how to play – The How-To Repository for the Cigar Box Guitar Movement!

Learn to play “Smoke On the Water” on your Cigar Box Guitar with just ONE FINGER! [Video Lesson in Link]

Pretty much every would-be rocker of a certain age knows the opening riff to Deep Purple’s classic “Smoke On the Water”.

DUHN DUHN DUN, DUHN DUHN, DAH DUHN…

Fortunately, playing this riff on an open G “GDG” cigar box guitar is so darn simple it only takes one finger! In this video lesson, I walk you through how to do it, with simple tablature notation provided as well.

And hey, once you have the opening riff down, the rest of the song is just a bunch of notes and rhythm and stuff, no problem easy-peasy. Does anyone even know how the rest of the song goes? I’m not sure I do.

So grab your CBG and give this riff a try today!

Daily Tip: How to play “Smoke on the Water” On your 3-string Cigar Box Guitar

Want to play the opening riff to “Smoke on the Water” on a 3-string cigar box guitar tuned to Open G GDG? Just use your index finger to “bar” (hold down) all three strings, and move it as follows while strumming:

Open / 3 / 5 / Open / 3 / 6 / 5 / Open / 3 / 5 / 3 / Open.

You can also sing along! DAH DAH DUHN, DAH DAH DAH DUHN, DAH DAH DUHN, DAH DUHN (dundundundun).

Learn to play “Cocaine Blues” on the Cigar Box Ukulele

Click the image above to view the ukulele lesson entry in the knowledgebase! — Click the image above to view the ukulele lesson!

The latest video how-to lesson from One-hand Dan walks you through playing the classic blues song “Cocaine Blues”, in the style of Townes Van Zandt. This is the fourth in the series of ukulele how-to play vids Dan has done, and we’re glad to be able to host them here on CigarBoxGuitar.com!

In other cigar box ukulele news, we have been busy adding some new cigar box (and other custom) ukulele models to the lineup of finished instruments over at the C. B. Gitty store. Click here to check them out!

Cigar Box Ukulele Lessons from One-Hand Dan

Click to see the knowledgebase post and view the video.

We’ve been wanting to add some ukulele-specific content to our knowledgebase for a while, but we didn’t have a uke expert in-house so it wasn’t going very well. Enter One-Hand Dan Russell, a performing musician with an awesome unique style and immense musical ability.

We first met Dan down in Huntsville, AL at the Lowe Mill Cigar Box Guitar Festival last May, and ran into him again at the Chicago CBG fest this past November. Dan plays a mean cigar box uke, so it’s a natural fit to feature some of his how-to-play content in our knowledgebase here on CigarBoxGuitar.com!

This first video lesson has Dan walking you through how he plays the song “Hold On” by the Alabama Shakes. We’ll be adding more great videos from Dan as he creates them, so stay tune. Viva la Ukulele!

Cigar Box Guitar Tablature Library added

We have just created a new section of the knowledgebase here on CigarBoxGuitar.com which will host a growing library of tablature for cigar box guitars, with a focus on the popular Open G “GDG” tuning style.

We have added a few initial pieces of tablature and more will be coming soon. Click the image below to check out what has been added so far!

Second Part of Canjo Video Series Added

The second part of C. B. Gitty’s video series “The Essential Canjo” has just been added to the Canjos & Diddleybows section of the knowledgebase here on CigarBoxGuitar.com. In this installment, Gitty walks you through the anatomy of a canjo – the various parts and how they are put together, the fretting style, discussion of the “blue note” and more. A number of diagrams and explanatory notes help illustrate the points Gitty is making in the video.

Stay tuned for parts 3 and 4 to be posted in the near future, which will cover tuning, reading tablature, playing simple songs, and making use of more advanced playing techniques.

Check out the Knowledgebase Post for more info and to view the video!

New Video: The Essential Canjo – Part 1

We’ve just added a new post to the Canjos & Diddleybows section of the knowledgebase here on CigarBoxGuitar.com. The subject is Part One of a 4-part video series by C. B. Gitty on the instrument known as the Canjo. If you have ever wanted to know about these fun little instruments, this video series is for you!

Check out the Knowledgebase Post for more info and to view the video!