slide (7)

How the Blues was born

As a novice getting the hang of playing any instrument, especially a CBG is very confusing. Playing the instrument in a Blues style is even more complicated if you do not understand its development. I have yet to find a good primer on blues. I am not an expert but the following appears to be valid from all I have read:

The major "D" for blues has a "D" for the I chord, and "F" for the iii,  a G for the IV, an "A" for the V, and a "C" for the vii. A minor D7 uses the notes of 1 = D, 5 = A, 3 = F, and 7 =  C. The Major D7 uses D - A -F# or Gb - C. the big difference is the F and F#. Tuning was developed to facilitate easy playing of these 7th chords and the major and minor chords.

Contrary to popular belief the earliest known blues is from Appalachia. It is mostly settled by "Gaelic" people of Welsh, Irish, and Scottish descent, and blacks. The experts believe the Gaelic people [which included the Druids] migrated in the far ancient past from India, as did the Gypsies. So first look at other scales related to this heritage. 

The Hindu scale is 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • b6 • b7. The Ethiopian scale is 1 • 2 • b3 • 4 • 5 • b6 • b7. An Oriental scale is 1 • b2 • 3 • 4 • b5 • 6 • b7. The Spanish Gypsy is 1 • b2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • b6 • b7. Adding to this music style mixture were Italian and Portuguese people who used the Maximilian scale. And in this area were also Germanic and Italian neighbors. 

As a result of all these cultures they gravitated toward a compromise scale called the Dorian. The Dorian scale is 1 • 2 • b3 • 4 • b5 • 5 • 6 • b7. Combine all these cultural scales and you have a good 7 note blues scale for riffs and arpeggios. 1 • 2 or b2 • 3 or b3 • 4 • 5 or b5 • 6 or b6 • b7.  So, to round out the blues scale you can add elements of the other related scales. Over time the The abbreviated Pentatonic  Blue scale of 1 • b3 • 4 • b5 • 5 • b7 was often used.

The African slaves brought to America and the Appalachia a unique "instrument" to teach children to play music. It is the forerunner of the Diddley Bow. On the side of the house a one string device was fixed and was played by "fretting" it with a piece of bone, ceramic, or metal. This "slide" fretting carried over into the Blues style. Tuning was often modified to facilitate the slide style. 

A style of chording followed on multi-string instruments to facilitate this slide style and blues tunings. However, real blues is never slide alone but requires some finger fretting. The slide set up allowed for the bb often encountered in Blues.

In Blues the root can be played as a major, minor or 7th, This also holds true for the IV and V. The vi is always played as bvi, the vii as bvii, and the iii as biii. The I for "D" can be D, Dm, or D7, the IV G, Gm, or G7, the V as A, Am, or A7, the vi as Bb or Bbmaj7, the vii as C and the iii as F. 

Finally, there is a lot of commonality in all the Appalachian music. Blues, blue eyed blues, bluegrass, and Bakersfield country all share a lot of the elements and instruments developed in the Appalachian area to accommodate these styles. To truly understand Blues requires some understanding of its Appalachian cousins and the Appalachian instruments it originated on.

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Hi,

I just found cigar box nation. I sure would like to get one of their kits and make a simple one with a pickup on it. Have you heard of 'Sea Sick Steve'? He is great, check him out!

 

I want to share this resonator played song I wrote.

I hope you enjoy my song, slide playing resonator style as much as I enjoyed making the video.

Best wishes from Rick Washbrook

 

Rick Washbrook ' Whisky Drinkin' Woman ' Original ' 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3ZeXvGQQsc

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I just found cigar box nation. I sure would like to get one of their kits and make a simple one with a pickup on it.

This is an awesome site and so much information. Have you heard of 'Sea Sick Steve'? He is great, check him out!

I want to share this resonator played song I wrote.

I hope you enjoy my song, slide playing style as much as I enjoyed making the video.

Best wishes from Rick Washbrook

 

Rick Washbrook ' Whisky Drinkin' Woman ' Original ' 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3ZeXvGQQsc

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Hi All

Here are the tabs for my latest lesson 'Bluegrass Cigar Box Guitar'. Will be posting up more videos on this topic. Watch this space....

 Download tab here: Bluegrass%20Cigar%20Box%20Guitar%20Lesson%20%E2%80%93%20Joe%20Cribb.pdf

 My cigar box guitar lessons playlist is HERE

 If you enjoy my lessons please take a look at my latest releases and music here: http://joecribb.bandcamp.com 

Facebook -Twitter - Youtube - Bandcamp - Reverbnation - Cigarboxnation    

 

Keep on keepin' on

Joe Cribb :)

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Q: Who were or are you main musical influences?

Kevin: Many would probably laugh at the vast array of music that I love and has influenced me. The British band The Electric Light Orchestra epitomizes my typical hybridizing of musical styles and genres, with Jeff Lynne's always reliably captivating slide guitar work sealing it for me. I learned a lot from Lynne and the band about songwriting and arranging and unusual vocals and symphony, even something as "trivial" as the drumbeats Bev Bevan used in their songs. Besides that, I would have to say John Denver was a huge influence. Don't laugh! That man was a fantastic songwriter and vocalist. I wept the day he died, because we lost a fine artist. How to write excellently crafted songs and melodies I learned listening to his music. I've been influenced by rock and roll artists more than blues artists, which may surprise some, given my passion for cigar box slide guitar. But I'll tell ya: I love the blues! I'm obsessed with slide and bottleneck guitar. Since I couldn't play lead guitar worth spit, due to having stupid fingers, I picked up slide guitar. Actually, the truth is, I was an insomniac for a lot of my life. A chronic one. Because of this, my fine motor skills, which I would have used to learn blistering slide guitar, was chronically challenged. I couldn't get my fingers to work the way I wanted, no matter how much I practiced. So, under the tutelage of Lynne, Dwayne Allman, Joe Walsh and other rock sliders' tracks, I picked up slide guitar--and did so like a fish to water. I can indeed play the Allman Brothers' "Statesboro Blues" riffs with him. I'm soaked with sweat and exhausted by the end, but I can do it! (laughs)

Vocally, John Denver, Sam Cook, Russ Taff, Sherman Andrus and Daryl Hall start a lengthy list of singers I reveled in.

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Q: When did you learn to play the guitar?Kevin: That's a difficult question to answer, especially since we're over here at the Nation. I'll answer it in a few ways...I took a few lesson when I was about twelve or thirteen from a guy in town. I used a Hawaiian guitar strung with thick steel acoustic guitar strings! (laughs) Yeah, ultimately those strings destroyed that guitar! Anyway, after three lessons, the teacher just wasn't teaching me what I wanted to learn, so I slacked off on practicing enough that my mother ended the lesson. I learned on my own from there. I learned to play listening to John Denver records--but don't laugh! I think John Denver was a wonderful artist and teacher. I learned a lot about songwriting from him--his melodies were fantastic and chord progressions sensible. I later learned slide guitar, but at first I didn't know what it was. I saw steel pedal guitar on HEE HAW, an old country-oriented tv variety show that came on Saturday nights. But I didn't like country back then, and I didn't relate it to what I heard coming from, say, Jeff Lynne, of the Electric Light Orchestra, which was my favorite band and other rock musicians. I figured they just had the strings right up close to the fret board or something, but could never get my guitar to sound that way. It was much later, as an adult, that I caught a Bonnie Raitt concert on MTV and saw--"Ah-ha! That's how they do that!!!" I went out and bought a glass guitar slide and tortured many others learning how to play--and there's nothing worse than listening to someone LEARN how to play slide guitar! But I eventually grew to be very good, again listening to rock artists like Lynne, Joe Walsh and, of course, Dwayne Allman. In fact, I worked hard at mastering Allman's licks on "Statesboro Blues", which shows you how ambitious I was. Anyway, I mastered the slide, which was good, because I couldn't play lead worth spit. I must have been one of the first to introduce electric slide guitar as a lead instrument when I lead the worship service at church, much to everyone's surprise. I really blew them through the back doors. Some hated it, couldn't understand why I did it. Others loved thew sound. But I could never get the sound I wanted from any of the normal guitars I owned, even when I altered them. It wasn't until I stumbled upon cigar box guitars one day, while look for information on building guitars, that my world brightened. I saw some plans online, wondered if I could do it. I tried it, although I actually used an antique silverware box I bought for a dollar at a thrift store. I built myself a guitar, and from the first strum of the completed instrument, I knew I was home. Cigar box guitar became a major part of my life from that time on. I've built some for other people and now sell them to anyone wanting me to construct one for them. My favorite box so far is the COHIBA. I love its tone. Both slide guitar and using cigar box guitars almost exclusively now, as more methodology than style. It's simply the way I'd rather play and the sound I'd rather produce. I don't study a lot of blues artists, preferring rock and songs I just love. I just learn how to play them on the box.
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More starting Tunings GDG

All right here is another tuning that you see used a lot.

Keni Lee Burgess uses this tuning on his CBG lessons here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/KeniLeeBurgess#play/user/53983C1119D9691C/1/eE9mkd5Cu04
and
Shane using this tuning on the lessons here:
http://cigarboxnation.ning.com/page/how2play-1


GDG Tuning

G (top)
D (middle)
G (bottom)

CHORDS: w/ slide
Open (no slide or fingers on the strings) G
2nd fret A
4th fret B
5th fret C
7th fret D
10th fret F


Some things to do with this: s = slide into

G-------------------------0-----------------
D--------------------------7----------------
G--10s12--12s10--10----7----10s12---9

This will give a sound kind of like what you here in the Paris, TX stuff by Ry Cooder.

Bluesy stuff- Put the slide over the 2nd fret. m = palm mute. so slap your strings with your palm. should give a chunk sound

G--2--2m--2--2m--|--2--2m--2--2m--|--2--2m--2--2m--|
D--2--2m--2--2m--|--2--2m--2--2m--|--2--2m--2--2m--|
G--2--2m--2--2m--|--2--2m--2--2m--|--2--2m--2--2m--|

G--9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9|--7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7|
D--9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9|--7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7|
G--9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9|--7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7|

G--2--2m--2--2m--|--2--2m--2--2m--|
D--2--2m--2--2m--|--2--2m--2--2m--|
G--2--2m--2--2m--|--2--2m--2--2m--|

ara

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