The aim of this study is to make the case for the creative practice of performance of notated music as research. Discourses and problems on the relation between artistic practice and research are discussed, as originally posed in the UK and Europe, examining the particular issues of music performance through current models. The role of music analysis is particularly considered, as well as the importance of embodied knowledge (also known as tacit knowledge) on these interpretive processes. These models are applied into the author's own practice through two case studies from complex repertoire for solo guitar with pieces by Brian Ferneyhough and Wieland Hoban. The epistemological contribution of these models is assessed, as well as their impact upon sound as exemplified in a variety of multimedia files showcasing performances of the author as well as other performers. After claiming that the aim of practice-as-research is making explicit the tacit, the pertinence of the model here delineated is interrogated on these terms.