Cigar Box Guitar

[sltm1]

I just bought this little puppy, now I gotta learn how to play it....Delta Blues style. I'm vfair to middlin' with my six string, but this is gonna be brand new to me. Advice or info anyone?

[Piker99]

Maybe these will help.
https://www.youtube.com/user/KeniLeeBurgess/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/schlooterhead/videos

[ttcycling]

Nice looking CBG!
Cigar Box Nation is a great place to learn more about playing and building them.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/

[Tony Done]

About half my playing time and repertoire is slide, and I think four stings are easier to get on with the three, Seasick Steve notwithstanding.

Coincidentally, I put electric guitar strings (11s) on my reso uke yesterday and tuned it to open C, a fourth up from guitar open G, and I'm having blast with it. You might like those intervals, 5,4,3 semitones, bass to treble, or the open D intervals, 4,3,5. or Dm, 3,4,5, or a power chord, 5,7,5 or 7,5,7. There are a lot of options. Actual pitch would depend on string length, string gauge and how stiff the neck is.

[tdq]

I've built a few myself (with varying degrees of success) and like Tony I prefer four strings to three. I usually tune them to GDGD, and have figured out my own chord shapes when I'm not playing slide on them.
There are a few online string guage/scale calculators about which I found very handy when figuring what strings to use. I used http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com/stringxxiii.html but there are others.

[Bikewer]

I've been building CBGs for some years myself, I'm on Cigar Box Nation under the same screen name if you want to look at some of my efforts.

The main points about playing with a slide are the same as for a regular guitar, the accurate placement of the slide over the frets (or fret markers as may be the case), the damping behind the slide to prevent extraneous noise, and the development of a nice, steady vibrato technique.

Most tune to an open chord of some sort... Tastes differ wildly along with singing range. "G" works for me.
I tend to build 4-string jobs, but three works fine as well and I've even got a two-string job.

I tend to like a rather "nasty" sound, so all mine are equipped with pickups (I make my own piezo pickups) and I run 'em through either a small practice amp with quite a lot of growl or one of those cute little Danelectro "Honeytone" amps.

[sltm1]

Thanks for the replys, been taking advantage of all of them!! I settled on open G {GDGB} and have been watching some youtube videos on chord shapes. My biggest problem was/is figuring out the best way to hold the little *******, but I'm working that out with my baling twine strap. I bought a 4 string cause I tried a 3 string and being a fingerpicker, one finger felt neglected LOL....glad I did. Also bought a small practice amp (exactly like the Rogue but another name), glad it has an earphone jack, only want the missus to hear the good stuff.

[Taylorplayer]

Cigar Box Instruments are great fun to build and to play! Here's a few that I've built:

And yes, Cigar Box Nation is a great place to check out:http://www.cigarboxnation.com/ Or YouTube.

I've done a few others as well... Can't go wrong with them!

[Taylorplayer]

Originally Posted by sltm1

I just bought this little puppy, now I gotta learn how to play it....Delta Blues style. I'm vfair to middlin' with my six string, but this is gonna be brand new to me. Advice or info anyone?

PM sent....

[sltm1]

Taylorplayer, pm sent back, if you're looking to price yours, (I answered the pm before I read your post), go to Evil-bay, or craigslist and see what the competition is ....BTW, if you want to send me a sample for my opinion, I'm willing to do you that favor LOL PS, your builds look great, me, I'm a blacksmith and gunsmith, metal is my tour de force....my wood work leaves alot to be desired.

[Taylorplayer]

Thanks for that info (and the compliment) .... much appreciated!