Hi I'm David and I recently finished my first build, I had a few problems with it but I won't go into detail as I have already done that on the forums! Some how I thought playing CBG would be easy as I already know how to play electric guitar but oh was I wrong, well I suppose it's not difficult it's just getting to grips with the different techniques.
so yeah, I ramble on allot so I'm just going to put a stop to that story before I get carried away and repeat myself and so on.
So introduce yourself to me if you do so wish!
Replies
Hey David,
Eric here. Fellow rambler-alotter ----
I take it you built a straight unfretted slide guitar? If you're talking about learning new slide techniques etc ...never fear...I too was not much of a slide player...had slid a few chord-tuned barre chords and an obligatory blues lick on a recording or two...but never tried to learn 'slide' ---
but damn, you'll be surprised if you just play a 3-string CBG for a month...I lucked out and my first build and the slight mods or conscientious measurements I did worked and after stringing it up and thinking 'blah' and switching to a wider bolt for the nut and thinner bolt for teh bridge -- it came out super playable and intonated beyond my wildest hopes...
so getting the cool tones out of it through an amp and verb/echo flavorings was a new kick and I played nothing but the CBG for about two months -- the wider string spacing and the three strings made me instantly do isolated string work to play the melodies in my head and all of the sudden my slide vibrato was fluid and dynamic -- I was seeing the fretboard differently because I treated it as a unique technique from the start ---- and the bonus? When I went back to play my 6 stringers -- I was a better player!
So just get your box modded however you need to to make it string up firm and intonate well, and just groove only on the CBG for a while...it's a whole different monster...AND When I get up and recording again...I have about three hours of material semi-roughed out of just CBG blues and mutated indian/hungarian vibey stuff -- I'm way more interested in this new direction for the foreseeable future. It's addicting.
Chapter 12: ...I'll cose with asking what issues are you having? Too floppy strings when tuned to E or D? Slide hitting the neck -- or bad tone?
Depending on your string gauges, I say tune the thing up to G and... BAM --- instantly the strings have such a firm tension and sing under the slide. Made it a joy to play...
The End. Best of luck.
Hi David,
I'm Dave. I'm new to the site, but have been making and playing CBGs for about a year. I found that if I didn't play regular guitar and just stuck to the box I got better at the box a lot quicker. It also taught me how to play slide on the regular guitar which I always wanted to do, but could never do it right.
Anyway, salutations, glad to have you and keep us posted.
Dave