The How-To Repository for the Cigar Box Guitar Movement!
How to Build and Play Cigar Box Guitars and other Homemade Instruments
Musical styles: Americana, folk, Appalachian stomp
Handmade instruments played: cigar box guitar, banjo, fiddle
As far back as he can remember, music has been part of Gary Copeland’s life. Gary sings and plays music steeped in rich tradition, bellowing the heavy sounds of Appalachia. And the roots of his musical history run deep as the coal mines in his home state of West Virginia. Continue reading “Gary Copeland (Spence’s Rye)”
What makes Open G – GDG tuning for Cigar Box Guitars so popular?
Musical Styles: Blues, Folk, Americana, Originals
Handmade Instrument Played: Cigar Box Guitar
Even with music in the family, Gerry Thompson didn’t start playing music until well into adulthood. When he inherited an old banjo-lin from his father the wheels began to turn. However, the little strummer was sorely in need of work. Continue reading “Gerry Thompson”
In this series of posts, we feature various U. S. patents from the last 150 years, which were either historically significant in the development of modern musical instruments and instrument-building methods, or which present something interesting or just plain cool. We hope that these historical curiosities will help give cigar box guitar builders some context for their work, and hopefully also provide some inspiration. Continue reading “Gibson’s Guitar Truss Rod Patent from 1923 – US Patent #1446758”
The tablature in the PDF link below will show you exactly how to play The Gitty Gang Theme Song on your 3-string cigar box guitar! The song is a variation on the classic Boogie in G blues progression, with lyrics and arrangement by Ben Gitty. This tablature is arranged for 3-string Open G “GDG” tuning.
Click on the image above to download the printable PDF document.
All of the cigar box guitar tablature here on CigarBoxGuitar.com is presented by C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply, your one-stop shop for all things Cigar Box Guitar: Instruments, Kits, Parts, Gear & More.
If you need some help with this style of tablature, here’s a video where Glenn Watt shows you how to read it.
The tablature in the PDF linked in this post will show you exactly how to play the melody and chords for the Gitty Gang Theme Song! The song is a variation on the classic Boogie in G blues progression, with lyrics and arrangement by Ben Gitty. This tablature is arranged for 2-string G-Basses tuned “GD”.
Click on the image above to download the printable PDF document.
All of the cigar box guitar and G-Bass tablature here on CigarBoxGuitar.com is presented by C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply, your one-stop shop for all things Cigar Box Guitar: Instruments, Kits, Parts, Gear & More.
If you need some help reading tablature, here’s a video where Glenn Watt shows you how to read it.
This is Part 1 of a series of two articles, in which Ben “C. B. Gitty” Baker shares some of what he has learned about buying cool old vintage items (ie: junk) for making homemade instruments.
I am pretty much a newcomer to junking, picking, thrifting, yardsale-ing and the like.
Though I grew up poor and most of my clothes and toys were secondhand, it is only since getting into making cigar box guitars and other handmade instruments that I have begun to appreciate the value of junk stores, thrift stores, yard sales and to a lesser extent antique stores. Continue reading “Gitty’s Guide to Junkin’ and Pickin’ for Cigar Box Guitar Building – Part 1”
This is Part 2 of a series of two articles, in which Ben “C. B. Gitty” Baker shares some of what he has learned about buying cool old vintage items (ie: junk) for making homemade instruments.
In the Part 1 of this article, I discussed the sorts of things I look out for when junkin’ and pickin’, as well as the sorts of places I go to do it – the What and the Where. In this part of the article, I focus more on on the “How” – the way I go about picking. They are still under development, but they are working for now. I have never been a big fan of negotiating prices and dickering, but I have been working on it – so that affects some of these general thoughts. Everyone is different and these methods may not work for you, but I hope some people are able to gain something from it. Continue reading “Gitty’s Guide to Junkin’ and Pickin’ for Cigar Box Guitar Building – Part 2”
Learn how to play Give Back My Heart, as performed by Lyle Lovett, on your 3-string cigar box guitar with the free tablature in this post. Continue reading “Give Back My Heart By Lyle Lovett 3-String Cigar Box Guitar Tablature”
Musical Styles: Blues, Rock, R&B, Christian Rock, Originals
Handmade Instruments Played: diddley-bow, cigar box guitar
At the young age of 12, this Wisconsin youth became active in the Milwaukee music scene. So active, in fact, that before having reached 19 years of age, Glenn had played in more than 12 bands and had already led two. Continue reading “Glenn Kaiser”
Shane Speal talks about Cigar Box Guitars and the study of their history dubbed, aptly dubbed “Guitarcheology”
