#1 resource for Cigar Box Guitars, Free Plans, How-To, Parts & More!

best structured lessons yet (and who the heck is fred?)!

i'm as guilty as anyone of being distracted by everything that this site and youtube offers to beginning players, me flitting from one shiny one object to the next, trying out all that i can, very briefly, before moving on ... and never really learning anything.

signed up for pat's great learncigarboxguitar.com lessons, which has helped settle me down a bunch. and he's terrific, especially his emphasis on the left hand and on the groove.

but then i'd get sucked back into the flash via youtube. and there's so much to see. and dont get me wrong, i love it all. and i get that to make even a semi-living from cbg, the big guys have got to keep on producing new videos weekly, if not daily, if not by the minute. but for a basically-tone-deaf rank beginner it's more than a little overwhelming. and frustrating. so i keep on looking for something logically structured like pat's site -- not too many videos, not too few, all for my tastes and perhaps mine alone.

then, earlier today, i found just the guy. his name is fred. here's his youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqu6sXX8orh4q8NkgseJNwQ/videos.

he only started posting 5 months ago and has but 20 or so videos to his name. but they are all of the how-to variety and of that kind, i've never seen anyone so gifted at getting across what needs to happen. plus, he's plenty charming, with a fine wink and a sly smile and just an air about him that, as you can tell, has left me slightly smitten.

and no, i'm not him, even tho it might look that way, this being my first post here and all.. and no i'm not being paid to write this. if you're a beginner, go check him out and report back to let me know if you agree or don't.

but here's the thing. i believe fred has lost his initial enthusiasm. all his posts happened in a short span of time and since then there's been none. so, if you like him as much as i do, please feel free to leave comments asking for more.

also, i did a quick search here and could find no reference to him, though perhaps i'm wrong about that. also googled "fred's cigar box guitar" and only got links to his youtube channel. so it seems clear to me he's not as well known as I think he should be.

all this said, does anyone know who fred is and what his story is? me, i'd love to know more.

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on August 8, 2021 at 10:47pm

Erik, like anything, learning to play takes time & lots of patience. So, with that said, the time you put into it is what you’ll get out of it, and don’t worry about things not coming quickly. Guitar is like anything else, it happens at its own pace. Take it one step at a time, if you try to learn too much at one time, you’ll just block yourself from your natural progression & confuse yourself even more. Learn a technique, play it till it hurts, play it some more & don’t stop playing it because it could be your signature lick one day? And then you learn some more, but remember to keep it simple & you’ll have an easier time learning? That’s my two cents, Lots of luck to you :)

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Permalink Reply by erik on August 9, 2021 at 7:44am

that's much for that. and, yes, simple is key, as is not o'reaching and being methodical, all this especially if, like me, you have no native musical talent and, as a quite aged one, not even the most basic licks stay in my brain very long. that said, over time, i'm hoping to improve. meanwhile, however, man o man am i having fun!