I know that cigar boxes mean that generally, anyone with one is going to play 'the blues'. But everyone just ends up turning out the same thing to a better or worse degree. I'm not knocking people who want to learn and play and get enjoyment out of music, but, these instruments are much more capable and far more adaptable to so much more than the same three chord turnaround.
I know im a grumpy git, just wanted to get that off my chest.
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But I love the blues and you made me cry. :(
Looks great Ed. Makes me start salivating. :)>
Not the greatest pic, Jim. But here ya go.
Well stated Ed. We all have to start somewhere.
I have this old cast iron skillet that's been in my family for 3, maybe 4 generations. I love it. A simple kitchen tool of humble beginnings in a foundry somewhere. I can't imagine all the simple food it has been used to prepare by my grandmother, mother and myself. I remember eating a farmer's breakfast of ham slices fried in the pan followed by eggs scrambled in the rendered fat. Like real, honest ham you can't buy in a store from pigs we raised and cured and smoked by a friend who knew what ham was supposed to look and taste like. Last weekend I put the skillet over a wood fire and got it nice and hot with a little oil. Then I seared a $50 slab of ahi tuna that I'd crusted with peppercorns. One of the most delicious things I've ever prepared. Expensive ingredients prepared with absolute precision. The next morning it was 2 fried eggs in the skillet with butter.
So I suppose if I were a proper chef in a restaurant that someone sitting down and spending some money would complain about getting a single fried egg if they were expecting ahi. But I've never had a guest offer any grumpy feedback on either end of the food spectrum when I've offered up something I've made for free. Sometimes it is great just to share something remarkably basic. Maybe a basic fried egg is just the beginning. You'd never get to find out if you gave me shit about one meal I'd made. There wouldn't be a second.
There's a huge barrier to cross just to put yourself out there when you're not a pro gigging musician. Putting up a video or song for the first several times is a struggle. My first ones were real crap. Real crap. Genuine. I leave them up just to remind me that I've made progress. And there are loads of new players just learning how to hit 12 bars and not 8 or 14. There are plenty of examples here of people not just playing the blues with varying degrees of success. Some are absolutely spectacular and surprising.
You should have a listen to the CBG.UK Radio Shows - i unearthed, without too much effort, some seriously excellent music during my research, much of it is on CD and in members' videos and Reverbnation / Bandcamp files!
Blues, Prog, Rock'n'Roll, Folk, Gospel....all there and excellently played! May i take this oppportunity to again heartily thank all our contributors for some fantastic CBG music - Ralph keep yer ears open..! (-;
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/forum/topics/cbg-uk-radio-go-go-go-li...
Being curmudgeonly isn't that bad, as Oily said, some of us are just trying to learn the basics and enjoy making music for our selves (as we're too embarrassed to play in public). I will admit that hearing one of these simple boxes played by a gifted musician is great. I have a few friends who are skilled and the sounds and music they can get out of my CBGs never ceases to amaze me.
As for being a curmudgeon, feel free to join us for discussions and general old farted expression of the soul.
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/curmudgeons-of-cigar-box-nation
Thanks for the title to a new instrumental I'll be working on: The Curmudgeon. I sometimes agree with you about too much blues, much as I love them. So I make a semi-conscious effort to try to create something slightly different, that still references back to the blues in a rhythm, or riff, or structure somewhere in each song. And I agree with the Kid: someone barely getting a I-IV-V shuffle going, may be all they can achieve. But if there is a vid of such, you can see the concentration and joy of accomplishment on that person's face as they struggle with mastery of something that is really pretty simple musically. Sometimes, they're just struggling with getting their fingers to move. I think the simplicity of the blues form is what draws people in, and what keeps most people here. Trying to create something different, listenable and non-boring out of I-IV-V is as much of a challenge as shaping a neck or slotting frets. Hmmm: "Even Curmudgeons Get The Blues..." :-)
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/profile/VERMAPYRE
Each to their own
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