Excited to start... But now what????

Mark Bliss May 3, 2011 at 12:48pm

Yeah, for beginner purposes the open playing advice is a good start, a barre chord is a barre chord in the end.

But as a player progresses to more advance stages, then there will be fundemental differences.

For now I would recommend adding a definition to your "standard tuning" description and build on what you have. I recognized the chord patterns, but many wouldnt.

I will watch for your site to build out and develop, a bunch of songs would be great.

And yeah, I dig the banjolele's, banjitars, tenor banjos, pretty much anything unusual.

I know a guy that does "colonial re-enactments" with a lute tuned as a guitar, its cool!

Michael Glenn May 3, 2011 at 2:46am

Mark, thanks for the feedback. Standard tuning the way I use it means G-B-E, the way the 3 highest strings on a guitar are tuned. (So, standard guitar tuning, maybe?)

And I'm pretty sure the chord shapes are the same for any open tuning but maybe someone could verify that? I guess I should make it clearer anyway. It's just a start anyway - something I just threw together whilst waiting for my arrival of more cigar boxes. I hope to use it as a resource for beginners when I get into selling CBGs. Sort of, "Oh, by the way, this site has a ton of songs written out for cigar box guitar, so when you get home check it out."

I also want to put chord diagrams for 4 strings, I just have to sit down and work it out.

Anyway, please keep the criticism coming. If it seems confusing to you, it's probably even worse for a total beginner.

And the banjoleles do look cool. I'd only seen the Mahalo "shaped like a banjo" uke, didn't realize other manufacturers were making the real thing. But I'm gonna make my own now, anyway.

Thanks again,

Michael

Mark Bliss said:

Micheal, just looked at the site, shows promise-keep up the good work.

I left a comment for you, didnt expect it to show up as a public comment, but sharing your yearning for a Banjolele, I wanted to let you know they are indeed made by several (many actually) manufacturers. Gold tone, Lanikai, Kala, come to mind right off the bat.

Another note about the site, on your tunings page you need more definition. You have two areas, "Open tuning" and "standard tuning". Both need more definition, as there many multiples of either. Open= 151, 515, etc etc, and "standard"? The chords you show will not work unless you define your "standard" tuning!

Just meant as constructive critisism! Keep it up!

Mark

Mark Bliss May 3, 2011 at 2:07am

Micheal, just looked at the site, shows promise-keep up the good work.

I left a comment for you, didnt expect it to show up as a public comment, but sharing your yearning for a Banjolele, I wanted to let you know they are indeed made by several (many actually) manufacturers. Gold tone, Lanikai, Kala, come to mind right off the bat.

Another note about the site, on your tunings page you need more definition. You have two areas, "Open tuning" and "standard tuning". Both need more definition, as there many multiples of either. Open= 151, 515, etc etc, and "standard"? The chords you show will not work unless you define your "standard" tuning!

Just meant as constructive critisism! Keep it up!

Mark

Michael Glenn May 3, 2011 at 1:14am

Man, this is an awesome thread! I like all the info on blues playing, and the idea of just learning 3 chords and playing 3 chord songs. The only problem is for people who have no musical background, they'd have to transpose a lot of songs they google to whatever key they're in - and that's not easy for a beginner.

I started on ukulele about two years ago, and just very recently built my first CBG and I'm diggin' it. But I'm also struggling to just "find" stuff online that I can play along to, and I know that a lot of people if they're not having fun from the start, they won't stay with an instrument for very long. So I'm putting a list together of easy, 3 chord public domain songs with simple I, IV, V notation over at http://101cigarboxguitarsongs.weebly.com. (No this is not shameless promotion. I'm putting this out here because I need help finding songs, and I want to help other people find songs.)

Problem is, I've only found 2 public domain songs so far that I think would sound okay on a CBG. So I was hoping some more experienced players could help me identify more fun, easy songs for beginners? I'd give full credit for contributing a song to the site, plus a link back to your website or youtube channel.

MichaelS Country Boy Guitars April 20, 2011 at 9:44am

Re reading all this and I like Fitzhughs explaination for the 12 bar, and Matts just play it with 3 chords. I would like to add one simple thing my guitar instructor told me. You have to make the guitar sing the song. What I mean is when you play the chords, barred or whatever, you need to get a strum pattern going that sounds like the song. You can strum down on the I IV V all day long and untill you chang up your pattern it wont sound like much. This slowed me down when starting out with a 6 string.

Practice strumming, down up down up, down down up down, etc. Make up strum patterns. It should be fun. I hope this makes some sense, maybe some seasoned players can add to what I'm saying. Make your guitar sing!

Fitzhugh April 6, 2011 at 1:19pm

I'm glad it is still helping folks. PM me if you have any questions about the post, and remember it is for 151 tuning, as was pointed out above, though much of the info in useful more broadly.

Richard G Caudill April 5, 2011 at 11:41pm

I read it also ,, needed this info ,, making the transistion from 6 to 3 tks

Richard G Caudill March 26, 2011 at 11:02pm

ABSOLTELY GREAT !!!!!! I needed this badly and is super east to understand

Fitzhugh said:

Here's a few quick-start suggestions, you might be past this, or might want simpler, let me know if you do.

TUNING YOUR GUITAR:

Before anything else, tune you guitar. Assuming it is tuned the way I expect, you'll hold the lowest (called 3rd) string down at the 7th fret and tune the middle (2nd) string so it is the same pitch. You'll hear "beats" when they're close but not in tune. Get it as close as you reasonably can, it makes a difference. I find it easier to tune the string up to the correct pitch instead of tuning down, even if I have to drop it down below the correct pitch to do so.
Next, fret the middle, 2nd, string at the 5th fret and tune the high (1st) string so that it is the same. If done correctly, it is now the same note as the 1st (lowest) string, only an octave higher. Verify this by fretting the 1st string at the 12th fret (aside: the 12th fret, which again is an octave higher than open, is right at the mid point in the string - file that away somewhere where it competes with forgotten phone numbers).

Check again by strumming all open a few times. Does it sound OK? If not, repeat. You can also find videos on youtube to tune to by searching something like "how tune 3 string cbg", but they might tune to a pitch that doesn't work well with your guitar's set of strings. The builder will probably have told you what tunings will work with the strings on it now.

PLAYING SOME MUSIC:
As for playing music, first just try playing something that will sound vaguely familiar, since these are chords used together in so many many songs. It's called a I-IV-V chord progression. I'll come back to what that means shortly, but for now you're going to play and not worry about meaning. I do need a way to tell you what to play, though, so...

I (roman numeral there, not letter) means play all strings open, left hand does nothing but look cool and hold up neck
IV means left hand frets all strings at 5th fret (yes, "four" is at "fifth" fret - again, will come back).
V means left hand frets all strings at 7th fret

1) Strum the open strings a few times, trying to play something vaguely in rythm. That's the I (one) chord (again, will explain that below)
2) Strum all the strings fretted on the 5th fret (use finger or slide). That's the IV chord
3) Move up two frets and strum all strings fretted on the 7th fret. That's the V chord

Now combine these in various combinations.

Each roman numeral represents one measure here, which means strum that chord four times in a row, so
IV
means fret all on 5th fret and go "Strum strum strum strum"

Try the following:
I, IV, V, V and repeat
Or
I, IV, V, IV
Or
I, I, IV, V
and so on.

BASIC 12 BAR BLUES CHORD PROGRESSION:

Once the above feels right, try a simple 12 bar blues progression (bar here is just another name for measure):

I, I, I, I

IV, IV, I, I

V, IV, I, I

Remember, each individual roman numeral represents one measure, and while measures can be made up of different numbers of beats, and the basic beat used can have different values, the most common one is 4/4, where there are four beats per measure. So, in tab format, the above would look like:

I I I I
|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|
|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|
|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|

IV IV I I
|-5--5--5--5-|-5--5--5--5-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|
|-5--5--5--5-|-5--5--5--5-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|
|-5--5--5--5-|-5--5--5--5-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|

V IV I I
|-7--7--7--7-|-5--5--5--5-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|
|-7--7--7--7-|-5--5--5--5-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|
|-7--7--7--7-|-5--5--5--5-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|

Google "how to read tablature" if you need help reading the above, or just ask, I'll be happy to explain. If you google it, though, remember that the explanation probably ues normal 6 string tab in the examples. The concept is the same, just fewer strings AND the strings are tuned differently.

Notice I haven't used any note names here. That is because the interval between notes is often more useful to work with than the notes themselves. You can play the same progressions above and they'll work regardless of what key your guitar is tuned to - in other words, regardless of whether your guitar is tuned AEA, DAD or GDG, etc.

The I IV V progressions in each of the 12 keys are:

A, D, E
Bb, Eb, F
B, E, F#
C, F, G
Db, Gb, Ab
D, G, A
Eb, Ab, Bb
E, A , B
F, Bb, C
F#, B, C#
G, C, D
Ab, Db, Eb

(cut & pasted out of laziness from http://www.zebrakeys.com/lessons/beginner/chords/?id=10)

So, if you're playing a guitar tuned AEA your I IV V chords are A, D, E:

And 12 bar blues in A would be:
A A A A
D D A A
E D A A

... and so on. Again, the note names kinda matter less than the intervals. To play blues chord progressions you need to know what key the others are playing in, and then you just play the notes.

If you are playing 12 bar blues in B, for example, you could just move all three chords up a couple frets each, so that you are playing the I on the second fret, the IV on the 7th fret and the V on the 9th fret, all still played with barre chords.

You can do a lot with these barre chords, but you'll want to learn other chords. Just like with barre chords, how you can play the same "shape" up and down the neck to make different chords of the same type, you can learn other shapes and move them up and down the neck. Probably the three most important to learn would be Major, Minor and 7th. I'll try and write up about those too if you like. Please tell me if I'm barking up the wrong tree here, if you need something more complex or simpler.

Wicked Moon March 4, 2011 at 5:46pm

Ok, stupid question.... On the 3 string chord chart, what do the open circles mean on the frets?

Jared King said:

3 string chord chart.pdf

DAEchordchart.pdf

I, too, suffer from this difficulty. The first thing I can recommend is watching Shane's video series here on the Nation. Practice the plucking that he uses, with the thumb plucking the top two strings in turn and the index finger plucking the bottom string.

Next, practice scales. He shows you both the mid-eastern and blues scales. Do them until they are second nature. I'm at that point, and I'm now figuring out what's supposed to be next. I'm going to order Keni Lee Burgess's DVD on 3 string cbg playing, which I think he sells for $9.99 plus shipping. I've tried watching some of his youtube videos, but he's way too technical in those for people like us with little musical experience.

Also, you can see the attached pdf files that will give you a general idea of chords for different tunings. I'm tuned AEA, so they're not much good to me.

Once you get those first two down, shoot me a PM, and I'll come back here to post where I am.

I've been at this for a month, and I'm starting to get frustrated with the lack of simple teaching stuff that is out there for people with no experience. It seems that the assumption is that everyone migrates over to cbgs from six-string guitars, which certainly isn't true.

Good luck

Fitzhugh December 31, 2010 at 10:52pm

by the way, I meant to write "tune DOWN to D" not up. The high string drops two frets worth to D. yeah, I learned the alphabet and know d comes before e, but it was a long time ago.

How to Play Cigar Box Guitar

Excited to start... But now what????

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