How to Play Muddy Waters on Cigar Box Guitar

by Shane Speal

Muddy Waters was one of my very first heroes when I was introduced to the blues. He had the swagger and the bravado like no other man who has walked this earth.

He also had a badass guitar technique played with reckless abandon.

After making my first cigar box guitar almost 25 years ago, I realized that a lot of Muddy's early electric blues easily converted to 3-string slide cigar box guitar, tuned Open G (GDG). In fact, most of Muddy's early material on Aristocrat and Chess records was recorded in the key of G. (Thank you for that, Muddy...)

Here are the first three lessons in my ongoing series dedicated to the Mannish Boy. Subscribe to my Youtube channel to be notified on every new video posted.

3 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on November 29, 2017 at 4:37am

Cool lesson Shane! Good rant too. Many of us have the sloppy part down - still working on the awesome.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ernest Gusella on November 29, 2017 at 10:06am

GRRRREAT LESSONS by Shane on someone who to my mind is the 3rd greatest blues player ever i.e. #1 Charlie Patton, who most people believe really got the blues going #2 Robert Johnson, who confused and dazzled everyone by absorbing everything that Charlie Patton had to teach #3 Muddy Waters, who sucked up all of that steaming, turbulent Mississippi delta atmosphere like a vacuum cleaner #4 Jimi Hendrix, who took the blues to other worlds in the psychedelic age.

If you don't know how great Muddy is, you don't know shit! Most of the players today are all about flash with no balls. Shane's enthusiasm is justified in spades. He nails it on these lessons. I saw Muddy a couple of times back in the late '60's at the original Filmore in the Filmore black district of San Francisco, and then again in the garden at the Museum of Modern Art in New York before he died. Muddy is a primal GOD who took the power and roots and pain of Mississippi Delta music; electrified it, and turned into big city VOODOO that speaks to anyone who has a soul at all. You can hear AFRICA in his music- where mankind began. Muddy was too spooky for words. Wonderful lessons Shane! Keep 'em coming'! I cannot say this enough.