I feel I can play my power chords pretty well and play some rythem. Now I feel I'm ready to move on to the melody. I have Keni Lee Burgess CD4 but feel thats still a little too advanced for me (not really ready for the finger plucking). Is there anything else out there that can help, or does anyone have any pointers for me?
The insturment I play is a 3 string, fretless tuned to the common GDg tuning. The action on it is set low enough that I can finger the strings yet still be able to use my slide.
Thanks, Dan.
Replies
I've made several CBG's all 3 string & fretless. They're fun to play, but I'd like to move on to some finger picking. There's discussion on setting the action low. By action I assume you mean the height of the strings from the fret board. The question is how high/low do I set the action?
Check out some of my vids here on the nation and youtube and see if they help.
Also checkout playcigarboxguitar.com
and
learntoplaycigarboxguitar.com
I only play slide.
Regards
Nigel
WoW! Fine websites! Thx.
I reckon a lot of the 'only playing slide' on a fretless gutiar is simply because lots people make them with the action WAY too high. Get the action right and they are easy to play with your fingers as well as a slide, and you get that cool 'nasal' quality to the tone, much like on a fretless bass, and it also becomes feasible to play chords reasonably in tune. Here's my quick take on a classic Cannonball Adderley number..all fingered playing on a fretless, and a few chords thrown in.
http://youtu.be/RKNKM-0gqCY
I seldom if ever finger the fret board, so high action is simply the rule for me. I'm a slider who doesn't fret! :)
...nice!
If that works for you, that's great. Do it. Thing about CBGs is that there are no set rules. I can play chords or melodies--even both at the same time in some circumstances. Get whatever sound you want out of your instrument.
A very long thread so excuse me for not reading the whole thing. My 2 cents on the original question:
If you're using a slide on a fretless guitar then why not just stick with the slide? I'd imagine that getting your intonation accurate enough to play chords and use a slide at the same time is going to be pretty tricky without frets, regardless of the action.
My approach to chord playing on a 3 string fretless is - forget it. If you want to play chords just get a standard 6 string, a 3 string fretless is not a chordal instrument use it for what it's good for, riffin'.
If you look at how classical string players, cellists particularly because they are in the same range as us, approach their arrangements you'll see that they play fragments of chords to suggest a tonality that doesn't need to be made bleedingly obvious. Playing a riff with the tonic on the bass that features the minor third is enough to suggest a minor chord. A melody using the major pentatonic scale will outline the chord changes if you squeeze a bass note in wherever you can. Have a look at my arrangement for Amazing Grace and you'll get the idea. http://www.playcigarboxguitar.com/video/amazing-grace
To do this well it does help to have a strong right hand, preferably with some good fingerpicking skills.
I have to disagree intensely with some of what you said, Patrick, with all due respect. The fact of a three-string fretless CBG is more about the type of sound one seeks. The reason I DON'T play "normal" six-string guitars is because I found the sound I was after in the three-string CBG. It IS a chording instrument as much as it is a melodic instrument, and in my experience, the height of the string can determine how easily a slide can be used. I make my instruments without frets and they are rather long scale with high-set strings. Someone gave me a fretted guitar with low-set strings, and I have little use for it beyond slideless playing.
On the other hand, way you said in your last long paragraph was an excellent observation I have also found to be true--about suggested chords, etc.
- Kevin
I take your point about playing chords, if you prefer the sound of the three string then go to town I just reckon that they are more suited to diatonic playing while six string fretted guitars are better suited to playing chords. But if you prefer to use a 3 string for whatever reason then all that goes out the window, l'm not sure that there are no rules but what there are should be broken from time to time.
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