ran out of steam well before the end of the phrase was reached. I finally settled on adding bits of velocity here and there - not the ideal solution, but at least something that was workable.

    • Retired
    • mgshirk
    • 5 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Yes I Agree , by the time you get up to the top end of the passage, tension starts  to rear its ugly head and it all goes to hell pretty quick. Oh well I’m retired what else do I have to do. After listening to it again I can see your point about the separation of parts. 

    • Robert_Love
    • 5 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Excuse the off topic. I am not sure how to upload my video for the Challenge. I have only been able to post a link, but the video does not appear in the thread. Thanks for help. 

      • BLaflamme
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       The easiest way is to use the Add Video button at the bottom and paste your link there, also ensure your video is not private, it should at least be public (unlisted).

      • Robert_Love
      • 4 days ago
      • Reported - view

      Got it. Thanks

    • Robert_Love
    • 3 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Here is my current work on Evocation. Appreciate your feedback. 

      • Retired
      • Andre_Bernier
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Such a beautiful piece. Well done Robert. 👍

      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Nice playing, Robert! It's sounding much more secure and polished than your earlier video. My main suggestion would be to allow the music to 'breathe' a little more. Your performance sounds to me just a little rushed. I feel there's plenty of occasion here to 'stop and smell the roses' so to speak. (Of course, you might feel differently about this - nothing wrong with that!) Your guitar looks and sounds very nice. Is that the Siccas model that you mentioned in an earlier post?

      • Ron.3
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       This is such a beautiful piece and well played Robert - one for my "I must learn this" list!

      • Eric
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Good work, Robert! Much improvement.

      • Retired
      • Jim_king
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Well done Robert.  Sounds beautiful.

      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

      Really nice playing, Robert. .You have a beautiful tone for this piece. Great work.

      • joosje
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       it sounds just so beautiful. 

    • Retired
    • Andre_Bernier
    • 3 days ago
    • Reported - view

    Hello all,

    I did register to Premium+ last november and enjoyed the coaching of Jakob Wagner. I can say that his guidance is probably the main reason for my recent progress. So, I felt you could be interested to watch the comments he is providing on my recordings.

    First, here is the video I posted last week for the challenge and used with him in the premium+ program.

    Then the answer provided by Jakob.

    I can say that I am very happy with the support he is providing with just fantastic suggestions on how to improve my playing.

    Enjoy 😉

      • Eric
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thanks for sharing this, Andre. Jakob's coaching is obviously very effective for your playing.

      • Ron.3
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Well done Andre and thanks for sharing Jakob's feedback too - very interesting

      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       My thanks as well for sharing Jakob's comments. It's very interesting to see the kind of feedback that's available from the ToneBase coaches. It's obviously paying off well for you. (Mind you, I'd say your own hard work is equally responsible for your recent progress!)

      • Retired
      • Jim_king
      • 3 days ago
      • Reported - view

       I found that very interesting seeing Jakob's feedback on this piece and comparing what he said to the feedback I have received from him.  I can hear some commonality between our feedbacks, especially about phrasing and thumb placement.  

      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

      This was a really good performance, Andre. Your progress has been really consistent.It was interesting to hear Andre's comments and see how you have applied them.

      I did a 3 month session with Arturo Castro. He was great but at the end of the 3 months I realized I am a really lousy student. (BTW, I highly recommend him to anyone considering the program.). He would provide me a lot of valuable information that I recognized made a lot of sense but when I sat down to practice I would just keep doing what I always did. I think it has something to do with old dogs and new tricks.

      • Robert_Love
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

      Here. Here.

      • Amateur guitarist/lutenist
      • David_Krupka
      • 2 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Oh sure, Jack - blame it on your faithful companion ... 😂

      • joosje
      • Yesterday
      • Reported - view

       great. Thank you for sharing this, Andre. Very insightful. Your progress is remarkable. 

Content aside

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