How to Make a Cigar Box Instrument

I came across this great poster which details how to build a cigar box guitar (or any instrument).

Remember it is basically made from 3 materials:

1. A cigar box
2. A stick of wood
3. Strings

 For more information on or where to purchase this unique one-of-a-kind Americana instruments visit Cigar Box Ukulele's

Easy Method to Play Guitar and Sing at the Same Time Part 1

Many Cigar Box Guitar builders and players will find this article interesting. It fits well with How to Make a Cigar Box Guitar.

Author: Leslie de Winter

How to Play a Cigar Box Guitar and Sing

Learning how to accompany yourself on guitar (alternatively referred to as "singing and playing guitar at the same time") is certainly among the main aims for many newbie and intermediate guitarists. There's nothing quite like sitting with pals at a celebration and having a sing-along! It's also an actual advantage when beginning or trying out for a band.

Do You Have to Have a Wonderful Voice to Sing and Play Cigar Box Guitar?

The brief response is "No." Of course, you want to be able to maintain a tune. But being able to sing like some incredibly talented recording musician vocal superstar is just not required! In fact, a number of the most popular singer-songwriters ever, like Bob Dylan or Elliot Smith, haven't got particularly great voices nor are they especially eye-popping guitarists. But, boy do they know the way to write and perform a tune! It doesn't matter whether or not you would like to just play and sing cigar box guitar at social events or you writing your own songs for the entire world, do not let a less than brilliant singing voice prevent you. Singing is one of those rare things that is based on heart-felt emotion.

Now, of course, you do have to be able to sing reasonably effectively, but that is only a matter of training. Take some singing lessons and be taught all the basics of how to sing and you will notice your voice picks up dramatically. Then, resolve whether you need to take your singing more seriously or whether that's enough for just singing at the same time as playing cigar box guitar.

How to Take the Tune You've Chosen and Learn to Play It on Your Cigar Box Guitar

The natural inclination for most novices is to try and play cigar box guitar and sing simultaneously before they're ready. That is definitely not a very good idea. What you have to do is learn how to play the guitar part first. And then learn to sing the vocal line. After that, put them together.

Your first step, then, is to decide on a tune you want with comparatively easy chord progressions and straight-forward chord changes. It doesn't matter which song you choose. There are plenty of simple songs for beginners. Simply something you can learn the chords to reasonably simply, and which you enjoy. Oh, and which does not have a super-hard vocalpart. Whatever you choose must be achievable. You do not want to spend all this time and not actually be able to sing the vocal line.

Stay tuned for Part 2 next week which will put it altogether and show you How to Make it work on a Cigar Box Guitar!

Resonator Cigar Box Guitars

Not getting enough sound out of your acoustic cigar box guitar but don’t want to go electric and lug an amp around?

Install a resonator for a really big sound.

According to Wikipedia
A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more spun metal cones (resonators) instead of the wooden soundboard (guitar top/face). Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than conventional acoustic guitars which were overwhelmed by horns and percussion instruments in dance orchestras. They became prized for their distinctive sound, however, and found life with several musical styles (most notably bluegrass and also blues) well after electric amplification solved the issue of inadequate guitar sound levels.
Resonator guitars are of two styles:
Square necked guitars designed to be played in steel guitar style.
Round necked guitars, which may be played in either the conventional classical guitar style or in the lap steel guitar style.
There are three main resonator designs:
The "tricone" ("tri" in reference to the three metal cones/resonators) design of the first National resonator guitars.
The single cone "biscuit" design of other National instruments.
The single inverted-cone design of the Dobro.
Resonator’s are finding new life in CBG’s. I have taken the liberty of posting some beautiful pictures of some Cigar Box resonator Guitars.

Folks are building there own resonators out of all types of materials.

I recently purchased a lightweight all brass resonator from a fellow in the Cigar Box Guitar community that goes by the name of Old Lowe. They are nicely made and inexpensive. Below is an example of Old Lowes resonator built into a CBG.

Big Sound Cigar Box Guitar youtube

I thought you would enjoy this rendition of the classic song John Henry produced and performed by Moreland and Arbuckle.

These 3 fellas put out a whole lot of sound with some microphones, a set of drums, a harmonica and a 4 string cigar box guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyTrbH16LZg

Enjoy the great vocals and root style music offered here. Pay particular attention to the great playing and sound of the cigar box guitar. After listening to a promo posted on http://www.cigarboxnation.com/ I found out this CBG has one bass string which is plugged into a bass amp along with three guitar strings plugged into a regular guitar amp. You can clearly hear the bass notes!

Ybor City - Cigar Capital of the World!

Three weeks ago my wife and I were in Tampa, Florida and hopped on the trolley to Ybor City, Florida. I had heard much about the cigar capital of the world and really wanted to visit this historic spot!

Ybor City was founded in the 1880's and was home to a diverse population of immigrants from all over the world who co-existed by making cigars. They were the forerunners of the HMO.

Each worker paid about 25 cents a month for health care. They had rich cultural and social opportunities from their diverse population and standard of living. For more information on this amazing cultural visit http://www.ybormuseum.org/

My main interest, being a Cigar Box Guitar builder, was cigar boxes. I had always wondered how that beautiful artwork made its way on to the cigar boxes. Well here is the answer! It is very much a process of layering. I had no idea there was so much work involved! I am even more impressed than before.

The cigar rollers spent many hours in the factories producing the fine cigars. They needed to be comfortable and used these chairs at the rolling tables. These are actually handmade reproductions and in the Ybor City museum on display.
Many of the processes of cigar rolling have gone to the machine these days. We did, however, come across Wallace Reyes. A member of the Gonzalez Habano Cigar Co. He is going for the Guinness World Book Record for the longest hand rolled cigar. It will be 185 feet. Guinness will witness the event at the annual Ybor City festival on Nov. 21, 2009.