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Three brand new lessons for playing the Blues, tasteful slide guitar & getting the best tones from your cigar box guitars.

NEW TODAY:  Quick Blues Lick of the Week:  The T-Shape Riff   A seriously badass slide-blues riff that uses shapes to explain it...not chords or music theory!  Another great way to kickstart your collection of blues riffs.

Tasteful Hammer-On Techniques:  This is a simple playing style that will develop your rhythmic playing. I use this all the time in concert in various ways. Here's the foundations of the style, broken down in one easy video.

THE BEST ACOUSTIC PICKUP for cigar box guitar...and the simple method of installing it:    I've played every sort of piezo-equipped cigar box guitar over the last two decades and this setup beats them all.  It's what I use in my new line of guitars...and I'll never go back! 

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Shane Speal's Top 10 Beliefs in Homemade Music
  1. I believe the greatest honor you can give a piece of wood is to make it sing.
  2. I believe that playing an instrument made by your own hand connects you at a deeper level than anything bought at a store.
  3. I believe that sometimes crude & simple instruments play better than ones with all the bells and whistles.
  4. I believe that bells and whistles have their place on stage.
  5. I believe that musical instruments also serve as props on stage.
  6. I believe concerts should be visual as much as sonic.
  7. I believe "grit" is a guitar tone worth attaining.
  8. I believe the essence of old blues music can be found in an empty cigar box.
  9. I believe the greatest advancements in the cigar box guitar music happen when builders and players hang out over BBQ and cold beer, showing off their instruments to each other (and not when they're watching concerts). 
  10. I believe the world needs a new Alan Lomax.  

WHAT ARE YOUR BELIEFS?  POST THEM BELOW.

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WE NEED YOUR HELP CROWDFUNDING FOR SHANE SPEAL'S NEXT ALBUM:  
We're still way under our $7500 Indiegogo goal for the next album. There's only 17 days to go.  Snag a download, t-shirt or even book a private show.  Pictured above: The most popular perks in the campaign have been concert-used guitars from Shane's vault.  He just added this experimental "Five String Cheater."

Indiegogo Campaign
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JUST ANNOUNCED!!!  Strung Together, the Jon Miller cigar box guitar documentary is currently streaming free for Amazon Prime members in the US!!!  

If you have Amazon Prime, you can watch the film in its entirety right now.  
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