Hey all fingerstyle guitarists out there,

I'm wondering what your favorite performance instrumentals are. I happen to have very good technique that lags my 'musicality'...so am drawn to songs that require good technique and have, what I consider at least - really interesting musical lines. It's then I realize that for me, the limitation in learning some of these songs - and I do so mostly from music with tablature - is remembering the lines that effectively use chromatics and blue notes (flat thirds, and flat sevenths). These lines really grab my ear and always elude by current music level...that is, I can't come out with lines like this. I can learn them as one would a classical piece...much later on I will noodle and learn from them.

Now I'm working on a Mark Cosgrove tune - Alabama Jubilee, which I found on the Winfield Winner's Music book 74-94 and CD from mel bay years ago - some really amazing work on there. I've worked on this one on and off. Here is Mark's live performance of this tune on youtube:

Mark Cosgrove - Alabama Jubilee

As I begin to get 2 or 3 pages of tab (of 10 in all) under my fingers, though not at tempo - and given how much time it takes for me to learn one of these really technical tunes, I wonder - is this really worth the time ? (so I know I'm probably working on songs beyond my natural ability, but these are the songs that I love !!!)....

SO all this leading to my questions for you:

1.) Do you ever get that feeling -is playing this tune really worth the time it takes to learn it ?

2.) What fingerstyle instrumentals have you learned to performance level that took you the most time to learn and were hardest for you

3.) What fingerstyle instrumentals have you learned to perform that were reasonably easier for you to learn - and sound really good even though they're easier to play ? That is - songs that for me might be more within my musical ability and learned at a quicker pace - e.g. more bang for the buck in terms of "time and effort to learn" vs. "have fun playing them" ratio.