Have you seen this? It’s a video lesson where the King himself, Mr. Shane Speal, walks you through how to tune your cigar box guitars and play them like Seasick Steve!
Category: How-to Info
Christmas Song Tabs to get you ready for the Holidays!
We’re busily creating new tablature sheets for popular Christmas and holiday songs and adding them to the tab library here on CigarBoxGuitar.com!
While it may be a bit early to start publicly performing Christmas songs, you should start practicing now so that when the season is truly upon us, you’ll be ready!
Click here or on the image to the left to see the songs we’ve added so far. There will be more coming in the days ahead, so check back often!
More Cigar Box Guitar Chord Sheets Added
Many more chord form sheets have been added to the knowledgebase here on CigarBoxGuitar.com, completing the initial series for 3-string Open G GDG cigar box guitars. We now have sheets showing all of the most common and useful chord forms (with power chords, major chords, sevenths and minors) for G, A, B-flat, B, C, D, E-flat, E and F!
We have also created a guide to reading and interpreting the chord form sheets, to help you become more familiar with the concepts if you are a new player.
This is the most comprehensive free resource that has ever been compiled for 3-string cigar box guitars, and it is only going to keep getting bigger and better!
Cigar Box Guitar Chord Forms – 3-string Open G “GDG”
We have added a new category to the knowledgebase here on CigarBoxGuitar.com – 3-string CBG chord forms! So far we have added G, C and D chord forms. The rest of the common chord forms (A, Eb, E, B, Bb, F) will be coming in the next few days!
Here’s what C. B. Gitty says about these chord forms:
“We do not claim that this list is exhaustive or definitive, or that there aren’t other chord forms out there that some might find preferable. Some of the chords here may not even be technically what we have them labeled as… but the key thing is that they work, and they are the ones we use when playing. If one chord form doesn’t sound quite right in the song you are playing, then try a different one! We present them freely in the hope that you can make good use of them too.”
Cigar Box Guitar Tablature Library added
We have just created a new section of the knowledgebase here on CigarBoxGuitar.com which will host a growing library of tablature for cigar box guitars, with a focus on the popular Open G “GDG” tuning style.
We have added a few initial pieces of tablature and more will be coming soon. Click the image below to check out what has been added so far!
Final Two Parts of Canjo Video Series Posted
Parts 3 and 4 of the video series “The Essential Canjo” by C. B. Gitty have just been posted here on CigarBoxGuitar.com.
These videos dig into the nitty gritty of how to play the canjo: Part 3 shows you tuning and tablature reading, and then moves into playing a couple of songs (Camptown Races and When the Saints Go Marching In) from tablature available on this site. Part 4 then moves into some more advanced playing techniques that you can use to spice up your canjo playing: hammer-ons, pull-offs, vibrato, tremolo and the like.
By the time you’ve finished watching all four of these videos, you should be well on your way to mastery of the canjo!
The Essential Canjo – Part 3 – How to Play, Tune & Read Tablature
The Essential Canjo – Part 4 – Advanced Playing Techniques
Second Part of Canjo Video Series Added
The second part of C. B. Gitty’s video series “The Essential Canjo” has just been added to the Canjos & Diddleybows section of the knowledgebase here on CigarBoxGuitar.com. In this installment, Gitty walks you through the anatomy of a canjo – the various parts and how they are put together, the fretting style, discussion of the “blue note” and more. A number of diagrams and explanatory notes help illustrate the points Gitty is making in the video.
Stay tuned for parts 3 and 4 to be posted in the near future, which will cover tuning, reading tablature, playing simple songs, and making use of more advanced playing techniques.
Check out the Knowledgebase Post for more info and to view the video!
New Video: The Essential Canjo – Part 1
We’ve just added a new post to the Canjos & Diddleybows section of the knowledgebase here on CigarBoxGuitar.com. The subject is Part One of a 4-part video series by C. B. Gitty on the instrument known as the Canjo. If you have ever wanted to know about these fun little instruments, this video series is for you!
Check out the Knowledgebase Post for more info and to view the video!
Have you ever wanted to build a cigar box amplifier? New video shows you how
C. B. Gitty has just posted an in-depth video showing you how to build a cigar box amp using their “Oliva G” amplifier kit (product# 52-003-02). From drilling and cutting the cigar box, to wiring the components and finishing assembly, this video has it all. While the video is specific to Gitty’s pre-packaged amplifier kit, you can use this same information for your own amplifier projects as well.
This video is a detailed, step-by-step walkthrough that shows you every step of the process. If you have been thinking about trying to build a cigar box amplifier, but haven’t been sure you could, this video is for you!
New Cigar Box Guitar Tuning Article: Open E “EBE” with sound clips!
C. B. Gitty has just published the third installment in his series of 3-string cigar box guitar tuning how-to articles. This one covers the Open E “EBE” tuning, which is great for the blues! This tuning was used by Shane Speal on his recently released album Holler!, on the tracks Big Leg Woman/Swing the Hammer, specifically because this tuning gives you that raw, growly blues sound.
Click Here to View the Open E EBE Tuning Article
The article gives you the exact pitches and string sizes to achieve this tuning on a cigar box guitar in the range of 24-25″ scale length, and also includes sound clips of Gitty playing each tuning on a cigar box guitar, so you can get a feel for what the sound like.
What 3-string Cigar Box Guitar tuning would you like to see us cover next?
We’ve covered the popular Open G “GDG” and the Open D “DAD” tunings so far here on CigarBoxGuitar.com – so what would you like to see next? We are looking to finish off the popular 3-string tunings before moving on to anything more advanced. The remaining “standard” open chord 3-string sets are certainly options: EBE, AEA, CEC, FCF… then of course there is a range of “full chord” 3-string tunings, that include all 3 tri-tones in a chord: GBD, DF#A, EG#B, etc.
Let us know what you’d like to see and we’ll try to make it happen!
Open D “DAD” Cigar Box Guitar Tunings and String Sizes Article – with Sound Clips!
C. B. Gitty has published another how-to article in his series of popular cigar box guitar tunings, this one focused on the “DAD” Open D tuning. This article follows up on the last one that covered GDG, and even goes one step further by including sound clips of how each of the 4 DAD varieties sound on the same cigar box guitar.
The string sizes and combinations recommended in this article are not just theoretical exercises of what should work – Gitty actually strung a 25″ scale cigar box guitar up with each set, and then used that guitar to record the sound clip. In doing so, he made some tweaks to the string gauge lineup to make sure they were just right.
Take a look, have a listen, and consider giving this great tuning a go in one of your cigar box guitars!
Click Here to view the Open D DAD Tuning Article