Video Lessons: Famous Blues Licks and Turnarounds for Cigar Box Guitar – by Shane Speal

If you have ever wanted to learn how to easily play some of the most famous and recognizable blues riffs and turnarounds on your cigar box guitar, this video series is for you! Shane Speal sits down with his video camera and a 3-string cigar box guitar (tuned to Open G GDG), and walks you through five of the best-known blues riffs that we’ve all heard hundreds of times. Each lesson is just a few minutes long – you’ll be belting out the blues in no time!

Lesson 1: The Classic Blues Lick

Lesson 2: Variations on the Classic Blues Lick

Lesson 3: The Peach Rundown

Lesson 4: The Nasty Pull-off Lick

Lesson 5: The Grinding Lick

VIDEO: George Benson’s Homemade Electric Guitar

At the 2015 Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, CA, Shane Speal had a chance to talk to George Benson about his first guitar. Turns out, George and his father built it themselves out of spare parts! While it didn’t involve a cigar box, this is a great example of a now-famous musician getting his start with homemade/handmade instruments. If you can’t afford one (or even if you can), build your own!

Video: How to Install a P90 “Soap Bar” Pickup in Cigar Box Guitars

In this 10-minute video, Glenn Watt walks you through every step of installing a P90-style soap bar pickup in your neck-through cigar box guitar. P90’s have an almost mythic reputation and a cult-like following for their tone and sound, and they sound absolutely awesome in cigar box guitars.

More good news: you can find inexpensive P90-style pickups at C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply! Click here for the “pickup only” version that you wire yourself, or click here for the pre-wired no-solder pickup harness!

Video: How To Install Fret Markers on your Cigar Box Guitar Fretboard

In this video how-to, Glenn Watt walks you through a great way to add fret position markers your cigar box guitar fretboard using wooden dowels. While a lot of folks are happy with just using a Sharpie or woodburning fret marks into their fretboard, using inset fret markers looks really good and definitely can give a build a more professional look. If you’ve consider it but thought it too hard or too much effort, think again! Glenn shows you just how quickly you can add this great feature to your next build.

Video: How to Install Open-Gear Tuners (C. B. Gitty product #31-001-01) on a Cigar Box Guitar

In this video, CBG craftsman Glenn Watt walks you through installing basic open-gear tuners on a cigar box guitar, such as C. B. Gitty’s economy tuners.

In this video, CBG craftsman Glenn Watt walks you through installing open-gear economy tuners such as C. B. Gitty’s Chrome Open-gear Economy Tuners on your cigar box guitar.

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Video: How to Make a Scarf Joint for a Cigar Box Guitar Neck

Glenn Watt recently created a great how-to video walking you through how to create a scarf joint on a cigar box guitar neck. A scarf joint is a special angled cut which, when glued back together, angles the headstock away from the fingerboard surface of the neck at a specified angle (usually about 15 degrees). Having the headstock angled like this makes it easier to get the strings to stay tight against the nut (this is referred to as the “break angle” of the strings).

So check this video out, and give a scarf joint a try on your next build. It does take some care and attention to detail to make one, but it is well worth the effort!

VIDEO: The Essential Canjo – Part 1 – Introduction

This is the first in a four-part video series introducing the Canjo. In this series Ben “C. B. Gitty” Baker will discuss and show you all aspects of the Canjo, from its history and importance, to its construction and makeup, to how to play it.

This video, Part 1, focuses on introducing the canjo and talking about how it is made, its historical origins, and what makes it special.

Part 2 covers more specifics on the anatomy of a canjo, and also discusses the special diatonic fretting method Gitty uses, as well as how to tune it. This part ends with a brief look at the American Canjo Company and its mission to revitalize the instrument.

Parts 3 and 4 cover How to Play the canjo, with Part 3 being more basic techniques, and part 4 showing you more advanced methods you can use to expand your playing.