Hello to the 'pedal to the metal' crowd:

I am a retired artist/media/professor type who has done 10 CD's with synths/guitars/pedals etc.  I began building cigar box guitars last year and have sold 15 in my wife's shop (which sells fashion, jewelry, etc. from India and southeast Asia- where I am right now!).  This summer I came across the 'Trio' pedal. You all must run and get one.  It is a stomp box which has 3 memory banks. You plug your cigar box or any other kind of guitar into it. You stomp on the switch and start playing- maybe a verse to a song. Then you hit the switch again. INSTANTLY a backing track of drum and base kicks in IN THE CHORD CHANGES YOU JUST PLAYED, with 10 possible variations and 10 possible styles.  There are 3 memory banks, so you could record verse, chorus, bridge in your bedroom and play on top of backing band.  This is a GREAT GREAT composing and practice device. You can also get a secondary pedal which will plug in and which will toggle thru the parts or the styles on the fly.  The drums and bass even do fills, based on what you just played.  This is the digital world at it's best.  I picked up my TRIO for $150 with free shipping on Ebay from a dealer who sold me a brand new open box unit. The box runs about $150-$200.  The additional toggle pedal is about $35.  Check TRIO out on Youtube.  It is a great learning, playing, and teaching tool.  Just my suggestion for what it is worth!  

The Electric Mule