The How-To Repository for the Cigar Box Guitar Movement!
How to Build and Play Cigar Box Guitars and other Homemade Instruments
View the full text of this entry by clicking the “Read More” link below for the formatted canjo tab…
Learn how to play “Camptown Races” by Stephen Foster on your One-String canjo! Continue reading “Camptown Races – Traditional”
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”
Written by Shane Speal, www.shanespeal.com
“So, we took some cigar boxes…In those days, cigar boxes were made of wood. So, we worked at it and finally made ourselves a fiddle. For our strings, we had no real strings … we took strands off the screen door. We made fiddles out of that stuff, and then we started practicing. [I visited my neighbor] to see how he tuned his fiddle. He would sound a string, and then I would try mine, but I couldn’t go as high as his fiddle; every time I tried to match his pitch, I’d break a string…. But then when he would break a string, I would take the longest end. Then my fiddle sounded pretty good. And that’s how I learned. It’s just a matter of having music on your mind.”
– Canray Fontenot
Quoted from his National Endowment for the Arts Honor
I first came across the name Canray Fontenot from the dedication page of book, Fiddle Fever by Sharon Arms Doucet. In the book, a young Cajun boy named Felix comes of age when he falls in love with music and Continue reading “Canray Fontenot: From Cigar Box Fiddle to Creole Legend”
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”
The 3-string cigar box guitar tablature in the PDF link below will show you how to play the melody for the song Carrickfergus, recorded as “The Kerry Boatman” by Dominic Behan in 1965, though the origins go back even further to the 18th century. Continue reading “Carrickfergus – Tablature for Open GDG Cigar Box Guitars”
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 this gallery is our collection of celebrities holding (and ideally playing) cigar box guitars. If you have any photos like this, please let us know! Click on any of the photos for a larger view and more info.
Musical stlyes: Blues, Folk, Jazz, Originals
Handmade instrument played: cigar box guitar
Englishman John Wormald began playing guitar in his teenage years. While in school he built his first solid body electric guitar. From there, although it would take some time to grow, John’s luthiery and performances would take on a storied life. Continue reading “Chickenbone John (John Wormald)”
This story first appeared in The Book Buyer: A Summary of American and Foreign Literature in 1884-1885. It was written by Daniel Carter Beard, who also founded the Boy Scouts of America. It tells the story of a Christmas Eve where the boys Tom, Dick and Harry discover that their beloved Uncle Enos has built himself a banjo out of a cigar box and broomstick. Continue reading “Christmas Eve with Uncle Enos (with Cigar Box Banjo Plans) – by Daniel C. Beard – Circa 1884”
This excerpt from the book “Creative Music for Children”, written by Satis Narrona Coleman and published in 1922, describes the author’s work with teaching music and musical instruments to children. In this section she describes how the children crafted their own instruments, including a cello and violin, from various materials including cigar boxes.
The following excerpt is from the book “Creative Music for Children”, published in 1922, and describes the author’s work with teaching music and musical instruments to children. In this section she describes how the children crafted their own instruments, including a cello and violin, from various materials including cigar boxes. Continue reading “Cigar Box Cello and Violin built by Children – from “Creative Music for Children” 1922″
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””
Shane Speal recently discovered a rare appearance by a cigar box guitar in a vintage film clip, this one from a 1942 music video recorded for the Spike Jones song “Pass the Biscuits Mirandy”. According to the Youtube video post, this short film (which really is a precursor to modern music videos) was called a “Soundie” and was made for playing on special jukeboxes. Continue reading “Cigar Box Guitar in 1942 Spike Jones Music Video”
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
