Wandlebury Ring (Cigar Box Strummer Music recorded on Tascam DP004)

The music is done with my Cigar Box Strummer that I got for Christmas - one of these from tinyguitars : -) http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/50-christmas-strummersThis is a test run at recording it..not perfectly played and as it has no pick up and it's recorded with the mics from my Tascam it has picked up a few other things (my husband clonking around upstairs!!)...but it seemed like some magic happened : -)The photos are of Wandlebury taken several years ago on a beautiful day that started out misty, then the sun started breaking through.....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandlebury_HillI used to wonder what the point of these strummers were. They have diatonic scale fretting (the notes of a major scale) like a mountain dulcimer, so you can't hit a wrong note. I used to think that you could play all the same stuff and more on an instrument with all the frets, so WHY???...but I've found that the simplicity is great!!I planned what I was going to play for track one, but then for track two I just improvised something on the top string. Then on track three I did the same on the bottom string.On a normal guitar I never could have done that without hitting a wrong note!!SO much reward for very little effort!!!

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Comments

bemuzic January 11, 2011 at 3:56am

thanks a lot Laurie, yeah it was pretty folky,lol...blues is my first love but I love any kind of music : -)
Laurie Lee Campbell January 10, 2011 at 8:08pm

Belinda,..it IS magical!!! and the pics are lovely--I'm late getting here--I too marveled at a strumstick...got to play one at a friends place and it had lovely sound..awesome improv track mix/playing! .....uh oh---your "folk" is out, no turning back now....LOL
bemuzic January 6, 2011 at 5:44am

yeah quite....I wrote a song recently that has the lines "the world is full of choices and possibilities, but a big blank canvas can be a very scary thing"
ChickenboneJohn January 6, 2011 at 5:35am

It's often the case...I find that when doing my architectural stuff...having more constraints and less choices actually makes things easier and often leads to more creative solutions than when you've got a 'blank sheet of paper'.
bemuzic January 6, 2011 at 5:16am

thanks John....mmm it's strange how sometimes having less choices allows you to do more!!
ChickenboneJohn January 6, 2011 at 5:10am

I love diatonic fretted instruments...it's exactly what the whole CBG thing is all about....finding new stuff with less..cool ain't it...nice sounds too...lovely.
bemuzic January 5, 2011 at 3:58pm

thanks Steve
Steve Jeter January 5, 2011 at 3:52pm

very pretty, relaxing, I like it.
MikeBoy January 4, 2011 at 8:03pm

Beautiful. I built a strummer last summer and I find it hard to put down. Also perfect for pretty much any X-mas song!
bemuzic January 3, 2011 at 6:11pm

ah thanks, yeah Mike Oldfield certainly no bad thing!

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