After studying the guitar for some twenty-five years, during which he wrote innumerable studies for the instrument, Aguado completed a guitar method at the age of forty. He becoame friendly with Sor, whose tone production and style of playing impresses him forcibly. According to Bone, the published works of Aguado, though not voluminous, proclaim his genius; his three Rondos Brilliantes are "gems of Beauty".

An important figure in the guitar world, Carcassi was regarded as a guitar virtuoso before he was twenty and eventually displaced Carulli in public favour, despite the latter's formidable reputation. He wrote innumerable solo's for the guitar, of which his ingenious transcriptions of popular operatic airs were the most effective, and his Complete Method for the Guitar was cited by Bone as one of the best of its kind.

Carcassi's Twenty-Five Studies extended the work of his celebrated Method; for he knew how to write effectively and brilliantly for the guitar, without regarding technique as an end in itself.
Few will dispute Bone's statement that Carcassi "Carried the resources of the instrument to
greater lengths than any guitarist before him."

This Neapolitan genius, a self-taught guitar virtuoso, was eminently successful on his European tour during which he displayed an effortless technique and accuracy of tone.

A prolific composer, credited with over four hundred compositions, Carulli also compiled a Method for Guitar-described by Bone as a work of great merit - and added two other valuable pioneer works to the academic library of the guitar: a manual of harmony and a series of exercises written specifically to improve the technique of song accompaniment on the guitar.

Coste was eighteen when after twelve years' study he made his first appearance as a concert guitarist. Some four years later he was accepted as a duet partner by Sagrini, a renowned player.

By the time Coste was thirty-four he had absorbed much from his teacher (the great Fernando Sor) and many other active guitar virtuosi. His intensive study of all aspects of his chosen music resulted in a high award of his guitar works; a triumph he repeated sixteen years later with other compositions for the guitar.

Bone credis Coste with some sixty compositions "characterised by original charm and vigour". It is noteworthy that Sor's publishers chose Coste to revise his old teacher's Guitar Method for re-publication.

After receiving considerable academic training as a musician, Diabelli began composing while still a teenager and learned much from Haydn and many other prominent musicians then in Vienna.

Diabelli, who was both guitarist and pianist, began to collaborate in public with Giuliani, who was then at the height of his fame as a guitar virtuoso. A prolific composer for the guitar, Diabelli also wrote a Method for it which he himself published.

At the age of twenty-nine, Legnani was regarded as a guitar virtuoso and toured Europe at intervals for seven years before spending almost two years with Paganini, accompanying the legendary violinist on the guitar.

A composer of over 250 guitar works, Legnani also wrote a Method for the guitar.

Philip J. Bone in his book The Guitar & Mandolin mentions a report of Legnani's Madrid concert in 1842 when the Spanish musicologist Fuertes praised his "most remarkable agility of execution" and "tone of infinite depth and rare singing beauty, particularly in his cantabile on the bass strings."

Lagnani took an active interest in the design and manufacture of guitars and, from the age of sixty, spent most of his time as a guitar maker.

Like many another self-taught guitarist, Mertz began at a very early age and also acquired considerable skill on several other instruments. At thirty-six he had completed a very successful concert tour of Europe and was much acclaimed as a guitar virtuoso.

Mertz, whose Concerto for solo guitar won him first prize in an important contest, was "a musician of rare attainment, a guitarist of the first order and a poetic writer for the instrument.........his original compositions, transcriptions and operatic arrangements are gems".
(P.J. Bone: The Guitar & Mandolin).