Hi all. Would be grateful for some advice/comment on the following:

I'm not a musician and starting late in life (71). I got rid of an acoustic guitar because I found it too complicated. But looking at You Tube clips I was attracted to 3 string cigar box and bought one on ebay from a guy who makes them and from comments seems to know what he's doing.

I bought one of those electronic tuners and have tuned on both guitar and chromatic settings, but the chords don't sound the same when I compare them with You Tube clips. Fulsom prison bluees on an FCF chord for instance doesn't sound the same. Also GDG doesn't sound right for some of the blues numbers

Also, the guitar is fretted but I can only play with a slide, not fingers, yet clips again show guys playing 3 string fretted with fingers/slide.

 

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Send me links to the YouTube clips you're comparing to...

I think it's the Nigel McTrustry YouTube

It is all slide work with no fretting of notes needed. Nigel does note his tuning is FCF.

The right hand is just alternating between the low F-Hi F, then low F - C.

Looks like a slide from the V to the III the open followed by slide up to the VII.

Chris already noted that he is in Chromatic tuning, so if the intonation at the 12th is correct, it should sound the same as Nigel.

Thanks Tom.

Regards

ChrisP

Well, there is a lot of territory in "doesn't sound right" but I'll try to give a couple of the most likely I can think of.

1) Intonation of the git - the open string and the 12th fret  should register as the same note on your tuner, the 12th fret is one octave higher than the open string..  if the 12th fret goes sharp, move the saddle for that string away from the nut a little more, if the 12th fret goes flat, move the saddle for that string a little closer to the nut.

2) mismatched key of the song - if you are trying to play along to a johnny cash youtube, the chord sequence you found on a random website might not be in the same key as the video you are watching.  One good example: John Denver's "country roads" youtube video is in the key of A but 90% of the web sites write it in the key of G. 

Now if you are playing along to a 3 string lesson video, disreguard this and go back to #1 above.

3) Major/Minor/5 chords - again if you are playing along to a 3 string lesson video ignore this.  If you are playing along to a video of a 6 string, read on.

on your 3 string, you are playing an X5 chord, where the 6 string on the video is playing an Xmajor or Xminor chord.  They won't sound exactly the same, but they should sound like they go together. if not, refer to #2 and #1 above.

and If I've missed the mark, please provide more details, there is a wealth of knowledge here among the members, someone will be able to help you, eventually, once we understand the details.

Thanks for this, very helpful. The Johnny Cash 'prison blues' clip begins with the guy saying his version is tuned to FCF, that's why I mentioned it.

Chris

OK, ignore #2 and #3 then.  If your open strings sound the same as the video clip, then check the intonation of the git (#1 above).

if you could post the link to the clip, we could listen and see if there might be other ideas...

Excuse my ignorance, but what's a git (apart from an old git like me!)?

And can you shed any light on the fact that I can only play open or with a slide (with fingers on the fret board, there's virtually no sound at all)?

Fingering produces no sound at all -> put your finger tight behind the fret, not on top of the fret. the soft bit of flesh sticking beyond the fret is muting the string.

Thanks for that. It works!

Adding to what JL has written - if your guitar is set up properly it could be that the choice of strings on your Cigar Box Guitar (or CBG)is different to those used on the video. In this case you both are playing the same chords but you are using notes from different octaves. This is a really good explanation of what I mean using GDG tuning as the example http://www.cigarboxguitar.com/knowledge-base/open-g-gdg-tuning-on-y...

Regarding the playing with your fingers - are you able to post some pictures of your guitar from the front ideally showing the nut, fretboard, bridge visible and from the side showing string height? It will help to identify where the problem might be. No disrespect to the guitar builder it could be the frets are not very well fitted and at different heights. For playing slide it isn't an issue as the frets are used only for slide positioning. For finger style frets at different heights can lead to dead notes and buzzing. Additionally too high a string height can cause notes to play sharp (higher than expected pitch) due to the strings stretching as you push them down to the fretboard.

"Git" means guitar.

It is worth having a go at making your own CBG because you then realise it isn't difficult to do and more importantly you learn how to set the guitar exactly how you want it.

Regards,
David L.

Hi, Thanks for this info. I've taken a series of images trying to show string/fret depth, etc, but seem to be having trouble loading them via this site. Is it possible to let me have your email address so that I can do a file attachment.

Regards

ChrisP

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