The How-To Repository for the Cigar Box Guitar Movement!
How to Build and Play Cigar Box Guitars and other Homemade Instruments
Everything related to cigar box guitars, the flagship instruments of the Home-made music revolution.
This melody and rhythm combination is one of the basic building blocks of the blues, and an awful lot of songs have been recorded using it or variations of it. Feel free to make up your own words, and have fun with it! Continue reading “Boogie in G – 3-string Open G GDG – Cigar Box Guitar Tablature”
“Build Me Up Buttercup” is a feel-good rock and roll classic, first recorded by The Foundations in 1980 and covered a number of times since. The four page tablature presented here teaches you how to play both the melody and chords for 3-string cigar box guitars. Continue reading “Build Me Up Buttercup 3-String Cigar Box Guitar Tablature”
The tablature in the PDF link below will show you exactly how to play the melody and chords for the classic Southern Rock song Call Me The Breeze, written by J. J. Cale and famously performed by Lynyrd Skynyrd. This tablature is arranged for 3-string Open G “GDG” tuning. Continue reading “Call Me The Breeze by J. J. Cale (performed by Lynyrd Skynyrd) – 3-string Cigar Box Guitar Tablature”
For anyone who grew up watching old Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Cartoons featuring Foghorn Leghorn, this song will be instantly recognizable. Continue reading “Camptown Races – 3-string Open G “GDG” – Cigar Box Guitar Tablature”
The tablature in the PDF link below will show you exactly how to play the old American minstrel tune “Camptown Races“, written by Stephen Foster.
Continue reading “Camptown Races By Stephen Foster 2-String Bass Tablature”
The 3-string cigar box guitar tablature in the PDF link below will show you exactly how to play the melody and chords for the song Carolina in my Mind, written and performed by James Taylor. This is one of James’ greatest hits, instantly recognizable from just the first few notes. Like a lot of James Taylor’s songs, the melody line is fairly straightforward but the chord progression can be a little complex. Continue reading “Carolina in my Mind by James Taylor – 3-string Open G GDG – Cigar Box Guitar Tablature”
A Cigar Box Guitar (CBG) can range widely when it comes to decoration. The most basic, primitive CBGs have very little decoration; reduced to its most basic form, a CBG is a stick, a box and a couple of strings, without any need for show adornment. While there is definitely nothing wrong with that austere simplicity, many builders enjoy adding some decorative touches to their builds. Many cigar boxes start off as pretty decorative pieces anyway, so it is natural to try to build upon that when creating a handmade instrument from one.
A Cigar Box Guitar (CBG) can range widely when it comes to decoration. The most basic, primitive CBGs have very little decoration; reduced to its most basic form, a CBG is a stick, a box and a couple of strings, without any need for show adornment.
While there is definitely nothing wrong with that austere simplicity, many builders enjoy adding some decorative touches to their builds. Many cigar boxes start off as pretty decorative pieces anyway, so it is natural to try to build upon that when creating a handmade instrument from one.
The purpose of this article is to discuss some of the methods you can use to decorate your builds, and wherever possible to use hardware that is both decorative AND useful – using a decorative Continue reading “CBG Bling: Decorating Ideas for your Cigar Box Guitar”
In the video below, Shane Speal shows his technique of reinforcing internal bracing on neck-through cigar box guitars with extra wood. He also shows how to use a Forstner bit to route out the cavity for a mini humbucker pickup. (Note: the pickup used is a C. B. Gitty Toaster Bucker mini humbucker.) Continue reading “Cigar Box Guitar Building Tip: Neck Reinforcement with Humbuckers”
Here are the chord form sheets for all of the common keys that you might want to play on your cigar box guitar. These are all for 3-string cigar box guitars tuned to Open G “GDG”. Continue reading “Cigar Box Guitar Chord Forms for 3-string Open G “GDG””
In this post, you’ll learn how to play Led Zepplin’s Dancing Days on a 4-string cigar box guitar from Shane Speal.
Continue reading “Cigar Box Guitar Lesson: How to Play Led Zepplin’s Dancing Days”
In this video lesson, Shane Speal distills Howlin’ Wolf’s two-guitar attack in the song, “Back Door Man” into one easy riff for cigar box guitar. Speal is the author of Making Poor Man’s Guitars (Fox Chapel Publishing, 2018)
Shane Speal distills the double-guitar attack of Howlin’ Wolf’s 1960 classic, “Back Door Man” into a single 3-string cigar box guitar riff. You will need to tune your guitar to Open E (EBE), which is lower than standard Open G.
For reference, we present the original recording first…
“Back Door Man” was recorded in Chicago in June 1960 by Howlin’ Wolf (vocals), Otis Spann (piano), Hubert Sumlin and Freddy Robinson (guitars), Willie Dixon (double bass), and Fred Below (drums).
Sumlin and Robinson’s guitars continue to weave in and out with Spann’s piano…making a very busy groove.
Speal takes the Low E string guitar groove and mixed it with a High E string part to create a simplified riff that incorporates much of the mojo.
Enjoy…
-Shane Speal
Video lesson for cigar box guitar. Shane Speal breaks down the iconic riff from Howlin’ Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightning” into an easy-to-play 3-string cigar box guitar riff. Speal is the author of Making Poor Man’s Guitars (Fox Chapel Publishing, 2018)
“Smokestack Lightning” is a one-chord drone blues song recorded by legendary singer, Howlin’ Wolf in 1956. In this video lesson, Shane Speal breaks down the guitar lines, originally played by Hubert Sumlin and turns them into an accessible 3-string cigar box guitar riff.
For reference, we present the original recording. Scroll down for the lesson.
Tune your cigar box guitar to Open G to start the first lesson:
Official Shane Speal: http://shanespeal.com
Strings & tuner from the video at http://cbgitty.com
Shane Speal explores the classic Howlin’ Wolf song, “I Asked Her for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)” and arranges the riff for a 3-string slide cigar box guitar. The classic blues song was first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf for Chess Records in 1956. Shane Speal is the author of Making Poor Man’s Guitars (Fox Chapel Publishing, 2018)
Shane Speal explores the classic Howlin’ Wolf song, “I Asked Her for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline).” The drone blues song was first recorded in 1956. Here is the original recording for reference.
In the lesson, Speal shows the riff in open G (GDG) and then explains how to re-tune the cigar box guitar to a rumblin’ Open E (EBE) tuning.
Official Shane Speal: http://shanespeal.com
Strings & tuner from the video at http://cbgitty.com
Musician and author, Shane Speal explores the classic Howlin’ Wolf song, “Little Red Rooster.” The song contains a deep blues riff that that has appeared in other great blues songs by Son House, RL Burnside and others. Speal distills the guitar parts down to an accessible riff for 3-string cigar box guitar. Speal is author of Making Poor Man’s Guitars (Fox Chapel Publishing, 2018)
Musician and author, Shane Speal explores the classic Howlin’ Wolf song, “Little Red Rooster.” The song contains a deep blues riff that that has appeared in other great blues songs by Son House, RL Burnside and others. Speal distills the guitar parts down to an accessible riff for 3-string cigar box guitar.
First we present the original recording for reference. Scroll down for Speal’s lesson.
Here is Shane Speal’s full lesson on “Little Red Rooster.”
Strings & tuner from the video at http://cbgitty.com
Shane Speal tackles an obscure R. L. Burnside blues song, “Nine Days In Jail” by inventing a brand new cigar box guitar tuning. This in-depth lesson explores RL’s riffs and the Missississippi fife-and-drum style rhythm involved. Essential blues lesson for 3-string cigar box guitar! Shane Speal is the author of Making Poor Man’s Guitars (Fox Chapel Publishing, 2018)
TUNING: C MINOR (IMPLIED) – A variation of the Open G tuning (GDG). To get this tuning, simply take an Open G cigar box guitar and raise the middle string to Eb.
The song, “Nine Days in Jail” is from R. L. Burnside’s album, My Black Name A-Ringin’.
For reference, we present the original song.
R. L. played the original version in the key of C#minor…or somewhere near that. (He probably didn’t use a tuner.) Shane Speal arranges the song for Cminor using a new tuning that is very similar to Open G: G Eb G.
Here’s the lesson. Enjoy!
Shane Speal breaks down Howlin’ Wolf’s “I Ain’t Superstitious” into a version playable on 3-string cigar box guitar. Video lesson, step-by-step.
Shane Speal explores the deep blues of Howlin’ Wolf (aka Chester Burnett) by combining the three guitar parts of “I Ain’t Superstitious” into a 3-string cigar box guitar version. Speal’s version utilizes an Open G tuning (GDG) for this blues song that is played in the key of D. Continue reading “CIGAR BOX GUITAR VIDEO LESSON: “I Ain’t Superstitious” by Howlin’ Wolf”
