Welcome!

Hi, Iʹm 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 couldnʹt 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 thereʹs more to it than that. Hereʹs the key:

ʺLess is moreʺ

2 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. Thatʹs 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.

The Ten Mile Stomp Still wondering if this book is for you? Have a listen to Video Track #14 on the Ten Mile Stomp. http://rickmckeon.com/3-string.html

Tips and Tricks When you see this little guy, you know he is offering some interesting tips or just a silly comment to lighten things up.

Online Video Lessons All of the playing examples and jam tracks in this book can be found at: http://rickmckeon.com/3-string.html

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, letʹs get started!

3 Video Track List

Track Description Page 1 Welcome! 10 2 Tuning 16 3 Reading Tablature 24 4 Time Signatures and Note Values 28 5 Fretting for a Clean Sound 30 6 Using a Capo 33 7 How to Use a Slide 36 8 Embellishments 43 9 Creating Bright and Mellow Sounds 47 10 Natural and Artificial Harmonics 52 11 Using Vibrato for an Organic Sound 55 12 Dynamics That Add Life 61 13 Steady Bass Licks 65 14 The Ten Mile Stomp 67 15 Natureʹs Drummer 71 16 The Major Scale 72 17 Chords on the 3-String CBG 80 18 The 12-Bar Blues Progression 89 19 The Blues Scale 93 20 Filler Licks in the Key of G 95 21 12-Bar Solo 98 22 12-Bar Jam Session Introduction 100

4 23 12-Bar Jam, 100 bpm, Cozy Style 101 24 12-Bar Jam, 120 bpm, Cozy Style 101 25 12-Bar Jam, 100 bpm, Dr. John Style 101 26 12-Bar Jam, 120 bpm, Dr. John Style 101

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Basics 10 1.1 Strings and Tuning 10 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 17 1.2.1 Bridge Placement 1.2.2 Action 1.2.3 Bending Notes Off Pitch 1.3 How to Read the Tab 24 1.3.1 Reading Tablature 1.4 Timing 28 1.4.1 Time Signatures 1.4.2 Note Values and Counting 1.5 Fretting for a Clean Sound 30 1.5.1 You Can Do This! 1.5.2 Hereʹs How Itʹs Done 1.6 How to Use a Capo 33 1.6.1 Playing Familiar Arrangements in a Different Key 1.6.2 Using a Capo to Improve Intonation

Chapter 2: Basic Techniques 36 2.1 How to Use the Slide 36 2.1.1 Material, Mass, and Smoothness 2.1.2 Bottleneck Slide vs. Lap Steel

6 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 43 2.2.1 Hammer-Ons 2.2.2 Pull-Offs 2.2.3 Bends 2.3 Mellow and Bright Sounds 47 2.3.1 Harmonic Content and Timbre 2.3.2 Influencing the Harmonic Content 2.4 Natural and Artificial Harmonics 52 2.4.1 Creating Harmonics 2.4.2 Artificial Harmonics are Natural 2.5 Using Vibrato for a Natural Sound 55 2.5.1 Sterile vs. Organic Sounds 2.5.2 Vibrato on a Fretted String 2.5.3 Vibrato with the slide 2.5.4 Vibrato on an Open String 2.6 Incorporating Dynamics for Variety 61 2.6.1 Donʹt Put Me to Sleep! 2.7 Use Punctuation 62 2.7.1 Think About Telling a Story

Chapter 3: Fingerpicking with a Steady Bass 63 3.1 The Steady Bass 63 3.1.1 Blues Styles 3.1.2 My Bass Damping Trick 3.1.3 Steady Bass Licks

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3.2 The Ten Mile Stomp 67 3.2.1 Where Do Songs Come From? 3.2.2 The Ten Mile Stomp 3.3 Incorporate Natural Sounds 71 3.3.1 Natureʹs Drummer

Chapter 4: A Little Music Theory 72 4.1 The Major Scale 72 4.1.1 The Interval Pattern for the Major Scale 4.1.2 The Major Scale on the 3-String CBG 4.2 Chord Construction 80 4.2.1 Basic Chord Construction 4.2.2 Chords on the 3-String CBG

Chapter 5: The Blues 87 5.1 The 12-Bar Blues 87 5.1.1 The 12-Bar Form 5.1.2 Letʹs Play Through the Form 5.1.3 Adding a Pattern Pick and Simple Licks 5.2 The Blues Scale 93 5.2.1 The Blues Scale 5.2.2 Call/Response Filler Licks 5.3 12-Bar Solo 98 5.3.1 Combining Licks to Make a Solo 5.4 12-Bar Jam Session 100 5.4.1 Play What You Hear

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Appendix A: List of Figures 102 Appendix B: List of Tables 104

Appendix C: Note Names by the Octave 105 Appendix D: Note Names and Pitches 106 Appendix E: Displaying G3 on the Oscilloscope 107 Appendix F: Capturing Scope Traces 108

Meet the Author 109 Other Books by Rick McKeon 110

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Chapter 1: The Basics

Video Track #1: Welcome! In this video track I welcome you to this exciting program and give an overview of what you will learn. I am always pleased to answer your questions. Just shoot me an email at

[email protected].

1.1 Strings and Tuning

1.1.1 Strings and Pitch

There are three things that affect the pitch of a vibrating string:

1. The length of the string. Fretting a string shortens it, and causes it to vibrate at a higher pitch.

10 2. The mass or diameter of the string. Heavier gauge strings vibrate more slowly and are used for lower notes. 3. The tension of the string. Using the tuning peg to increase the tension of a string will raise its pitch.

You may have heard that the old blues guys used to pull their strings from the back porch screen door. Well, we have it a lot easier today. We donʹt usually think about it, but a lot of engineering has gone into the design and production of modern guitar strings.

All strings are designed to have a certain amount of tension for any given scale length. The ʺscale lengthʺ is the distance from the nut to the bridge. You can imagine that the scale of a soprano ukulele is way shorter than that of a bass guitar.

So where do we get strings for a cigar box guitar? Fortunately, most CBGs have a scale similar to regular 6-string guitars (somewhere around 24ʺ to 25.5ʺ) so we can use strings designed for a standard guitar. Itʹs important to choose the right ones for the tuning you are going to use. Why?

If you crank up the tension too much trying to reach a note the string wasnʹt designed for, you WILL break the string (I speak from experience). If you slacken a string too much trying to lower it to a note it wasnʹt designed for what happens? It becomes too sloppy and wonʹt project properly. Also, a string that is too loose will buzz.

Youʹre probably wondering, ʺHow can a guy as smart (and good looking) as you break a string?ʺ

Well, some strings for 6-string guitars come packaged in just three envelopes (1&4), (2&5) and (3&6). I got confused and put the wrong string in the wrong place. OK, so maybe Iʹm not as smart as

I think I am!

11 On a more serious note, I always wear glasses when changing strings. Not just so I can better see what I am doing (a good reason in itself), but they also provide some eye protection just incase a string snaps. I once had a student who had one of his eyes put out when a string broke.

So, what am I saying? You can tune a string a little higher or a little lower than the pitch it was designed for (no problem with a whole step either direction) but it is important to start with the right string. In Section 1.1.3 weʹll talk in more detail about the strings to use for G, D, G tuning.

1.1.2 Electric vs. Acoustic Strings

Figure 1-1 Magnetic Pickup

There are a multitude of different strings available, so which one should you use on your 3-string cigar box guitar?

12 As you can see in Figure 1-1 above, my guitar has a magnetic pickup, so I use electric guitar strings. If your guitar has a piezo strip you may want to use acoustic strings or even classical nylon strings.

A magnetic pickup depends on a vibrating metal string disturbing its magnetic field. It wouldnʹt even notice a nylon classical guitar string.

A piezo strip is affected by the physical (mechanical) vibration of the instrument and converts it to an electrical signal.

Of course, there are CBGs with no pickup at all. Like an acoustic guitar, they depend on a hollow body and sound holes to amplify the sound. To get a louder sound you can always use an external microphone and amplifier.

1.1.3 Strings for Tuning G, D, G

As with the 6-string guitar and the 5-string banjo, there are several different popular tunings. One of the most popular tunings (and the one we will use in this book) is ʺ1, 5, 1ʺ in the key of G.

So, what does ʺ1, 5, 1ʺ mean? Weʹll get into more detail in Chapter #4, but for now letʹs just say that it is referring to the 1st note, the 5th note, and the 1st note again (except an octave higher) from any major scale. Table 1-1 shows the notes for the G major scale. You can see from the highlights that the 1, 5, 1 notes are G, D, and G.

Note Name G A B C D E F♯ G Scale Degree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

Table 1-1 Notes for 1, 5, 1 Tuning in the Key of G

13 So, which strings from a regular set should we use? Table 1-2 shows how we can get close to what we want using the 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings. All we need to do is tune the A string down a whole step to G.

6-String Pack String # 6 5 4 3 2 1 Note Name E A D G B E 3-String CBG String # 3 2 1 Note Name G D G

Table 1-2 Strings to Use from a 6-String Pack

1.1.4 Changing Strings

Want to make your life a little easier?

I hate changing strings. So I use a few simple tools to make it easier. Itʹs still not much fun, but these tools help a lot! Everyone has their own preferences, but Figure 1-2 shows the tools I use. They include:

1. Electric screwdriver with plastic peg head socket. 2. Small long-nosed pliers. 3. Capo. 4. Wire cutter.

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Figure 1-2 Tools for Changing Strings

Hereʹs the procedure I use to change strings:

1. Slacken the old string with the electric screwdriver. 2. Cut the string near the tuning peg and use the long-nose pliers to remove it. 3. Clamp the new string with the capo to keep it in place while you slip it through the tuning peg. Allow about a ʺhand-heightʺ of slack so you can get several wraps on the tuning peg. 4. Use the electric screwdriver to take up the slack (lots of winding) and then finish it off by hand. 5. Clip the end of the new string off (about 1/4ʺ) and bend it down with the long-nose pliers so it doesnʹt poke you later.

15 Figure 1-3 shows how a capo can hold the string in place as you thread it through the tuning peg.

Figure 1-3 Capo Holds String in Place

1.1.5 Tuning

Video Track #2: Tuning In this video lesson we get the guitar tuned up. You will hear the sound of the open strings for G, D, G tuning, and learn how to tune the strings relative to each other.

Once you have the strings installed with a fairly modest tension you will probably already be pretty close to G, D, G tuning.

If you have a 6-string guitar that is in tune you can use it to get you close. If you donʹt have a tuned instrument to start with, a quick Internet search

16 will bring you plenty of online tuning apps. Also, I have used the music writing software called TablEdit to hear the sound of the different pitches.

I always advise using an electronic tuner and then checking the strings against each other. Here are a few ways of checking the strings against each other:

1. Fretting the 3rd string at the 7th fret should sound like the open 2nd string (D). 2. Fretting the 2nd string at the 5th fret should sound like the open 1st string (G). 3. Of course, fretting the 3rd string at the 12th fret should sound like the open 1st string (G) because it is an octave higher. 4. The open 1st string (G) should sound like the open 3rd string except it is an octave higher.

1.2 For the Audiophile

If you are an audiophile, tiny discrepancies in sound can drive you nuts! So here are a few suggestions that might prevent you from smashing your instrument over a log.

Letʹs assume that you are playing a fretted CBG and you want to play it with a combination of fretted notes and slide notes. If the frets are spaced properly, thatʹs a good start. If not, youʹre in big trouble. Just return the instrument or play exclusively with a slide.

If you check the strings against each other as described in Section 1.1.5 and find some discrepancies, there are a few things you can do:

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1.2.1 Bridge Placement

Itʹs easy to see that the spacing between the different frets is not the same. They get closer together as you go up the neck because fingerboards are designed so that there is a half-step (semitone) between each fret, and the 12th fret is exactly half way between the nut and the bridge.

This might seem obvious, but the fret spacing is different for different scale lengths. You canʹt automatically assume that the fret placement for one guitar is going to be the same for a different guitar because it might have a slightly different scale length!

Measure the distance between the nut and the 12th fret and from the 12th fret to the bridge saddle. If those distances are not the same, adjust the saddle so that they are. Weʹll talk in some detail in Section 2.4 about harmonics, but for now, you should get a nice ringing harmonic at the 12th fret. If it occurs a little above or a little below the 12th fret, the bridge needs to be moved. Banjo players are very familiar with this problem because the bridge of a banjo can be moved very easily.

Itʹs an understatement to say that CBG builders use a variety of parts. Thatʹs part of the fun and uniqueness of this instrument! My 3-string uses pretty standard electric guitar parts. Figure 1-4 shows how the scale length can be adjusted. If you turn the screw clockwise it will pull the saddle back and lengthen the scale. Also, the two little screws on the front of each saddle can be used to adjust its height.

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Figure 1-4 Scale Length Adjustment

Once I have the saddle positioned properly according to the ruler, I test the placement by playing the open string and the same string fretted at the 12th fret. If the fretted note is sharp you need to lengthen the scale. Why?

There are several factors involved here, but if the fretted note at the 12th fret is sharp, that means that the distance from the nut to the 12th fret is taking up more than half of the scale. By making the scale a little longer, the same distance on the fingerboard is a smaller percentage of the scale. Make sense? So, I do this over and over again (retuning each time) until the fretted note at the 12th fret is exactly an octave higher than the open string. Usually I end up with a scale length that is a little longer than the 12th fret placement would suggest. This procedure will give the fretted notes good intonation and the slide notes are not a problem because you listen to them as you move the slide.

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1.2.2 Action

Cigar box guitars are great for slide playing! With an amplifier and some effects you can create amazing sounds. For this reason, many CBGs have a really high ʺaction.ʺ The action refers to how far the strings are above the fingerboard. With a high action itʹs easier to avoid hitting the frets with the slide. But if you want to also play fretted notes, high action can be a problem. Not just because it is harder to fret the notes, but pushing a string down to the fingerboard from a really high position will stretch the string and bend it off pitch. Whoa! So, we need some kind of compromise if we are going to combine both styles of playing.

Lap steel players donʹt need to worry about this because they donʹt fret the notes. The strings are way too high off the fretboard to even consider fretting. In fact the lines you see on the fretboard arenʹt even frets, theyʹre just place markers. I mean, why spend money on frets when they wonʹt even be used? Looking at Figure 1-5, you can see thereʹs no way you are going to fret those strings!

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Figure 1-5 Lap Steel String Height

There are two things to consider regarding action:

1. String height at the nut. 2. String height at the 12th fret (or somewhere up the neck).

In my case, I lowered the action on my CBG so that it is still high enough to easily use a slide, and yet the fretted notes are not bent off pitch too much. Figure 1-6 shows my sophisticated height gauge. Itʹs simple and only cost a quarter!

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Figure 1-6 Setup at the Nut

Of course, there is a little more room under the 1st string because I want the top (the side facing away from the fingerboard) of all the strings to be the same height for slide playing. How can you lower the action at the nut? I used to use a triangular file from the local hardware store, but that was pretty crude and can cause string buzzing. You can have someone who knows about this kind of stuff do it for you, but If you want to lower the action yourself, pick up a set of ʺnut filesʺ from Stewart McDonald at https://www.stewmac.com/SiteSearch/?search=nut%20files

As shown in Figures 1-7 and 1-8, nut files have flat sides and rounded bottoms to cradle the strings and prevent string buzzing.

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Figure 1-7 Nut Files

Figure 1-8 Nut File Close Up

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I adjusted the saddle height to get a nice low action without the strings buzzing and yet still high enough for slide playing.

1.2.3 Bending Notes Off Pitch

Bending (or choking) the strings creates that characteristic bluesy sound. We usually push the string off to the side to imitate the human voice. When playing blues we use this technique all the time, but we donʹt want to bend a note off pitch by just fretting it. If you are fretting with too much force not only will it tire your left hand out quickly, you risk bending the note off pitch. Try a lighter touch. When fretting notes you want to use enough pressure to get a nice clean sound, but no more than that.

1.3 How to Read the Tab

Video Track #3: Reading Tablature In Video Track #3 weʹll look at the licks shown in Figure 1-9. By the time we are through with this lesson you will have a good understanding of how to read the tab. Donʹt worry; itʹs

easy!

Tablature is a very old system of presenting music. It was used long before standard music notation was developed. Itʹs simple and easy to use because the tab shows you exactly where to fret each string. You can start using tablature without even knowing the names of the notes!

ʺOf course, I am going to encourage you to know the names of the notes and a lot more!ʺ

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1.3.1 Reading Tablature

Tablature is an excellent learning tool for visualizing whatʹs happening on the fingerboard, so Iʹm going to provide tablature for each of the exercises and songs in this book. We usually play the CBG by ear, but tablature has its place. I encourage my students to use the tab as an aid for learning a song, but then go ahead and put it away and just play by ear. When you do this you are free to focus on the tone and expression that you are creating instead of being tied to the tab and worrying about just playing the right notes. After all, the CBG is a folk instrument for expressing music. Also, I am going to encourage you to deviate from the tab. The arrangement shown in the tablature is just a starting point.

Like all the jazz guys say:

ʺThere are no wrong notes, itʹs just what you do with them!ʺ

In this book we are going to focus on tablature as opposed to standard music notation, but sometimes I will include standard notation along with the tab because I think it helps to clarify timing issues. Figure 1-9 shows a couple of simple licks. Nothing complicated here, but it has enough detail to help us understand how to read the tab.

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Figure 1-9 Reading Tablature

The three horizontal lines represent the strings. String #1 (the highest sounding string) is on the top and string #3 (the lowest sounding string) is on the bottom. This should make sense because the higher the pitch of an open string, the higher it is in the tab.

The vertical lines are bar lines that divide the tablature into measures, and the numbers above the bar lines tell us the measure number. For this example I numbered each of the four measures, but normally you will only see measure numbers at the beginning of each line. This keeps the tab from becoming too cluttered, and yet you will still be able to find any given measure pretty easily. A song might have several lines (or even several

26 pages), but you will still be able to find measures pretty quickly. When working with a student I might say, ʺLetʹs pick it up with measure #16ʺ and he will be able to go there immediately.

The numbers on the strings represent the frets. So, in the first measure we play the 2nd string open and then hammer-on to the 2nd fret. We indicate this with a curved line between the two notes and [H] in square brackets below them. You wonʹt see a key signature in the tab like you do in standard notation because the tab tells you exactly where to fret the strings.

Notice that the time signature is 4/4 so there are four beats per measure and a quarter note gets one beat. Weʹll talk more about timing in the next section.

At the beginning of measure #1 you will see the tuning of the open strings. This is often not shown, especially if it is a songbook that uses the same tuning and key throughout.

There are a few embellishments indicated. The little curved line between the first two notes indicates that they are to be played in a connected fashion or legato. In this example we achieve this effect with a hammer-on [H], but many times to get a connected sound we will use a pull-off [P], bend [B], or slide [S]. The arrow between the last two notes of measure #1 also means to play these notes in a connected fashion. In this case we use a slide [S].

The numbers below the tab give an indication of the timing involved. You wonʹt typically see this, but I usually include it for tricky passages just to help the student count it out. I try to include all the information I can to make it as easy as possible to learn the song. This also includes highlighting the melody notes and placing the words beneath the tab - anything to help! After all, the tablature is a learning tool; why not give ourselves every possible advantage? In the next section Iʹll explain how we indicate timing in the tablature.

27 1.4 Timing

Video Track #4: Time Signatures and Note Values In order to make sense of the tablature, a little knowledge about timing and note values is helpful. This will not be an extensive introduction to music theory - just a little

something to get us started.

1.4.1 Time Signatures

Figure 1-10 shows a few common time signatures.

Figure 1-10 Time Signatures

Each time signature has two numbers:

1. The top number tells us how many beats there are in each measure. 2. The bottom number tells us what kind of note gets one beat.

The 4/4 time signature tells us there are four beats per measure and a quarter note gets one beat.

The 3/4 time signature tells us there are three beats per measure and a quarter note gets one beat.

6/8 means there are six beats per measure and an eighth note gets the beat.

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2/4 indicates there are two beats in each measure and a quarter note gets one beat.

2/2 means there are two beats per measure and the half note gets one beat.

1.4.2 Note Values and Counting

When playing the cigar box guitar we will typically express the melody and harmony in terms of quarter notes, eighth notes, half notes, and whole notes. Because the blues has the power to draw us in, it needs to be a safe place. This means that the listener needs to be comfortable knowing we will entice him and flirt with him, but not hurt him. We can play ʺahead of the beatʺ or ʺbehind the beatʺ but the beat (the pulse of the song) still needs to be there. It needs to be strong and evident in order to evoke that relaxed and comfortable feeling. We achieve this goal by understanding note values and timing.

Itʹs OK to break the rules, but first you need to know the rules.

Looking back at Figure 1-9 you can compare the note shapes in the tablature to the familiar note shapes in standard notation. When writing songs in tab I try to make the notes proportional to the time they take up. For example, in measure #2 the quarter notes and half note look pretty similar, but the half note takes up the second half of the measure.

29 Hereʹs how the note values compare in 4/4 time.

1. A quarter note gets one beat. 2. A half note last twice as long, so it gets two beats. 3. An eighth note happens twice as fast as a quarter note, so it only gets half of a beat. Also, notice how we have beamed the flags of the eighth notes. We do this to group them by the beat for easier reading.

1.5 Fretting for a Clean Sound

Video Track #5: Fretting for a Clean Sound In Track #5 Iʹll give you some tips about how to fret individual notes and chords to create a clean sound.

Figure 1-11 Fretting Individual Strings

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Figure 1-12 Bar and Fret Combination

1.5.1 You Can Do This!

At first, beginning players sometimes think that fretting notes and making chords with a clean sound is very difficult or maybe even impossible. Of course, some chords are harder to make than others, but if you stick with it for a while and develop a few good habits, you will quickly wonder why you ever thought it was difficult!

1.5.2 Hereʹs How Itʹs Done

You may be thinking, ʺYeah, right! How does that happen?ʺ Here are a few things to try:

1. Get up on the tips of your fingers as much as possible. This way your finger wonʹt touch an adjacent string and cause muting. Sometimes we want to mute strings, but not when we want them all to ring out nice and clear. Usually the string spacing on CBGs is fairly wide, so this is not as much of a problem for us as it is for electric

31 guitar or banjo player. Youʹll notice in Figure 1-11 that my pinky is pretty much lying down, but that is not a problem because there is no chance of it muting any other strings. Also, in Figure 1-12 my index finger is in fact lying down. Thatʹs because I want to fret both the 3rd and 2nd strings with a bar. 2. Get as close to the fret as possible without going over the fret. If you are too far back from the fret you will get some buzzing. If the chord requires a long stretch you may be back from the fret somewhat, but get up as close as possible. 3. Use enough pressure to get a clean sound, but not more than that. Using too much pressure will tire your hand out and you risk bending the note off pitch. Beginning players usually find it easier to use light gauge strings because they are easier to fret. 4. Practice moving between chords. Not only do the chords need to sound good, you need to get there in time so that you donʹt have any pauses that will interrupt the rhythm of the song. So, play a chord with a good clean sound, and then move to a different chord; then go back to the first chord, etc. Once you can change positions pretty well, practice with a metronome. You may have to set the tempo pretty slow at first, but insist that you are there with a clean chord by the next click. If you are not keeping up, slow the metronome until you can. Once solid at a given tempo, bump it up a notch. 5. Think about string height. If you are going to be fretting notes and making chords a lot as opposed to playing mainly with a slide, you may want to consider lowering the action of the strings. If you are going to use a mixture of techniques, then you will need to arrive at an acceptable compromise regarding action.

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1.6 How to Use a Capo

Figure 1-13 Using a Capo to Improve Intonation

Video Track #6: Using a Capo In Track #6 we explain and demonstrate how to use a capo.

The capo is sometimes called a ʺcheaterʺ but there are several valid reasons to use a capo where it is NOT cheating.

1.6.1 Playing Familiar Arrangements in a Different Key

Every tuning has its favorite licks that seem to fall out naturally because of the relationships between the strings. If you have learned an arrangement

33 in the G, D, G (1, 5, 1) tuning but need to play it in a different key, the capo is a quick and easy solution.

Table 1-3 shows the resultant key when you capo from open (no capo) to the 5th fret for all twelve major keys. We are tuned G, D, G, so we will start with the key of G. It is pretty unusual to capo much above the fifth fret.

Capo Position Open Capo 1 Capo 2 Capo 3 Capo 4 Capo 5 G A♭ A B♭ B/C♭ C A♭ A B♭ B/C♭ C C♯/D♭ A B♭ B/C♭ C C♯/D♭ D B♭ B/C♭ C C♯/D♭ D E♭ B/C♭ C C♯/D♭ D E♭ E C C♯/D♭ D E♭ E F Key C♯/D♭ D Eb E F F♯/G♭ D E♭ E F F♯/G♭ G E♭ E F F♯/G♭ G A♭ E F F♯/G♭ G A♭ A F F♯/G♭ G A♭ A B♭ F♯/G♭ G A♭ A B♭ B/C♭

Table 1-3 Capo Chart

1.6.2 Using a Capo to Improve Intonation

This may seem a little strange, but there is another valid reason to use a capo. Many cigar box guitars are designed primarily for slide playing and have very high action. If you want to play a tune that includes lots of fretted notes, the intonation will be horrible because you are stretching the

34 string a lot just by pressing it down to the fingerboard. If you play mainly slide and wonʹt want to lower the action, here is a nice trick using a capo.

ʺPut a capo on the first fret and play everything a fret higher. This amounts to lowering the action without having to get out the nut files! You will need to retune a bit, but you will have good intonation.ʺ

35

Chapter 3: Fingerpicking with a Steady Bass

3.1 The Steady Bass

3.1.1 Blues Styles

The history of blues music in America and the UK is a fascinating study that has been the topic of many books and video documentaries. I wonʹt attempt to get into much detail here except to show how the 3-string CBG fits into these many and varied styles of playing.

There are no clear cut dividing lines between blues styles, but two fingerstyle techniques that are familiar to most blues players are the Piedmont Blues and the Delta Blues.

The Piedmont Blues (also known as East Coast Blues) comes from the Piedmont area of the southeastern United States. Characterized by an alternating bass played with the thumb and a ragtime feel, it is often called ʺragginʹ the blues.ʺ Great blues players like Blind Blake and Rev. Gary Davis did a lot to popularize this style.

The Delta blues originated in the Mississippi Delta. Itʹs difficult to be too specific regarding this style of playing because of its many variants, but a strong steady bass and use of the bottleneck slide are typical of the Delta blues. Players like Son House, Robert Johnson, and Charlie Patton played in this style.

So, where does the 3-string cigar box guitar fit in? There are no rules, but I am more comfortable playing alternating bass Piedmont or Travis style when I have some strings to alternate between. So, in my opinion, 4-string

36 and 6-string guitars are more suitable for alternating bass playing, and the steady bass fits more comfortably on the 3-string CBG.

Of course, we are not locked into either of these styles, but many songs that I like to play in the Piedmont style on a 6-string guitar just donʹt seem to fit on a 3-string CBG.

3.1.2 My Bass Damping Trick

Figure 3-1 shows my ʺsponge trickʺ for bass damping. Is this cheating? Well, probably, but I never got comfortable with damping the bass string with the heel of my right hand. So I just stick a little piece of foam under the 3rd string and it creates an excellent rhythmic sound. You get this percussive sound because the string is muted and has a rapid decay.

Figure 3-1 Bass Damping with a Piece of Foam

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3.1.3 Steady Bass Licks

Figures 3-2 and 3-3 give us several exercises to start developing a feel for the steady bass with licks built on top of it.

As with alternating thumb picking (Travis style) the trick is to keep the bass going as you start to do other things with the fingers.

Video Track #13: Steady Bass Licks In this lesson we start with a steady bass and then add some syncopated licks on top.

Play along with the video lesson. Hereʹs where we start to develop a solid blues sound.

The main goal here it to keep the bass strong and solid as we add some licks on top. Many of the old blues men would talk about the ʺautomatic thumb.ʺ Well, the same thing applies here. It wonʹt take long until you can keep that solid bass going no matter what else you do with your fingers. This is analogous to stride piano playing where the left hand provides the bass and the right hand provides a syncopated melody above.

It doesnʹt take much to get a nice steady bass going. The main hurdle for most new players comes when they start to introduce other notes with the fingers. What happens? The thumb wants to stop! I have designed these exercises to walk you gradually (and successfully) through increasingly complex licks.

When you get to the point where you are comfortable with all of these exercises, you will be ʺover the humpʺ for thumb style playing. Donʹt hesitate to send me an email with your questions. Iʹm always pleased to respond.

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Figure 3-2 Steady Bass Licks

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Figure 3-3 Steady Bass Licks (cont.)

3.2 The Ten Mile Stomp

Video Track #14: The Ten Mile Stomp Now we combine the steady bass and some licks to create a tune called the ʺTen Mile Stomp.ʺ In the performance I took a little banjo break just to show how well the CBG goes with

other instruments.

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3.2.1 Where Do Songs Come From?

I love to explore old mines and abandoned ghost towns in the Bradshaw Mountains around Prescott, Arizona.

ʺDonʹt worry, I never actually go in the mine shafts. Thatʹs way too dangerous for a claustrophobic wuss like me!ʺ

Usually I carry my metal detector and have actually discovered some wonderful old coins and relics. Many times I carry my banjo or cigar box guitar (plus an audio recorder) just to see if the energy residing there contains any blues tunes. Usually it does!

One day I was driving down the Senator Highway about ten miles south of Prescott and discovered an amazing old mine. I was still new to the area and didnʹt even know it was called the ʺSenator Mineʺ so I called it ʺThe Ten Mile Mineʺ and the tune that I discovered there I called The Ten Mile Stomp.

3.2.2 The Ten Mile Stomp

Figures 3-4 and 3-5 are the tab for the Ten Mile Stomp. Itʹs a pretty simple tune, so feel free to create some variations of your own. Use Video Track #14 to help you learn this song. You will be learning a fun song plus the techniques you will learn can be use in all of your other songs. As you learn to play this one see if you can hear the old stamp mill and the excitement surrounding a productive gold mine!

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Figure 3-4 The Ten Mile Stomp

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Figure 3-5 The Ten Mile Stomp (cont.)

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3.3 Incorporate Natural Sounds

Video Track #15: Natureʹs Drummer This is one simple example of interacting with nature. See if you can come up with others.

3.3.1 Natureʹs Drummer

If you search on YouTube very much you will find all kinds of crazy and fun music videos. There is a video that uses an old tractor to provide a nice solid bass. There is a video of a guy playing music to a heard of cows, and they all gather around to listen. Great fun!

Well, one winter the snow was melting off my back porch and the drops seemed to make a pretty regular and interesting sound. So I thought I would use these drops as a drummer to accompany the Ten Mile Stomp.

This is just another way to interact with nature. Many songs incorporate wind, waves, and animal sounds. A friend of mine takes his banjo out into his garden to play and he swears that the birds sing along. Experiment a bit and see what you can come up with.

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