How to Play the 3-String Cigar Box Guitar

By Rick McKeon

Less Is More

Having only three strings to work with, the 3-String CBG might seem limited, but its limitations are also its greatness!

We need to make the most of what we have. This means that we need to play each note with expression, and feeling. That's what makes the music come alive!

In this book (together with 26 online video lessons) you will learn the basics of right and left hand technique, chord construction, fingerpicking and slide playing. You will also learn how to jam with other players and improvise on the blues!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rick McKeon
• Release date: Jul 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393024309

Book preview

Welcome!

Chapter 1: The Basics

1.1 Strings and Tuning

1.1.1 Strings and Pitch

1.1.2 Electric vs. Acoustic Strings

1.1.3 Strings for Tuning G, D, G

1.1.4 Changing Strings

1.1.5 Tuning

1.2 For the Audiophile

1.2.1 Bridge Placement

1.2.2 Action

1.2.3 Bending Notes Off Pitch

1.3 How to Read the Tab

1.3.1 Reading Tablature

1.4 Timing

1.4.1 Time Signatures

1.4.2 Note Values and Counting

1.5 Fretting for a Clean Sound

1.5.1 You Can Do This!

1.5.2 Here's How It's Done

1.6 How to Use a Capo

1.6.1 Playing Familiar Arrangements in a Different Key

1.6.2 Using a Capo to Improve Intonation

Chapter 2: Basic Techniques

2.1 How to Use a Slide

2.1.1 Material, Mass, and Smoothness

2.1.2 Bottleneck Slide vs. Lap Steel

2.1.3 Which Finger to Wear the Slide On?

2.1.4 Clean Slide Playing: Pressure

2.1.5 Clean Slide Playing: String Damping

2.2 Embellishments

2.2.1 Hammer-Ons

2.2.2 Pull-Offs

2.2.3 Bends

2.3 Bright and Mellow Sounds

2.3.1 Harmonic Content and Timbre

2.3.2 Influencing the Harmonic Content

2.4 Natural and Artificial Harmonics

2.4.1 Creating Harmonics

2.4.2 Artificial Harmonics are Natural

2.5 Using Vibrato for an Organic Sound

2.5.1 Sterile vs. Organic Sounds

2.5.2 Vibrato on a Fretted string

2.5.3 Vibrato with a slide

2.5.4 Vibrato on an Open String

2.6 Incorporating Dynamics for Variety

2.6.1 Don't Put Me to Sleep!

2.7 Use Punctuation

2.7.1 Think About Telling a Story

Chapter 3: Fingerpicking with a Steady Bass

3.1 The Steady Bass

3.1.1 Blues Styles

3.1.2 My Bass Damping Trick

3.1.3 Steady Bass Licks

3.2 The Ten Mile Stomp

3.2.1 Where Do Songs Come From?

3.2.2 The Ten Mile Stomp

3.3 Incorporate Natural Sounds

3.3.1 Nature's Drummer

Chapter 4: A Little Music Theory

4.1 The Major Scale

4.1.1 Interval Pattern for the Major Scale

4.1.2 The Major Scale on the 3-String CBG

4.2 Chord Construction

4.2.1 Basic Chord Construction

4.2.2 Chords on the 3-String CBG

Chapter 5: The Blues

5.1 The 12-Bar Blues

5.1.1 The 12-Bar Form

5.1.2 Playing Through the 12-Bar Form

5.1.3 Adding a Pattern Pick and Simple Licks

5.2 The Blues Scale

5.2.1 The Blues Scale

5.2.1 Call/Response Filler Licks

5.3 12-Bar Solo

5.3.1 Combining Licks to Make a Solo

5.4 12-Bar Jam Session

5.4.1 Play What You Hear

Appendix A: List of Figures

Appendix B: List of Tables

Appendix C: Note Names by the Octave

Appendix D: Note Names and Pitches

Appendix E: Displaying G3 on the Oscilloscope

Appendix F: Capturing Oscilloscope Traces

Meet The Author

Other Books by Rick McKeon

Welcome!

Hi, I'm Rick McKeon, and I would like to welcome you to this exciting program about how to play the 3-string cigar box guitar!

In recent years the cigar box guitar has become very popular. The early blues musicians couldn't afford expensive instruments, so they built their own. Start with a cigar box, add a stick and some wire, and voila! You have a guitar to express your music.

Today cost may not be the most important factor, but there is a resurgence of these instruments. We are fascinated by how the early blues players got such expressive music from their simple instruments. But there's more to it than that. Here's the key:

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Less is more

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Having only three strings to work with might seem limiting, but its limitation is also its greatness! We need to make the most of what we have. This means that we need to play each note with expression and feeling. That's what makes the music come alive! The music has to come from the player, not just the instrument. This approach is an excellent way to realize that less can actually be more if you make it so!

In this book (together with the online video lessons) you will learn the basics of right and left hand technique, chord construction, fingerpicking and slide playing, together with jamming and improvising on the blues.

If you are interested in the technical stuff, or want to find a Figure or Table quickly you can jump right to the appendices.

We have an exciting musical adventure waiting for us. So, let's get started!

Chapter 1: The Basics

1.1 Strings and Tuning

1.1.1 Strings and Pitch

There are three