Another great viewer request featuring an obscure R. L. Burnside song. I had to create a new tuning in order to play it... and I love it!
First, here's the original song. You'll notice in my lesson that I tweaked the feel of the song a little bit
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Here's a wild guitar concept I haven't seen before. This three-stringer was crafted from a discarded exit sign by Gary Desrosiers. According to Desrosiers, he came across the plastic sign at a job site and inspiration struck.
He
Read more…In all my years of teaching cigar box guitar through Youtube videos, no lesson has been more popular than a quick class I filmed on Seasick Steve's playing style. Recently, I fired up the camera and updated the information, giving closeups to the f
Read more…You've shaped the neck, cut the soundholes and put all those glorious electronics inside. Now it's time to attach the lid to the box!
In the video below, I show the simple way that I attach the lid. As you can see, I prefer to use "drop in lid" ci
Read more…by Shane Speal
Muddy Waters was one of my very first heroes when I was introduced to the blues. He had the swagger and the bravado like no other man who has walked this earth.
He also had a badass guitar technique played with reckless abandon.
Af
Read more…Get the most out of your acoustic/electric cigar box guitars with an inexpensive piezo rod & preamp unit.
In this video, I show a simple mounting technique for neck-through cigar box guitars. The sound is fantastic and really allows a great tone re
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"Come on, brothers and sisters, KICK OUT THE CANS!"
For our final build-off contest of 2017, we're looking for your best canjos, cookie tin banjos and any other playable stringed instrument made from discarded metal containers. It can have one st
In an industry dominated by computer-programmed robotics and hidden factories in China, it's refreshing to watch this short video of the Hofner factory making Beatle basses. Note the lack of CNC machines. Also check out the guy cutting fret slots
Read more…After spending months developing the new 2x4 Lap Steel Kit, Ben "Gitty" Baker started to consider other uses for simple 2x4 planks and came up with this very simple strummer guitar.
To make the instrument, Gitty started with a single piece of 2x4
Read more…We have just discovered another set of historic plans as part of Cigar Box Nation's ongoing research to archive homemade folk instruments. How a Boy Can Make a Banjo was first published in the Salt Lake Herald on Aug. 20, 1893.
The article descri
Read more…Glenn Watt of C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply returns with another country cover for one-finger cigar box guitar playing. We love these lessons because they allow ANYBODY to play a cigar box guitar with this simple method.
Here is "You'll Never Leave Har
Read more…Amazing Grace continues to be one of our most requested lessons. Glenn Watt of C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply shows you how to play the entire thing using just one finger. You'll need a 3-string cigar box guitar tuned to GDG.
We heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend that Glenn Watt of C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply has taken the great singalong rocker, Take It On the Run by REO Speedwagon and arranged it for one-finger playing! You'll need a 3-string cigar box gu
Glenn Watt of C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply has broken down Creedence Clearwater Revival's classic Bad Moon Rising and shows you how to play the entire thing with one finger! You'll need a 3-string cigar box guitar tuned to GDG.
Shane Speal shows the simple paper-thru-strings percussion technique that Johnny Cash made popular in songs like "I Walk the Line." This is a lesson that needs to be taught!
Thanks to C. B. Gitty for buying us this nifty new video camera with all
Read more…Shane Speal has been championing the 3-string "EEB" tuning for years and has written several songs with it. In this lesson, he shows how you can start playing your own lush ballads by simply using two fingers for a moveable chord. It also includes
Read more…Cigar Box Nation founder, Shane Speal delves into the jazzy side of blues with this T-Bone Walker inspired riff. Speal takes Walker's rhythm style and transposes it for a three-string, slide cigar box guitar in the Open G tuning (GDG). You'll need
Read more…Huntsville, AL guitar builder, Scott Griepentrog was interviewed by Shane Speal at the 2017 New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Festival as part of the Builder's Forum. The idea was to learn more about the builders and try out their various handmade instrum
Read more…Cigar Box Nation founder, Shane Speal deconstructs the 6-string riff from Little Red Rooster and transposes it on three-string, open G (GDG) slide cigar box guitar.
Note: Variations of this guitar riff has been used in countless other classic blues
Read more…Shane Speal's back with one of the most useful lessons for cigar box guitar sellers looking for the ultimate riff that will draw people to their booth. Speal shows how to use a simple G major scale on a three-string slide CBG and a Roland MicroCube
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