Skip to contentI’d never even heard of cigar box guitars until I walked into a local folk music shop and saw these 3 stringed box instruments. I was intrigued and asked to have a look at one.You may seen a video on YouTube or a documentary on the TV or perhaps you have seen one in a shop or online.It’s possible to buy a beginner cigar box guitar for under £100. You can build one for even less. Get your hands on one: either buy it or build it. Then start playing. You can learn 3 or 4 chords much more easily on a 3 or 4 string than on a 6 string guitar.So for you, maybe a music shop...…Skip to contentI’d never even heard of cigar box guitars until I walked into a local folk music shop and saw these 3 stringed box instruments. I was intrigued and asked to have a look at one.You may seen a video on YouTube or a documentary on the TV or perhaps you have seen one in a shop or online.It’s possible to buy a beginner cigar box guitar for under £100. You can build one for even less. Get your hands on one: either buy it or build it. Then start playing. You can learn 3 or 4 chords much more easily on a 3 or 4 string than on a 6 string guitar.So for you, maybe a music shop...WW…

Skip to contentIf you prefer your guitar to be tuned to E B E and want a handy pdf download for playing any chord based on the 1-finger power chords, I have this handy chart and diagram which you can download for free:It includes power, Major, minor, 7, minor 7 and Major 7 chordsThese chord shapes will not necessarily be the easiest to play since some of them end up quite high on the fretboard. It is up to you whether you want to learn lots of different shapes or a few basic movable shapes.To work out how to play the chord:So, if you want to work out how to play C# minor which is the minor...…Skip to contentIf you prefer your guitar to be tuned to E B E and want a handy pdf download for playing any chord based on the 1-finger power chords, I have this handy chart and diagram which you can download for free:It includes power, Major, minor, 7, minor 7 and Major 7 chordsThese chord shapes will not necessarily be the easiest to play since some of them end up quite high on the fretboard. It is up to you whether you want to learn lots of different shapes or a few basic movable shapes.To work out how to play the chord:So, if you want to work out how to play C# minor which is the minor...WW…

Skip to contentMost people tune their 3-string Cigar Box Guitar to G D G, but there are many other tunings available and one of these is A E A . This means that your guitar will be tuned up a tone ( or 2 half steps)You can probably use the strings that are provided for a G D G tuning but you may find the strings are then a little too tight to play comfortably if you intend to play without a slide.Lighter gauge strings might help, so if you are buying a set of six strings and using the 3rd, 4th and 5th strings, I’d suggest using a set of light strings and using .017, .026 and .036 rather...…Skip to contentMost people tune their 3-string Cigar Box Guitar to G D G, but there are many other tunings available and one of these is A E A . This means that your guitar will be tuned up a tone ( or 2 half steps)You can probably use the strings that are provided for a G D G tuning but you may find the strings are then a little too tight to play comfortably if you intend to play without a slide.Lighter gauge strings might help, so if you are buying a set of six strings and using the 3rd, 4th and 5th strings, I’d suggest using a set of light strings and using .017, .026 and .036 rather...WW…

Skip to contentI’d say learn 2 or 3 chords and see what songs you can play with those chords.If there is anything I’d say is the easiest thing to learn on a Cigar Box Guitar I think it’s probably a 2 chord song using just G and C power chords.An example of this is John Lennon’s ” Give Peace A Chance” . It starts and ends on the G chord and you play the C chord on the word chance and then go back to the G chord for all we are saying.With 3 chords, you can play literally thousands of songs. In this article I’ll show you how to play G, C and D power chords. I’ve also given a few examples below...…Skip to contentI’d say learn 2 or 3 chords and see what songs you can play with those chords.If there is anything I’d say is the easiest thing to learn on a Cigar Box Guitar I think it’s probably a 2 chord song using just G and C power chords.An example of this is John Lennon’s ” Give Peace A Chance” . It starts and ends on the G chord and you play the C chord on the word chance and then go back to the G chord for all we are saying.With 3 chords, you can play literally thousands of songs. In this article I’ll show you how to play G, C and D power chords. I’ve also given a few examples below...WW…