Blogs

WEDU is the station...Channel 3 on Comcast on the Florida Gulf Coast

Here's the latest.....The show will be airing for the fist time on February 28th at 8pm.  The name..."ARTS PLUS"   From there it will be released all over the country slowly and methodically.  Really proud of all of the effort the Cigar Box Nation members have done to bring back the age old tradition.  This is a tribute to us all!!!

Great News!!!!  The EMMY award winning segment on PBS's WEDU  Gulf Coast Journal is going nationally syndicated....!!!!  Very proud of the work that was done by all involved.  We are now the largest manufacturer of Cigar Box Guitars on the Gulf Coast.  Beautiful new boxes and designs both in stock and custom made.    Thanks to all those that believe and believe in my work.

The TV station uses the ooyala player on its website, and requires java script in the embed code.  Apparently the nation's server can't handle it.  

Here is a link to the page with the video:

http://myfox8.com/2013/02/11/roys-folks-cigar-box-guitars/

The dude who plays banjo in my band forgot his contact pickup. Since we wanted to hear him during practice I grabbed one of the uke pickup s I make. Used making tape to attach it between the bridge and tailpiece on the banjo's head.

And

It sounded terrific! I was floored. Didn't appreciably alter the sound of the banjo - still sounded like a banjo. Plugged directly into the PA. A little eq and it was perfect.

Now I have to make one specifically for him.

The pickup:

250K volume pot

1/4 input jack

Single disk piezo wrapped in 3 layers of electrical tape.

Cost: Less than 10 bucks.

I'll probably house the jack and volume pot in a small box with a belt clip and get some shrinkwrap for the wires that lead to the piezo. Masking tape worked fine and doesn't mar the banjo surface so I'll stick with that.

Just had an incident happen in my life that really drove home the safety issues when working with any power tools.

A friend of mine died last week from a chainsaw accident.

Sadly it was not necessarily a fatal injury but because he was on his property by himself he bled out leaving two gorgeous angels 18 month and 4 years behind him. 

What is it that I can take away from this tragedy to give it some meaning? Well re-assessing my own use of power tools for a start.
So first preference is use tools when there is someone in earshot I suppose. (Not that practical as I live on my own).

Second is take a phone out to the shed or where ever I'm working.

I looked around my shed and realise that if I did nic an artery I have not one clean piece of cloth out there that I could quickly put on to staunch bleeding if necessary & certainly nothing that could be used as a tourniquet.  Over the coming weeks I'll go out to the shed and give it some more serious thought.
What practical things I can simply implement that  pertain to my circumstances & put some plan in place. As much as I love my hobby I couldn't bear putting my family through the anquish I have witnessed in the last 10 days.

"Bluesboy" played two gigs this weekend curtesy of the "The Big dog blues band" and he also got sold!! Be sad to see that dirtbox go but going to a good home so all well...........jeff

Just finished and delivered "Marky"  please see pics . Nice old box I'd been keeping with a Maple and Walnut neck. Bone Bridge and Penny saddle with my now standard and preffered Alluminium Nut.  Strat style pickup and a sweet sound. Thanks for looking...... Jeff

A Tail of Two Cats ~ By John Bolton

Our sons have long since grown up and moved away. Our two black cats are like children to us now. I think their stories are worth telling.

Elvis came to us first. Linda and I were biking the Raccoon River Trail on a late summer morning. About ten miles out we crossed a gravel road. The trail on the far side had a shady line of trees. Just off the trail were two tiny kittens. One was black and the other was black and white. They looked to be only six weeks old. Being animal lovers, we stopped to hold and pet the babies. They were starved for attention and maybe just plain starving.

There was no house or farmstead in sight and we were about four miles from the nearest town. We had a cat at home and did not need another. Three would definitely be too many. I persuaded Linda to complete our ride. If the kittens were there when we came back, we would find a way to help.

We pedaled off toward the town of Redfield. The kittens raced after us. The tiny black one ran like he was running for his life. I feel hard hearted about it now, but we completed our ride. And of course those little cats stayed on our minds.

We came back and lo and behold, there was a mother cat and now three babies. Momma cat was sweet, petite, solid black and affectionate. Linda thought there might be more kittens and she started calling for them. We soon had five babies of assorted colors. The little black one was the runt of the litter and the most outgoing.

I raced back to the town where we’d parked our truck. By gravel roads, I found my way to Linda and the brood of cats. In the weeds off the bike trail, Linda had found a Bud Light beer box with an old towel inside. Someone had abandoned that momma cat and her litter, literally in the middle of nowhere.

Did you ever make a sixty mile trip in the cab of a small pickup with two humans, a momma cat and five kittens? It was entertaining. We bought a sack of kitten chow along the way home. Those cats were going crazy for it before the bag was open.

We already had a cat, Katie, an older gray female, set in her ways, vocal and crabby. We couldn’t have more cats. We kept the cat family in the garage for a couple of days. It was fun to let them out to play and a circus to re-capture them. We there was undigested corn in momma cat’s poop. What a good mother cat she was to eat field corn to stay alive and feed her babies.

Our vet, Michelle, and vet tech, Susie, are good, people. They found a farm home for the whole litter. It was a relief to find them a home. On the other hand, we knew that farm cats tend to have short lives
And I kept regretting giving up that lively black runt of the litter. I had named him Elvis. He had a lot of personality.  Linda relented to my whining and we asked if we could have him back.  He was soon ours. Or we were soon his.

Our Katie cat was greatly affronted and offended by the new ball of black fur in her domain. How could we bring such a creature into her house? She bullied him while he was small, but soon they were friends. That runt grew into a fifteen pound (neutered) tom. That is a pretty big cat. He in turn bullied Katie. And she would scream when he did. In spite of her angry ‘I’m being murdered’ screams ~ Katie liked it fine.

A few years later Katie cat was dying of old age and kidney failure. She’d had violent seizures. We called Michelle, the vet, to euthanize her. She came to our house to do the merciful deed. Linda held Katie as the life slipped out of her.

Elvis ruled the roost by himself for a few years until Rockie came along.

The winter of 2009 and 2010 was the harshest in my memory. We had the double whammy of severe cold and deep snow. Linda and I worked at our small town hospital. Early on a dark January morning, with the temperature at eighteen below zero, an outpatient came in and told Linda there was a little cat outside and that she was just about frozen. Not much later, a second outpatient repeated the story. Linda went outside and picked up a filthy, starving and nearly frozen little cat. Her tail was broken and covered with frost. Linda cuddled her in blankets. Weak as she was, the little cat purred.

It was off to the veterinary clinic for that little cat. She was so frozen, ill and malnourished that she stayed there for nearly a month. IVs and nutrition helped her regain her strength. She arrived at the vet weighing three pounds. A month later, she was six pounds. And that was after her tail was removed. There was no saving that broken, frozen tail.

It was an unexpected surprise to learn the little cat’s story. Keith was a college student working part time in maintenance at the hospital. I sat with him one morning at coffee break and mentioned the little cat we found. Keith asked, “Is she solid black and about so big?”

We pieced the story together. Keith lived on a farm about fifteen miles away. The farm cats would climb up under the hoods of the cars and trucks to get warm. One recent day Keith had been driving away from the farm and something caught his eye in the rear view mirror. It was the little black cat tumbling in the snow after falling from her perch near the truck motor. When Keith came home, there was the little cat in the farm yard and apparently unharmed.

I asked Kieth if she had a name. I am hard of hearing and I thought Kieth said, ‘Rockie’. That seemed like a fine name for her. She’d
had a rocky start in life. Days later, I would learn that I had misheard. Keith had called her Lucky. But Rockie fit and Rockie it would stay.

Rockie did not learn her lesson after falling out of the truck engine compartment the first time. We think she got under that truck hood again and rode fifteen miles to Harlan and the hospital parking lot - probably getting her tail broken by the fan or fan belts in the process. Like Elvis had run for his life, Rockie stowed away and rode to town for hers. We think she was out in sub zero temps for three days without food or water.

Keith was content to let us keep Rockie. And though it went unspoken, he was content to let us keep her vet bills. By the time she was strong enough to come home, Rockie had bewitched the vet clinic staff. They offered to keep her.

Linda and I – especially Linda, had visited her numerous times. We wanted that cat. We took her home.

If this was fiction, Rockie would be the best cat ever. She isn’t even close. Elvis is the best cat ever. He is our gentle and loving and talkative giant. Rockie is naughty, quirky, independent - and fun.

When we took Rockie back to the vet for her first checkup, we showed Michelle what we thought was a bone chip beneath the skin on her rump and above her thumb sized stub of tail. Michele felt it and rolled in her fingers. She said, “That’s a BB.”

That BB is still there and oddly fascinating to feel. We used to joke about getting Rockie a prosthetic tail. But that stiff little stub does not bother her a bit. It seems to constantly stand up and twitch.

We are Rockie’s staff and she is stand-offish. Elvis is now an old man cat at about fifteen years old. He moves like an old man cat. Rockie will be four this autumn of 2013. She is fast and a champion jumper. She loves and mothers poor Elvis, who mostly tolerates her. Rockie has a high weak and squeaky voice. She does not meow. She does not
yowl. She says, “Eee, eee, eee.”

When company comes, Rockie hides and is not seen until she is certain they have they are gone.

Linda sits in the couch recliner in the evening and Rockie lies on her lap. Rockie regards me as the big bad wolf. She does not hide from me, but she stays two human steps away and will bolt if I intrude closer. She is arrogantly aware that she is smart and fast and I am slow and stupid.

Rockie occasionally allows me to pet her in her designated petting area. This requires me to lie on the floor and pet her beneath a wooden bench. She chooses the petting times and they are not frequent. As I pet her, she watches me warily with her green owl eyes. She is a scaredy cat.

Rockie’s full name is ever changing. It is currently Rockie, BB-butt, monkey-paws, coyote-brain. She earns those names. She is playful cat and has many cat toys. When she has not placed her toys on our bed or scattered them around the house, they are kept under the same wood bench that serves as the designated petting area.

***

We will lose our beloved Elvis at some not too distant point. It’s going to be terrible. He is the best cat ever. Rockie is a healthy little beast. Her bowed hind legs may be a sign that she was malnourished as a kitten. I hope that she will mellow with time and be a more loving cat with me.

Linda says there will be no more cats after these two. I’ve heard that
story before.

Hello everyone, the new Bulldog Burnings site:  www.bulldogburnings.com

is now up and running, pop along and have a look see.

I am available for any type of wood burning you need doing.

Either contact me on here or use the contact link on the site to get in touch with me.

Any  comments, ideas or suggestions from you guys would be appreciated.

Let me know what you think of it.

I have to say here folks .... All the guitars that I post are made up by people who buy my burnings, I only supply the art and the box ... the hard work of making an instrument out of them is done by them.

We're riding out the Blizzard in Boston and I thought I'd share a weather update with my friends on CBN.

I just needed a good camera name like Chester McCrablaster or Rock Pile Dumbhead or something.

I really love looking at all the pics people post here. But sometimes a bunch will get posted without any description at all. I really like reading about the builds as well as looking at them. Can't be just me?

The following videos have been piling up for some time now. They are all rather long and meandering, from both an audio and visual standpoint, so instead of clogging up the video pages, I've made the odd decision to post them in a blog. The first and second is played with a Smokestack Guitars 4 string cbg, the third and fifth with a Swamp Witch guitar, and the fourth is with a D.B. Customs 3 string cbg.

SECOND VIDEO IS REPOSTED IN COMMENTS SECTION!!!

Just trying to collect a few different idea's for fret wire materials or markers.

What have you used?

e.g. tooth picks, staples, pyrography, marker pen.......

Back to roots - Retour aux racines

Esclaves et prisonniers sur le sol américain, les africains déportés ont tout perdus, leur liberté, leurs pays, leurs familles mais aussi leurs langues, leurs traditions. ils ont du s'adapter et surtout inventer un autre mode de vie et par là m^me se réinventer eux même. La musique partie intégrante de leur vie ne les a pas tout à fait quittée et fut un des ciments de la communauté maintenant afro-américaine.

Quand cela était permis les afro-américains reconstruisirent avec les moyens du bord les instruments de musique laissés en Afrique. Instruments de percussions ou à vents et bien entendu instruments à cordes. Voici pour information et inspiration un petit aperçu, non exhaustif, des instruments africains qui furent à l'origine de la CBG américaine et de ceux qui furent "ré-inventés" après les contacts avec la culture Européenne ou Arabe:

Afrique de l'Ouest et Afrique Centrale

- N'goni,

Le N’goni est un instrument à cordes pincées. Long de 70 cm, il est formé d'une caisse de résonance naviforme en bois massif, recouverte d'une peau de veau et un manche en bois rond et mince ne passant pas pleinement au travers. Les cordes en nylon (4 traditionnellement, mais jusqu'à 7 aujourd'hui) sont fixées à l'aide d'anneaux de cuir, parallèlement au manche de l'instrument qui suit la même ligne que la caisse de résonance. Elles passent sur un petit chevalet en éventail. Le N'goni est aussi connu sous divers noms: hoddu, tidinit, xalam, khalam, kontingo, koni, molo, konde, gaaci,hajhuj, gunbri, ganbare, tehardent (avec les Touaregs), etc. Le nom dépend généralement davantage sur l'endroit où il est utilisé, que sur une différence en apparence. On le trouve principalement dans des pays comme le Mali, le Sénégal, la Mauritanie et ailleurs entre l'Afrique Centrale et l'Afrique de l'Ouest.

(Source Wikipedia)

- Akonting

- Karindula

Le Karindula est une basse traditionnelle géante dur Sud Est du Congo appelée aussi Mbabadoni, Babatoni, Sanduku, ou Kalindula en Zambie. La caisse de résonance est assez grosse pour que  le bassiste puisse s’asseoir dessus.

(Sources The Karindula Sessions)

Afrique de l'Est

- Kibangala

Existe encore ici et là en Afrique de l'Est  c'est un petit luth, appelé Kibangala sur la côte swahili, Gabusi dans les Comores et  Qabous en Arabie Saoudite, à Oman ou Gabbus Ganbus au Yémen . Il est remplacé aujourd'hui presque partout par le oud arabe beaucoup plus grand. C'est peut-être l'ancêtre du luth.

Le corps et le cou sont assez petits et taillé dans un morceau de bois. La partie inférieure du corps est creusé, et recouverte d'une peau. Il dispose d'un chevillier en forme de faucille, qui se terminent généralement par un carré à l'avant, avec des chevilles des deux côtés. Il n'a pas de frettes. Il a 4 doubles cordes (8 donc) et est joué avec un plectre.

Cet instrument a voyagé il y a des siècles grace aux marins arabes (tout comme le Oud) jusqu'au  Sud-Est asiatique, où appelé Gambus il est encore joué à Sabah et au Brunei et même à Mayotte dans l'Océan Indien.

Madagascar

- Kabosy

Le Kabosy, Kabosse ou Kabossy provient de Madagascar. C'est une petite guitare rustique très ancienne fait à l’origine d’une carapace de tortue tendue de peau de zébu. De nos jours c'est une guitare de 70 cm de long, avec une caisse de résonance rectangulaire (ce qui le fait ressembler le plus  à nos CBG) ou parfois ovale en bois ou jerrycan percée d'une grosse ouïe en son centre. Son manche a des frettes ne couvrant pas toute la largeur de la touche. Il est monté de six cordes (nylon ou métal) fixées sur des chevilles  à l'ancienne.

(Source Wikipédia)

- Zeze

Le Zézé est un instrument à cordes de l'Afrique sub-saharienne. Il est également connu sous le nom Tzetze et Dzendze, et à Madagascar est appelé Lokanga voatavo, Lokango voatavo. Il a 1 ou 2 cordes acier ou faites de câble de frein de bicyclette.

Afrique du Nord

- Hajhuj 

Le hajhuj - aussi nommé hajhouj, sentir ou  guembri, gumbri ,gunbri ou encore gunibr - est le luth des Gnawas, ces descendants d'esclaves noirs qui, depuis le XVI^e siècle et peut-être déjà avant, ont été emmenés du Sahel vers le Maroc. Il est aussi  joué par les Berbères et les Touaregs du Sahara et il peut donc être trouvé à la fois dans le nord (Maroc) que dans le sud (Mali) du désert. Parfois, lxgimbri, gumbri ou guembri, ou gunbri ou gunibri (mais voir aussi les instruments furtheron).

Le hajhuj est essentiellement similaire qu n'goni, mais il est beaucoup plus grand et a généralement une silhouette carrée (ou presque carré), avec une forme de demi-cylindre ou un bol en arrière. Il a 3 grosses cordes
Sur le dessus du cou du manche il y a souvent un dispositif en laiton avec des anneaux, afin d'ajouter des effets supplémentaires de son. 

(Source http://www.mim.be/)

- Gunbri

Le Gunbri est un autre luth populaire du Nord du Sahara,  joué principalement par les Berbères et les tribus Rwais au Maroc. Ces autres noms sont guimbri, guembri, gembri, gimbri, gambré, gombri - une version plus petite de la gunbri est appelé swisdi ou suissen et utilisé par des chanteurs urbainst. Une version plus grande, est appelé loutar (ou lotar - voir plus bas), est utilisé dans la région du Moyen-Atlas par les imdyazn amazigh (bardes). C'est un instrument à la caisse creusée dans un bloc en bois et au  manche "semi-embroché" dans celle-ci. La table est constituée d'une peau de chèvre tendue au dessus de celle-ci.  Le manche et les chevilles sont tournées sur un tour. Le bois est généralement laissé brut. Il possède 4 cordes qui s'appuient sur un chevalet flottant et sont fixées à l'extrémité du manche à travers un petit trou dans la peau.

- Gunibri

Le gunibri est une petite gunbri, avec 3 cordes. Il en existe plusieurs sortes, elles sont traditionnellement réalisées  avec une carapace de tortue, (Il est alors appelé Fakroun ou fakrun = "tortue"), et une peau épaisse tendue sur la caisse de résonance . Le corps peut également être fait comme le gunbri de bois évidé.

Il existe un modèle plus gros de Gumbri utilisé dans la musique Stambeli, qui est une cérémonie de transe, réalisée par les descendants des anciens esclaves sub-sahariens, vivant encore dans Tunisie.

Ce gumbri est fabriqué à partir d'un grand tambour (anciennement un morceau de bois évidé, de nos jours souvent un pot vide). avec une peau peau (de chèvre) collé. Le dos est fermé, mais sur le côté est un trou, de sorte que le joueur peut garder des choses à l'intérieur du tambour.

Un bâton en bois rond est insérée à fond dans le corps, et 3 cordes en nylon y sont fixées par  des bandes de cuir mobiles. Une plaque de métal avec de  nombreux anneaux métalliques est insérée entre les cordes, et le chevalet à  l'extrémité du manche . Cet appareil est conçu pour retentir lorsque la caisse  est frappée.

- Loutar

La loutar  (ou lutar ou Outar), utilisé dans la région du Moyen-Atlas par les imdyazn amazigh (bardes).. Cet instrument est beaucoup plus grand (0,90 m ou plus), et est très similaire à la gunbri.

Le corps est réalisé d'une seule pièce de bois, évidé. Une peau (de chèvre) est tendue sur le front ouvert, et collé sur les bords, et est souvent fixé avec des clous à tête ronde. La forme du corps est généralement assez mince, mais vous pouvez également voir des corps qui sont assez large sur la moitié inférieure. Il possède 4 cordes

- Lotar

Le lotar est un autre luth de style gunbri de la tribu Rwais dans les montagnes du Haut Atlas du Maroc.

Il a 2, 3 ou 4 cordes, tenues par de grandes chevilles rondes. Le manche est tourné sur un tour et habituellement peint avec des anneaux de couleurs vives - vert, jaune, rouge et noir. Le corps est réalisé à partir d'un morceau de bois, ou une noix de coco, ou de tout autre objet en forme de bol.

- Oud arbi

L'oud,ou  ud , outi est un instrument à cordes cordes pincées très répandu dans les pays arabes, en Turquie, en Grèce, Azerbaïdjan, et en Arménie. Son nom vient de l'arabe al-oud (signifiant « le bois »), terme transformé en Europe en laute, alaude, laud, liuto, et finalement luth. En Extrême-Orient, il a probablement inspiré le pipa chinois, et le biwa japonais. Le barbat (persan) en est très certainement à l'origine

Il bien entendu a de nombreux cousins (comme la kouitra ou kwitra) qui ne différent que par la forme et le nombre de cordes selon les pays et les traditions musicales.

A noter une création "récente" (1960)  le Mondol trés populaire au Maghreb qui est un croisement de guitare, de mandoline et de oud avec 4 ou 5 cordes

(Source Wikipédia)

Afrique du Sud

- Ramkie

Le ramkie est la faleuse «blik kitaar" de l'Afrique Australe, une guitare faite maison, à l'aide d'un bison d'huile vide pour le corps. elle possède  4 à 6 cordes  faites de fil de frein de bicyclette ou e fils de pêcher. Le ramkie se trouve principalement en Afrique du Sud, le Botswana, la Namibie, la Zambie et le Malawi.

Un cas à part la guitare Africaine

En Afrique, la guitare (espagnole ou de l'Ouest) est probablement l'instrument le plus joué qu ce soit en acoustique ou en électrique. Faute de moyens financiers mais pas de ressources beaucoup de guitares sont donc "home made" avec 3, 4, 5 ou 6 cordes en fil de frein de vélo et souvent en open tuning. Quelque part c'est de la CBG. Les techniques de jeu sont souvent basées sur celles du n'goni avec alternance du pouce et des doigts dans le style du jeu de luth (index tendu) et "tapping" rythmique sur le devant. On pourra écouter quelques-uns des joueurs (ici du Mali mais toute l'Afrique en regorge)  les plus célèbres de la discipline comme : Ali Farka Touré, Habib Koita et Djelimady Tounkara. Et se rendre compte des liens étroits qui unissent les musiques africaines et afro-américaines.

Sources

La plupart des informations ci-dessus ont été trouvées dans les sites référencés mais surtout dans Atlas of Plucked Instruments,  la bible quand aux recherches sur les instruments à cordes du monde entier. On pourra notamment à travers ce site (mais aussi en cherchant sur YouTube) écouter le son de ces "guitares".

- Gurumi

Well I get most of my boxes for free from a local cigar club.  I had agreed to build them a CBG to hang on their wall and to play around with and they will give me empty cigar boxes!  Real nice people there!

So I started with a Arturo Fuente Cigar Box

I thought about using just a straight 1x2 for the neck and building a basic acoustic for them but the more I thought about it I thought I should jazz it up a bit and make it a nice neck. 

I liked the ideas that a few of you gave me about "personalizing it for them:

so I put their logo on the top of the headstock and their name on the sides of the headstock:

I used my solder gun to burn the fretlines and used stainless steel thumb tacks countersunk for markers:

and for side markers I used small stainless steel nails:

and I'm almost finished with it now.  All that is left is to drill 9 tiny holes (my drill broke last night), finish mount the tuners (I am useing WD tuners with chrome covers), string it, tune it, play it a lil bit, and finally deliver it!  I will post finished pics of it asap!! 

I could kick myself in the butt!!  Yesturday I was messing around with the cbg and used scotch tape to tape a piezo rod to my brass bridge, plugged it into a Fender Frontman Amp (did not look at the controls....the volume was cranked)  I got a lil buzz noise so I jiggled the jack (since it was just laying on top the box) and gave it a strum....I should have kept this one for myself and made it electric!!!  This thing SCREAMED!!!!  Unbelievably LOUD!!!!  LOL,,,,  Definately gonna get another one of these boxes and build an electric out of it!!!!

Check out this piece I wrote for Weekly Alibi about Albuquerque CBG builder Hector Pena. Weekly Alibi on Facebook.

Making my own 3-stringed instrument has been such a joyous revelation!

It began for me when I met an ex-fourth grade teacher from Montana, named Ray Jacobs. We were in California, where he was helping people turn cardboard and scrap wood into something that looked like a 3-string banjo — it sounded just amazing! And it looked so simple! I thought “shoot, I could play that!” (I’ve been guitar and music challenged for years).

Here's Ray and Shirley playing: 

Ray taught fourth grade for 20 years; many of his kids learned to make and play these simple, 3-stringed instruments. He also gave them an old V-8 engine and challenged them to take it apart and put it together; he took them to a local pond to squelch and splash and take buckets of pond water back to class, where they put it in split 55-gallon drums so they could play and learn when their “other work” was done; he shepherded 20 generations of kids into 5th grade, many of them with dulcimers they had made themselves, on which they could all play melody and chords — extraordinary gifts!

I thought, “someone should put this into a book so every 4th grade teacher can do what Ray did!” (I’ve been a “teaching artist” in the Oregon schools, and know how hard is for kids to get good, hands-on activities. Teachers are so bound by schedules, test requirements, and policy that they can’t afford to engage kids in anything not specified in the curriculum. So it takes an outsider to do the creative projects.)

I tried to find someone else to write up Ray's story (he also makes a whole range of beautiful instruments from cardboard, gourds, wood, you name it), but noone was as excited as I was, so when I took the family back east last October, we stopped for a few days with Ray and his wife Shirley (here's a nice little video about them from Western Folklife). He and I put a dulcimer together, and I took notes and pictures. It turned into a book – you can download it (free) here. (It’s also available as a (full color!) $10 paperback at the same site, or on Amazon and createspace.) If you like it, please share!

I'm still pretty buzzed about and thankful for everyone who contributed to "Time Stands Still On the Burying Ground" collaboration.  If you haven't seen it, the video is on my page.

I had an idea for another collaboration that should work equally well, but different in organization.  I know that some suggest a specific order of events for a successful collaboration, but stick with me for a sec.

I have a riff I put together that has slowly evolved into a song. The song is a bit repetitive and I'd like to offer it out to others to see if we can bring some variety.

If you want to see the video and the discussion so far, check out the group link here:   Evolution

Descriptively, here's where I'm at.  The tuning I use is GDG on my 3-string guitars.  I have started with a descending scale 3-O-2-O-3-O. So 2 notes on each string.  A fretted note and the open string.

I put up a video with terrible, awful, sucky audio quality, but you can see and hear how I have sort of transformed this simple descending scale into a very nice finger picking riff.  The video is on one of my fretless guitars and it sounds even better on my fretted acoustic.

I'd like to see this played as sort of pass the bottle (riff) where one player starts off playing the riff in their own style and then improvising a few bars in between.  Then onto the next player to do their part interpreting the riff pattern and improvising a solo.  This is a bit different than a jam trying to fit 12 players on top of each other's sound.

Once we have several contributions then we can have someone lay down a percussion track and we'll all redo our parts to the fixed tempo.  For now, try to get the ideas down on paper and video and we can finish later.

If we only get a few takers, then everyone can have a couple minutes.  If we get 20, then you get 4-8 bars on the riff and 4-8 bars to solo.

Anybody in for that?

Day Two