Category: Video Lessons

Videos showing you how to play well-known songs on canjos.

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Jack White builds a Diddley Bow in about 1 minute

“Who says you need to buy a guitar?”

In this video clip from Dave Grohl’s “It Might Get Loud” documentary, Jack White builds a diddley bow in a cow pasture. He spends just over a minute doing it, and the last step is to tack on a single coil pickup and plug in to the amp stack he has standing by. He ends with the line quoted above. Why indeed? Continue reading “Jack White builds a Diddley Bow in about 1 minute”

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.

VIDEO: The Essential Canjo – Part 2 – Anatomy of a Canjo

This is the second in a four-part video series introducing the Canjo. In this series Ben “C. B. Gitty” Baker will go over the various parts of the canjo, the special diatonic fretting method used on American Canjo Company canjos, the special “Blue Note” fret, and much more.

The next video in this series, Part 3, will cover tuning the canjo, reading canjo tablature, and finally show you how to play a could of basic songs.

The final video, part four, will show you more advanced methods you can use to expand your playing.

VIDEO: The Essential Canjo – Part 3 – How to Play, Tune & Read Tablature

In this third part of our four-part video series introducing the Canjo, Ben “C. B. Gitty” Baker will dig into the basics of how to play the instrumennt. He first discusses and shows you how to tune your canjo to the “standard” high D note (your canjo may be tuned to a different note depending on the string you used), then discusses how to read the American Canjo Company tab posted here at CigarBoxGuitar.com, and finally shows you how to play two well-known songs from the tab: Camptown Races and When the Saints Go Marching In. Numerous diagrams help illustrate the how-to concepts being presented.

The final video, part four, will show you more advanced methods you can use to expand your playing.