We are going to make a classic fretless acoustic cigar box guitar. Making a cigar box guitar the cavan project electric versus acoustic guitar play guitar tips after finally getting around to it, ive learnt two things about making a cigar box guitar. In making poor mans guitars, shane speal, the king of the cigar box guitar, shows you how to build amazing musical instruments from found items learn how to build cigar box guitars and other musical instruments from found items. Follow the instructions in this guide to turn a cigar box, a few pieces of wood and. So you made yourself a cigar box guitar, or perhaps received one as a gift and are wondering where to start when learning how to play. Walkin blues lesson for 3string cigar box guitar justin johnson teaches a lesson on how to play walkin blues on the 3string cigar box guitar. These cigar box guitar plans and subsequent build was inspired by a blues duo i saw at the dream cafe in penticton, bc several years ago. The ultimate beginners guide to make your own 3string cigar box guitar. From the start the idea was to make these out prototypes for a proper build further down the track, but happy to say that even as. I soon found cigar box nation, a fantastic online hangout for homemade stringed instrument enthusiasts. One of the most useful lessons for cigar box guitar sellers who are looking for the ultimate riff that will draw people to their booth. The history of cigar box guitars and the golden age of blues and jazz.
Tannen has been recently sent me a tabed out version of my basic blues in g lesson and he put it in a downloadable pdf page. You will be faced with both collectors items that are so expensive you would not want to make a g out of them then you will nearly always find a few that might well meet your needs and price. Speal shows how to use a simple g major scale on a threestring slide cbg and a roland microcube amp to craft lush, heavenly sounds that bring people in. The premise is that you start with something you can already do, build on it so that you can do more and have something else to build on. After my blog posts on paul mccartneys one, let alone the mike snowden shuffle ace from a couple of days ago, i figured it was about time. And, of course, stay tuned for more cigar box guitar plans. All parts come predrilled and premarked to make assembly as easy as possible. Soloing beginner lesson for your cigar box guitar youtube. Be sure to check out our line of open g gdg cigar box guitar string sets here. This page has plans for most of the standard guitar scale lengths and also has headstock layout plans too. The photos, videos, and mp3s posted by these happy strummers and pluckers were inspiring, and the variety of guitars in the photo galleries was.
Advanced cigar box guitar building guide by joshua gayou. So i decided to design one that they could inexpensively build themselves, based on the traditional cigar box guitar. Cigar box guitar chord forms for 3string open g gdg. Heartbeat of the drum alaska native drummaking native american music. Cigar box guitar lessons how to play 3 string guitar dvd cbg. Juzzie smith cigar box guitar lesson and how to play. Cigar box guitar 3 string blues intermediate youtube. Guitar world cigar box guitar lessons by shane speal. Learning a brief history of the cigar box guitar should give you some serious inspiration to build one of your own. Learn how to play 3 string cigar box guitar dvd lessons. It contains all the hardware, strings and even the cigar box. Shane covers everything from how to hold a pick, to how to place the slide to get the best note. Thanks go to ed vogel for the original article in make, volume 04. How to build a cigar box guitar free plans download.
Build your own 3string, electrified cigar box guitar and make some sweet sounds. In the next section, ill explain tuning and playing, as well as direct you to other helpful cigar box guitar resources. The easiest way to make a cigar box guitar youtube. The body shape and size is taken from an old regal tenor guitar. He also shows how to use a forstner bit to route out the cavity for a mini humbucker pickup. Eeb tuning lesson with mother leeds by shane speal by shane speal. For my local readers, you already know what a gem the little gypsy heart cafe is. Wed love to hear your feedback or mad cigar box guitar. The etching was included in forbess work life stories of the great army. In this video lesson, shane speal breaks down the guitar lines, originally played by hubert sumlin and turns them into an accessible 3string cigar box guitar riff. Check out the details for cigar box guitar and learn how you can turn a piece of oak, some string, eyebolts, and an empty cigar box into a rocking 3string guitar give this build a shot, and let us know how it turned out. Along the way youll learn a few songs and some theory will start to come together but.
Quality cigar box guitar kits to build and play best of 2019. English us espanol portugues brasil francais france deutsch. Check out our online store click on the shop sections below powered by create your own unique website with customizable templates. Learning a brief history of the cigar box guitar should give you some serious inspiration to. Cigar box guitar cbg lessons archives island guitar. To play vintage blues, you do not need to know any math, chords. Josh gayou of smokehouse guitars created this 179page guide back in 2010, and decided to give it away for free to the cigar box guitar community. A collection of tablature song tabs specific for cigar box guitar, with a focus on cbgs tuned to gdg open g. Jun 09, 2017 juzzie smith videos cigar box guitar lesson and how to play simple harmonica. The best bet is to go to eay and plug in a search for cigar box, or variations on those words. There are lots of fantastic cigar box instructables on this very site, just do a search. Measure up from the tail end of the neck 1 34 45mm and draw a line on the top surface. I hope you enjoy the challenge, as i do, of mastering your new instrument.
Make sure to position the hole so it doesnt cut into the neck. Gitty is dedicated to the education and preservation of the cigar box guitar. How to play the 3string cigar box guitar with rick mckeon right and left hand techniques the steady bass using the slide the ten mile stomp playing blues licks and creating a 12bar solo. The easiest way to make a cigar box guitar duration. Over the past day and a half max and i made a pair of cigar box guitars. Dec 18, 2012 last year, i decided id like to make a more traditional cigar box guitar. Im reposting the lesson below the tab download button. If the lessons helped you, why not throw a couple bucks into shanes virtual tip. Download the pdf tab tablature for this lesson in the scores section of our 1 to 1 teaching site, which offers face to face lessons to local. Just a quick post to let you all know that the cigar box guitar plans page is now live. To play guitar you need the right tools and equipment to help your guitar. Plans cigar box guitars how to build a cigar box guitar. You can sketch something you like on the guitar or find an image that you like and use a photo editing program to make it black and white.
Gitty free cigar box guitar plans download free plans file size. In it, he covers some of the more advanced techniques involved in building a highend solidbody 6string electric guitar using a cigar box body. Simply add your own 1 x 2 x 34 hardwood plank for the neck. Built like a cbg with a through stick neck but with a guitar shaped body instead of a cigar box. There are two kits, or amp modules, id recommend for making your first cigar box amp. In the video below, shane speal shows his technique of reinforcing internal bracing on neckthrough cigar box guitars with extra wood. Before the 1950s, when factory guitars became less expensive, many folk musicians. Still the best option for high quality, professional tuition for anyone playing a three or four string cigar box guitar. How to approach learning to play 4string cigar box guitar. How to play cigar box guitar shane speal demonstrates tattoo of you on 3string by shane speal. Have a cigar is a song by pink floyd from the album wish you were here. This indepth lesson explores rls riffs and the missississippi fifeanddrum style rhythm involved. Introduction cigar box guitars are just like any other guitar, only much easier to make.
Seven new one finger cigar box guitar lessons posted. Hes having fun and entertaining himself playing music he likes and making. From the mid 1800s until early 1900s, cigar box and home built guitars have been made by. How to play cigar box guitar the very beginning lesson. By applying music theory, we can use advanced concepts like double stops, inversions and chord fragments to make unique and beautiful sounding music typical of. If it helps to use a metronome or a moderate piece of music then go to town. Jul 19, 2012 tuning, basic fingerpicking, basic picking, holding the slide, vibrato.
Method of notching a neck joint for cigar box guitar builds. For free, easytounderstand lessons, go to, our knowledgebase of howtobuild and howtoplay resources. These have a high action and are intended for slide playing. Rulers and set squares are essential tools for cigar box guitar building and pretty much all diy projects ever, so having a decent range is a great help.
Burnside blues song, nine days in jail by inventing a brand new cigar box guitar tuning. How to make a simple cigar box guitar metric included. How to play basic blues on 3string cigar box guitar. Cigar box guitar students guide developed by building to teach 11817 building the cigar box guitar c building to teach 2014. Cigar box guitar 3 string gdg aea tab notes chords. Cut them out and try them in different places on your guitar. The performace task for this lesson is the classic im a man riff friom bo diddley. For someone interested in learning cigar box guitar this is the place to be. The 3 string cigar box guitar dealing with chords and riffs and stuff the chord book at. I teach any size ukulele, banjolele, uke bass, acoustic electric or nylon string guitar, bass guitar, or cigar box guitar or any other stringed home made guitar type instrument. A cigar box guitar kit is a kitted set of parts that allows you to build an entire cbg cigar box guitar from scratch, diystyle, in the perfect way by following a simple set of instructions. The plans are in pdf format so make sure you have a copy of adobe reader on your computer. Continue to score that line, making deeper cuts with each pass, until you can break the rectangle free.
Cigar box guitar plans rare corojo cigar box guitar build. This is to help you see where the bridge bolt will be on the cigar box lid. How to make a cigar box guitar the art of manliness. Building a cigar box guitar from beginning to end youtube. Shane offers these video lessons free to anyone who wants to learn. Once youve done this you can move on to the next exercise in stage 2. Cigar box guitar lessons with mike snowden guitars. Click on the image above to download the printable pdf document. This will be where the back of the cigar box lines up. Weve compiled two dozen of our best free lessons from cigar box nations sister website, some lessons are downloadable pdf pages that you can learn from while others are stepbystep video. Jul 04, 2017 101 riffs and solos is arranged for the 3 string fretted or fretless cigar box guitar tuned to gdg.
Guitar lessons les paul lesson videos for kids 18 greatest guitar strings in bulk martin cigar box guitar tablature the howto repository for the cigar box guitar movement. Gitty crafter supply, your onestop shop for all things cigar box guitar. Lessons media guitar world one of the worlds leading ambassadors for the homegrown music movement, international touring and recording artist justin johnson has been hailed by guitar world as a mustsee act, dubbed the wizard for his mastery of stringed instruments, and recognized as slidestock international slide guitar champion. In the same way that you did in stage 1 make sure that you can play with each finger in time for at least 30 seconds. Here are some of the basic tools needed to build your own cigar box guitars. The 3 string slide course will help you build the skills you need to play slide on a 3 string cigar box guitar. It covers all the playing styles heard in blues guitar playing, both slide and finger style to help you get that old time vintage sound. Exploring the cultural cigar box guitar movement in the u. I just unearthed it from a moving box and id like to figure out how to start playing this beast but all the cigar box guitar materials i can find are written for 3strings. Cigar box guitars are nothing new but there has been a resurgence in the art of building and playing them. I specialize in slide guitar in regular standard tuning listen to and love everything from abba to bbking, hank williams to zztop, metallica to srv and all between. Smokestack lightning is a onechord drone blues song recorded by legendary singer, howlin wolf in 1956.
This is the first one ive ever made so it was a bit of a learning experience. Start by measuring and cutting the maple neck and notching for the headstock and box lid. Chances are, youll want to plug it in and annoy your neighbors. Bob wursters cigar box guitar lesson cigar box nation. Essential blues lesson for 3string cigar box guitar. Roadhouse blues lesson for 3 string cigar box guitars. I thought there might be more people out there like me. He has also earned endorsements from over a dozen guitar builders around the world. I made this mistake when i made my first cigar box guitar. If the lessons helped you, why not throw a couple bucks into shanes virtual tip jar the paypal donate button. The 3string cigar box guitar tablature in the pdf link below will show you exactly how to play the melody and chords for the song blowin in the wind, written and performed by bob dylan.
In this beginnerintermediate lesson we explore the way i aproach soloing, pick attack and beginner blues boxes. All of the cigar box guitar tablature here on cigarboxguitar. H there, i tried to print the pdf file but it wont let me, is there something i am missing. Basics for beginners youtube 10 tips to better cigar box guitars duration. Cigar box guitar by ed vogel photography by sarah whiting as a volunteer music teacher, i sometimes meet kids who cant afford instruments. As a birthday present for my brother, i decided to make him a nice cigar box guitar. Click this link or the image below to view the printable pdf. Its a great time to upgrade your home music studio gear with the largest selection at. Hi rguitarlessons about a year ago i bought a 4string cigar box guitar from a local maker and then life got busy and i forgot about it. Thanks go to ed vogel for the original article in make.
It uses just the two fretted notes and the open string and we play it a bit faster than the original to make sure that youre picking is on track. I will also show you how to play slide, rock and blues on a 3 string cigar box guitar. Mar 22, 2018 built yourself a cigar box guitar, eh. Here i will show you how to tune your 3 string cigar box guitar. Working out of his modest backyard shed in york, pa shane takes pride in recreating the poor mans guitar, which dates back to the turn of the 20th century. Before making the guitar, i decided that it should be made from either foun. It is much easier to learn to how play a cigar box guitar than it is to learn how to play a regular 6. Shane speal, an avid cigar smoker, guitar player, woodworker, and author, is not only building some of the best cigar box guitars, hes also servingup a lesson in american history.