Cigar Box Guitar: Does It Have A Future In Asia?
I haven’t seen a cigar box guitar since I was a teenager, almost 60 years ago. I even built one myself and played around with it, along with my gut-bucket bass and washboard. Isaac Cullah, a follower of Blues Asia Network, brought those memories back to the surface by uploading to YouTube a brief video of himself doing beatbox, accompanied by, or course, a cigar box guitar. I was hooked and have now spent quite a few hours researching this modest instrument. In fact, I even discovered that there was a Cigar Box Guitar Festival in Pennsylvania just last weekend [see link below].
First here’s a video that shows you the most simple kind of cigar box guitar — made from a cigar box, a broom handle and one wire string, played slide-style using a liqueur glass. This is actually a great little instrument on which to learn the blues scale — it’s amazing what one can do with just one string. In the US, some musicians teach young kids about this instrument in the Blues in the Schools programs — and there’s no telling just how many young people have had their first experience playing the blues after making themselves a cigar box guitar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEpn597E7F8
Most popular and most traditional, apparently, are 3-string guitars. There is even a remarkable website devoted to the history of the 3-string guitar, complete with video. And if you search YouTube, you will uncover an absolutely surprising number of videos on all aspects of this instrument: how to make one, how to tune it and how play it, plus plenty of examples of people showing off their skills on the instrumet. And the music is really fun to listen to.
I would like to return to our follower Isaac and share with you his video, which got me thinking about this simple instrument. Thanks, Isaac.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6qt1V60Fmc
QUESTION: Have you ever played a simple instrument like this? Do you think the cigar box guitar can make good music?
Related articles
- Pennsylvania Cigar Box Guitar Festival is this Saturday, August 27 (boingboing.net)
- Music heals… (jasonfarthing.com)
This post was written by
Thomas Colvin – who has written 147 posts on Blues Asia Network.
Thomas "Tomcat" Colvin is an American expat, residing in Manila since 1986. He is best known in the Philippines as the harp player with LAMPANO ALLEY [now in hibernation], with lots of videos on YouTube. Google will also tell you more than you want to know about him.
Currently, he is the administrator of the Blues Asia Network. And he flies around Asia tooting his harp.
September 3, 2011
@ 4:00 am
It’ll do. I think it’ll find it’s way to Asians because they are musically inclined. I guess everyone of us are just music lovers on our own way.
Krystelle recently posted..how to learn to speak hebrew
September 4, 2011
@ 5:15 am
A good musical instrument is a good musical instrument!
I recommend a visit to Lapu Lapu City, Mactan island, Cebu… and get one of the guitar builders there to make you an excellent guitar… Or contact lutier Junx Muana, in Lahug, Cebu City, Philippines….
Junx Muana builds some of the best guitars in the world.
John “Whiteboy” Walden.
September 12, 2011
@ 10:33 am
Good instrument needs a good musician. If someone talented will make it popular then yes.
Marlene recently posted..Online Degrees For Adults
September 24, 2011
@ 12:29 am
This was fun watching the utube videos of the cigar box guitar. I haven’t seen anything like that before. And I would agree with Marlene, if you have a good musician and you have a cigar box guitar then you will get good music.
thanks for the post
January 27, 2012
@ 6:02 am
Hi Tom, our Malaysian Bluesman Julian Mokhtar actually builds and sells cigar box guitars. He performs with them too.
January 27, 2012
@ 6:05 am
http://youtu.be/BWRmcXd3MM0