Week 4
Attention all tonebuddies! Are you ready to embark on a journey of musical creativity and exploration? Join our Arrangement & Transcription Challenge and discover the joy of reimagining music for the classical guitar!
Over the next four weeks, we’ll celebrate the art of transforming works from other instruments, ensembles, or even genres into stunning guitar performances. From Albéniz and Granados to Piazzolla, Bach, Scarlatti, or even your own favorite songs — everything goes!
🎯 Whether you choose to:
Work on a well-known transcription (Albéniz’s Asturias, Granados’s Danza Española, Piazzolla’s Libertango)
Create your own arrangement from scratch
Compare different versions and share your insights
…this is your chance to dive deep into the creative process and share your journey with the tonebase community.
This challenge is open to all levels — from curious beginners discovering their first transcription to experienced players refining their own arrangements. Let’s celebrate the versatility and expressive power of the guitar together!
📅 Challenge Dates
Start: November 11
End: December 11
👉 Join anytime by introducing your project in the comments below!
💡 How to Participate
Pick your piece – Choose an arrangement or transcription that excites you.
Share your goal – Are you learning, arranging, or refining?
Post your progress – Upload short clips, notes, or reflections as you go.
Engage – Encourage others, ask questions, and exchange arranging tips!
🎥 Watch Party Reminder
The Watch Party on December 11 will feature recorded submissions from this challenge!
So make sure to submit your final performance videos and showcase your creative work!
69 replies
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Domenico Scarlatti - K32
Another piece by Scarlatti, who's becoming one of my favorites. I have a similar take on ornaments as Eric. I love hearing them executed well, especially some flashy cross-string trills, but in my hands, they come out clunky, so this is sans embellishments for now.
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Thanks, Eric. I'll check out the piano video.
For cross-string ornaments, the speed is the issue for me, too. One thing I might practice is how Annette Krusibrink notates them in some pieces. She does a rake across both strings with i playing the upper and lower notes and then m playing them. Here's a video where she does it.
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Thanks a lot, Barney. I think I've heard Segovia play this, since it sounded familiar from way back, but I couldn't place it. Back in the day, I listened to everything by Segovia and probably came across it.
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Hmm ... that is really a different way of doing it. I'll have to give it a try.
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Thanks for sharing Annette's video. Do you happen to have an excerpt of an actual score with her detailed trill RH notation, that you can share with us? Her trills sound superb.
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Sure. Here's the first part of that piece.
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Thanks Steve! That's interesting. I suppose the RH nails needs to be relatively short so they don't get stuck on the string for these rake cross-string trills.
Since Elliot Fisk palys and trascribes a lot of Scarlatti I just checked his cross-string trills technique .. He often uses a-i-a-i-a-a. ( the last a-a is a rake from e string to b string) He explained to his masterclass student that generally using the Thumb in the trill (like David Russell) can be a bit heavy, so he prefers not using it. Just another option...
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thank you Steve. Also for Annette’s video. I really enjoyed your playing,
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As mentioned on Eric's post, so great to see so much Scarlatti. Nicely played, although I do think this piece can use some ornamentation.
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Scarlatti K77 Dec 6
Here's my first time playing it all the way through (but without repeats). Plenty still to do, but I got through it.
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Here is a video of my struggle with the second phrase of Bach’s sInfonia. It feels like one of the most difficult passages I tried to learn recently. Maybe the most difficult ever… not because of virtuosity. The difficulty lies in the stretches, fast shifts and voicing. Keeping the bass chords steady, clear and moving while letting the upper voice breathe and vibrate. I probably won’t be able to record a final version, but I’m still working on it.
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Here is a transcription of Spanish Dance #2 by Granados, originally for piano. It has generally been played as a guitar Duo, but there have been a few solo arrangements out there.
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Here's my week 4 submissions. Still working on the Dedicatoria. It feels pretty good, but I still have the occasional pause as I try to remember where it's going. It's always that last 10% that takes forever to get the piece where you want it. Overall I'm pretty happy with the progress this month.
I'm also submitting a Weiss Fantasie transcribed by Karl Sheit. I've been working on this one for a long time so it is definitely further along.
