Learning the basics of a simple blues shuffle on Cigar Box Guitar, with Chickenbone John
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- Get your three string guitar tuned in G D G and let's get started!!!
I was prompted to do this lesson after seeing few people trying to play a "shuffle" on cigar box guitar but not really getting to grips with the rhythm. When you are on your own and trying to figure it out from scratch it can be very difficult to master this basic but essential part of learning how to play blues (or most other music styles come to that). For the most part, we will be concentrating on the picking or strumming hand, and not worrying much about fretting or sliding the notes.
I've been fortunate to learn from some great modern blues players, such as Kevin Brown, Catfish Keith, Jim Crawford and Brooks Williams to mention a few, and hope I can share a little bit of that knowledge to you.
I want to pass on the words of Son House, told by Kevin Brown. Kevin says, “Maybe I was eighteen or nineteen, I met Son House and I spent some time with him, and he taught me two things which to this day I still remember. He said, “Man”, he said, “You gotta learn how to play rhythm, if you can’t play rhythm, ain’t no point in putting slide on any kind of shit. You gotta get your rhythm right boy, you know, don't worry about your slide”….and the second thing he said, “Your slide playing ain’t worth a shit unless it’s got a song to put it on.”, so wow...that’s interesting, I’m going to have to learn some songs.”
So with this in mind, we will concentrate almost entirely on the rhythm, not the fretting of the notes or sliding. You need to go nice and slow and steady, and start feeling the bounce that you need to get a proper driving soulful sound. Counting the rhythm out aloud can really help, and repetition, repetition, repetition is essential to get this locked into your mind and muscles. It's essential to break away from a "square" and even one-two-three-four beat. Two important things - firstly start the rhythm count by adding an "and" on an upstroke. Also, the stress needs to be on the 2 and 4 beat, so it's "one & TWO & three and FOUR". All the "and" beats should be upstrokes, all the counted beats downstrokes.
This may seen unnatural at first, but without a drummer or accompanying musician to help out, it's really important that you get this count and this beat right. Once you have mastered it you can break out of the pattern with fingerpicking and more complicated strum patterns, and by adding a full "walking bass" to really get the groove going, but start with getting the feel and emphasis of this basic rhythm pattern locked down. Good Luck!
www.chickenbon...
Awright now, I got it. Finally a simple, detailed lesson on 'simple blues shuffle'. After seeing John's video here, it sort of leads me to believe that some of the other blues instructors either don't have a proper method of teaching this or maybe they purposely make it difficult in order to make themselves look like 'really good' blues guitarists. Regardless, I cannot thank John enough for his continuing efforts to share his knowledge. You are a good man John. Thank you, amigo.
Just passing it on...it came to me from Son House via Kevin Brown ...I'm just handing on the flame as best I can.
Yes. “Buy my instruction videos” difficult
After years of wanting to learn an Instrument but never had the time I've finally retired and my son gave me a 3 string hubcap guitar he used to tinker with to see if I could get on with it, I found out how to tune it, then came across Chickenbone John, Starting off with this basic blues shuffle and finding it a bit hard to start as with anything new, but what I find inspiring that there is talented people out there that take time out to share their talent they have probably taken years to develop and learn to do and then unselfishly share that Knowledge with others without a price on it, please keep on posting and keep up the good work.
Thank You.
I have been trying to learn the shuffle from youtube and this is the best lesson I have seen, thanks to you I finally get it!
Hey Mr. Chickenbone... THANK YOU... I watch all of your CBG videos over and over. Love your patience and guidance to us pupils. I've learned so much. Keep making these videos. Cheers, k 😀
Outstanding lesson, the best 19 minutes I’ve spent on UA-cam for CBG lessons.
Yessir Mr Chickenbone! Thanks for the great lesson
Brilliant, I have learnt more about rhythm in the last few minutes than ever before
Thank you so much
Chris
Just finished my first guitar last night and was able to play it today thanks to you!!! Was never able to play a guitar before
Thank you so much for this, John! There are a million videos out there on riffs and whatnot, but I really wish there was more stuff like this, focusing on the core skills that make all that other frippery sound good and work. I really appreciate you teaching this so clearly and good-humoredly.
Thanks for the kind words, hope it's of some help.
I don't deserve to see this. After tons of vids you get to the heart of the matter. Thank you! One thing, you are giving the gift of knowledge to those of us that are not musically talented. So many CBG UA-camrs don't care to share the intricate but invaluable tips and tricks that make playing the CBG possible. Thank you for being so unselfish.
Thanks for the kind words...I'm just doing what I can.
Not sure what UA-camrs you’re watching but the ones I watch explain it fairly well. Check out Del Puckett, uncle mark, Shane Speal to name a few. I agree, I think anyone who takes the time to upload free lessons are unselfish indeed!
So easy and so obvious, and yet, this is the very first time I get it. Thanks!
You are a great teacher. Thank you.
Explained very well and very comprehensibly, thank you!
Thanks so much for the video!! The proper strumming style was just what I needed to improve as a beginner!! Cheers!
Best BASIC strumming lesson on UA-cam Brother Thanks.
Superb lesson as always, I love the level of detail that you put into your explanations. I remember seeing Kevin Brown about 20 years ago. Great musician and the first person I ever saw playing a cigar box guitar. I went to workshop he did on slide guitar and I remember him saying something like “ always remember you’re playing music and the guitar is just the way you do it.”
That's another great quote from Kevin!
Kevin has such a great slide tone it is incredible, and I owe him so much in terms of what he's inspired me to do.
I agree. being someone who has only recently started to play, even getting an acceptable slide tone would be something of an achievement. Recognising those that have, really listening to them and trying to learn from what they do is time well spent. I have to say, you’ve got a pretty mean slide tone yourself.
Banjo player here, just bought a tenor guitar, this is really helpful, thanks for taking the time.
I love all your vids chickenbone john. Thank you for your great lessons.
You sir are my BROTHER from another MOTHER !!!
This is an awesome Blues CBG Video . Blues is alive Chickenbone John. Greetings from Germany
Thanks man your awesome i will keep playing your video and learn this .
Best I've seen on this subject! Thank You!
Best on the net!!! Thx again John..will be keeping up on your tutorials!! Cheers
Thanks for the lesson, really appreciated.
total schön erklärt. DANKE für deine Mühe
Your two videos have opened it all up to me! Thanks, as a beginner, this allowed me to JAM!!
Thank you for turning the light on. This is the best description/lesson I have seen.
good lad that was great what a difference that has made to my playing
You are fantastic. I just got a cigar box guitar and trying to teach myself to play. I’ve looked at several other videos for beginners but they go way too fast. Your teaching style is perfect. I’m definitely following you
Yeah, what she said!
Excellent video good clear explanation and nice slow approach it's so very easy to follow! Thank you so much for taking the time share your knowledge.👍👍
Absolutely brilliant lesson. More please
I'll try and do a follow-up to this - I just hope that it is of some help.
John! This video made me dig my box off the wall( where it's been hanging for a yr now) and try again. Thank you for your frankness and honesty. I can get my shit together!
That sounds like our works here is done! But seriously, that's good, and I'll be doing more of this.
Great lesson, thank you for sharing
Just started and thank you mate love it
Very helpful. Have been feeling a need for this very lesson.
We do our best on pass on the torch.
love your lesson ,building a box now
Thank you John most helpfull.
again great lesson
Thank you for investing the time to help others...Awesome! Thanks, thanks, thanks.
Great lesson, I feel a lot more confident in my ability on the cigar box.
thanks from france !!
Worth your effort thanks mate . I will be enjoying this I like the way it breaths
You are an amazing Teacher !!!!
Real nice lesson, thanks.
Super great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great lesson
Thanks very much for the help on playing 3 string guitars
Love it. thanks so much.
Really like the way u teach
I like your homely style and clear diction plus unassuming teaching style - great, thanks..................Lost John
I watched your stomp box video. Your guitar playing in the box demo was so infectiously rhythmic, you improved my guitar playing.
So, thanks for that.
Thanks for the video it' getting easy.
Excellent lesson John, many thanks for doing this for us new CBG players. 😀
EXCELLENT! Thanks
My farther is a wood craftsman and he is building some cigar box guitars I currently play 6 string acoustic and I am excited to learn the cigar box. He is not done yet but there looking beautiful. We have lots to learn from building and playing them. Life is a journey! By the way Jesus is the way the truth and the life no one come to the father except through him!
absolutely great.
Rhythm. i have such a hard time getting it into my brain. these slowed down lessons on rhythm work for me. please do more of them if you can find some extra time. i am sure i'm not the only one that needs it simplified.
great work. thank you for showing us.
It helps me a lot, thanks !
Thank you, clear lesson, well explained
Son House was a great player very u Dee appreciated
THANK YOU. I couldn't figure out why my sound didn't sound right. Now to break years of habits.
Great lesson is 2am I can't wait til tomorrow morning to continue thk u.
...damn bro that was some awesome teaching!!! No joke - Thanks for taking the time to drill that sh*t in...I think you just made me a star - albeit a falling star... & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 got it...start with & #leavinghousenow2buycigarbox! ☺️
Thank You. Very usefull
Simple explanation... thanks. Very helpful
Brilliant
Thanks John for the lesson.
Excellent
Awesome. Awesome. Freaking AWESOME!
Awesome good informative teaching thanks mate
beautiful instrument
great info thank you sir//
Love this
Six minutes in I'm thinking if he says up and down one more time..... Then when you finally strummed a few times on the 'and'.... well I be dammed that sounds great. Thank you sir and for heavens sake mind your fingers
Thanks for sticking with it....repetition repetition, repetition...it's boring, but essential for that "muscle memory" thing to start happening.
Great job and thanks 😊
Great video very informative many thanks for sharing
You are a genius dude. See also Justin Johnson
Thanks Master!
My pleasure!
Wisdom passed on thank you
Terrific lesson! I think i also hear some palm muting of the strings on the downstroke. Thanks a lot man!
Thanks
Chickenbone plectrum? Awesome lesson
Sehr gut 👍✌
Loved it I'm a lefty so if I just do it backwards I'll get the same results
I'm a lefty, but play right handed.
Can you show us some different blues strum patterns? No big hurry, I need to practice the up down up down up down shuffle 😀
That's basically the one pattern you need to master - everything else comes from it.
@@ChickenboneJohn Really? Ok, I’ve been playing guitar since ‘78. Mostly singing and strumming 3 chords. But I’ve never really paid attention to making sure my timing was spot on. Heck, I didn’t even pay attention to if my guitar is in tune or not. So I’m starting all over, and Son House was right. If you ain’t got rhythm, you ain’t got nuthin’.
Thanks man, are you a professional teacher? Anyway, I’m gonna remember AND 1 and 2 and 3 and 4!
Teaching people to play is part of what I do for a living, along with performing, making and selling these guitars.
I always go' a one and a two and a 1 2 3 🤟✌️
Efing magic or what
..we gonna go up down up down ..got a hard bone
plectrum gonna go up down
Mr. Chickenbone. My 3 string is fretless and I can not get a clean note from it using my finger as bar. Am I doing something wrongly or is it not possible without frets?
Thank you,
Mike
Did Rock music lose its shuffle by the time the British Invasion came along? This sounds distinctly American to me and I don’t hear much shuffle in rock music at all after the mid 60s
Thanks so much for the lesson, I'm just beginning and you made it understandable. Any tips on making the bar, I am having trouble pressing all three strings. Thanks.
ua-cam.com/video/4KVbfg2dDbk/v-deo.html
@@ChickenboneJohn thanks, I have a lot of practicing to do.
What should I adjust my 20 watt small amp too? I seem to get some echo. Maybe it is the adjustments and combination of being too close to
the amp when playing? Any advice will help. I do have also a volume and a tone knob on my cigar box guitar. Thanks!!!!
Don't get too hung up with the sound of the amp...I like a fairly clean sound with just a bit of overdrive bite when I dig in. I tend to have the guitar controls fully wound up to 10 on tone and volume, but not a huge amount of gain (overdrive) on the amp.
Sorry to hear about your finger, hope it was a hardwood of good quality and not some lumber!
Hey CJ,
Is your bridge held in place only by the tension of the strings?
Can you move it around?
Would you move it to: Adjust the tone? Adjust the action? For a good position to rest your hand?
It's a floating bridge, not glued down, which is how pretty much every guitar with tailpiece is made. It allows you to move it to get the intonation right.
@@ChickenboneJohn Ah. Have you played CBGs with fixed adjustable bridges with saddles and a tailpiece?
If so, do you find them to hold their tune longer than floating bridges?
@@TheLookingOne That's a really illogical way to make a guitar. Using a trapeze tailpiece is redundant with a "hardtail" stye bridge. Either use a hardtail adjustable bridge or a tailpiece a with a floating bridge.
@@ChickenboneJohn Oh yes, one or the other. I was asking about only the hardtail bridge with saddles.
yeah
What size are the stings u use
.042, .032, .024 www.chickenbonejohn.com/collections/daddario/products/zilpha-strings-phosphor-bronze
Now you need to show us the embellishments you performed towards the end of the video.
I'm going to do another video soon developing the walking bass element a little bit, and maybe show a basic turnaround.
I find the square edge of the box digging into my tendons painful. It’s hard to get ahold of the damn thing and the piezo picks up every tiny tap and scratch. I think of the finest quality instruments that have been destroyed in the name of art, and not one of those deserved to be smashed anything like a cbg deserves to be smashed for being horrible instruments, and I’ve never heard of anyone ever smashing one of these awful things.
ua-cam.com/video/pWdd6_ZxX8c/v-deo.html
But seriously, just like any guitars, there are big differences between instruments. We don't use piezo pickups without pre-amps (the one in the video has a Fishman under-saddle pickup and preamp), we often put a "wrist guard" on the top edge of the box to make them more comfortable. At the end of the day, these are simple folk instruments.
..no. ...like the dead one you did better. ..cause it sounds like Steve Miller to me. .." well I've been working real hard, and I'm trying to find a job, but it just keeps getting tougher every day..."
20 mins for a 30 second lesson
I'd love to be be able to get this down to 30 seconds. Maybe I'll try and an edit to produce a cut down tighter version, but distilling years of experience into a few seconds is not easy.
Bla.... Bla... Bla.... Bla..........