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The CBG world. On the decline? Where is it going?

My thoughts and opinions as I drink my second PBR with spicy hot V8 juice. PBR and spicy hot V8 juice. Cheap and good. Like CBGs.

I see a decline in the numbers of videos and photos posted on CBN. Is interest decreasing?

I have a shit-load of opinions on this, but right now, I want to hear what you think. What is the state of the CBG world and where is it going?

John

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Permalink Reply by john mackay on June 4, 2014 at 10:34pm

well I'm relatively new to CBG.

after trying to play a Bass/6 stringed guitar gave up in the end to cut the story short.

by chance while searching the internet for motor bike racks/rails(this is what I make for a living)

for some reason CBG came up and I was like wtf is that.

so the more I looked into it the more interested I became and fascinated by the 3 stringed CBG.

tried to find a UK forum but none came up worthy of joining then I came across this CBG nation forum so I joined.

little disappointed on the UK side of things.it seems I'm keeping it a live! hardly any one post on there.

anyway I bought one and pleased with the results so far. I had mine fretted.

what I have notice though on you Tubes there seem to be a lot of emphasis on the neck playing but very little on finger plucking or strumming.

I'm trying to use 3 fingers for plucking but getting the timing right is proving a bit of a challenge.

oh and I visit this forum at least once a day sooo much to catch up on. john

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on June 5, 2014 at 4:22am

You have convinced me that the cigar box guitar and related home made music world is NOT on a downhill slide. Good! Because I very much enjoy this world.

Few things are better than making music on an instrument I made myself. If the rest of the CBG world went away, I would keep on playing and building. I've got a bad case of the CBG-bees.

There has been talk of 'taking the CBG things to the streets.' I have tried to do that. I'm a 'wanna be' blues man in a locality with not much interest in blues. Me doing blues on a 3 string is an interesting novelty to the local players. They may like it in small doses, but it seems like a little goes a long way. Ha, that is exactly how I feel about blue grass!

I am just about thrilled with some recent music breakthroughs. My CBG skills suddenly transfer to playing factory built sixes. I can do things that I never thought I would be able to do. Both in standard six string tuning and more so in open G tuning. I can play all my GDG songs on a standard guitar in open G. Wow. I am really happy about that.

I took a six string to the last two local events. I played songs that everybody knows and likes to sing and play along. It worked well. I will keep taking a CBG to local events, but will cater what I play to what the local folks want to hear. Less CBG and less blues. Just the way it is in rural Iowa.

The CBG world goes on. Where am I going? I want to be musically versatile. Here are my goals:

1. A small (6-12 song ) repertoire of country and Gospel Songs for a standard six string.

Half dozen songs that the local folks like to play and sing along to.
A 10-15 blues and Gospel song repertoire that I can play on CBG, and six sting. I want to be able to play most of these same songs on uke or mando. I want to use some harp on some of those songs.

4. Encourage others in music- playing and building. I am forever grateful to the friend that started me playing at around age 50. I want to pay that back with interest.

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Permalink Reply by Blue Collar Devil on June 5, 2014 at 5:02am

I think those are easily reachable goals John. I am a one man blues act and a cgb player, two strikes against me. I happen yo live in an area where there are some people that are blues fans so that's good. As for the cgb part I'm not sure how well I would be accepted. I don't know if there are any others that build or play them but I can imagine they would be into them. As I've said before you have inspired me to build,play and enjoy the hell out of all things cgb. Thank you :)

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on June 5, 2014 at 5:18am

Thanks, BCD. I am pretty close to achieving those goals. I wish my head would hold more songs than it does.

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Permalink Reply by Mike on June 5, 2014 at 5:08am

I've been building but I haven't been taking as many pictures. Maybe I'll rectify that soon.

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on June 5, 2014 at 5:19am

Good, Mike. And when you give us a photo, tell us a bit about the geetar.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on June 5, 2014 at 5:48am

Uncle John-

"Few things are better than making music on an instrument I made myself. If the rest of the CBG world went away, I would keep on playing and building. I've got a bad case of the CBG-bees."

In the end, this is all that matters IMO. Do what pleases you my friend!

My tastes and interests are so off the main stream charts, I have had to accept long ago that what I do is really for my own satisfaction anyway. Some like some of it, some don't. That's fine.

If I am not mistaken, the sentiment that got this discussion started was at least in part a plea for more content related participation in respect to what goes on here within CBN. On that note, I'll point out that I haven't participated that way as much due to the fact that many of my recent projects aren't topically really CBG related.

So as long as we are having this discussion, I have a few questions I would like to ask. Consider it a poll as such.

In my mind the site has become a bit "scattered". So many splinter groups that entire discussions on interesting topics occur, sort of "behind the scenes." And many groups get created and somewhat abandoned. Guilty of that myself.

As I see it there are really only a few different content topics directly related specifically to CBN, Performance, playing tutorials and building pictorials and building tutorials primarily among them. What are your preferences and how does everyone feel about the current relative balance between these areas?

I sometimes come across various things that I feel might be of interest, despite being somewhat (Or even sometimes VERY) off topic, Not like family pictures, pictures of my dog, pictures of motorcycle (or other) fabrication projects in my shop, etc, but like alternative or experimental or outstanding music performances or builds that I think others here might be interested in. Do we get too far off course or is this acceptable to you folks? (I.E. should I share a song I arranged and produced featuring Digeridoo but containing no CB related content? Just as an example?)

I like to teach/share and I like to learn. I personally would like to see more playing AND building tutorial related content. I have attempted to provide some here in the past without feeling there was a great deal of interest. I also recall a long time ago some concern expressed that the site was shifting from player oriented to builder oriented (or vice/versa.) Is there a general preference?

More to follow if I can think of anything.........

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on June 5, 2014 at 6:03am

I will let others answer most of that. But generally, i think we are interested in most anything home made and music related. And I am appreciative or the occasional non-related but interesting thing. I wish something new and alternate would come along and cause me some passion.

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Permalink Reply by john mackay on June 5, 2014 at 8:04am

((In my mind the site has become a bit "scattered". So many splinter groups that entire discussions on interesting topics occur, sort of "behind the scenes." And many groups get created and somewhat abandoned. Guilty of that myself.))

that is what I find to.

uncle john I've listen to your song glory glory hallelujah.

I liked it to but to me I think bemuzic is trying too hard to sing on this one but I maybe wrong and I'm no expert.I don't mean to be hurtful towards bem.. we can't please everybody I know.

having said that bemuzic plays and sing nicely in her other tubes post.