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

Bill Male Houston, TX United States: Like

0 members like this; Share on Facebook

Share on Facebook MySpace Tweet

Blog Posts
Discussions (8)
Events
Groups
Photos
Photo Albums
Videos

Bill's Discussions

Why Not A Major Triad?

Started this discussion. Last reply by Bill Jun 18, 2019. 15 Replies 0 Likes

Hi! I'm Bill, a 68 year old geezer, who always wanted to play guitar, but my fingers were too fat to make a chord!I saw a cigar box guitar online, and saw the generous string spacing, and said…Continue

View All

Bill's Page

Latest Activity

Bill replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"Thanks, JL For GBD, here are the 1,4,5, relative minor and seventh: C maj 5| x | - | - | - | - || x | - | - | - | - || x | - | - | - | - | F maj 5 6 7| - | - | x | - | - || - | x | - | - | - || x | - | - | - | - | G maj …"

Jun 18, 2019

JL replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"Major chord open tuning does in fact give you easy access to all 4 chord shapes"

Jun 17, 2019

TN Twang replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"Funny you should ask... I never cared much for strumming GBD tuning because of the "parallel fifths" sound getting monotonous. Like the others here, I preferred Gdg or dgb or f#ad'. Then I stumbled across Bill Evans's book…"

Jun 12, 2019

Bill replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"Tried to confuse me with the 1,5,8 instead of 1,5,1, eh? Took me a second, but I figured it out. :-) Working on this song today: transposed to where chords are F C Am A# and C https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/deluge/open_up_the_sky_chords_781776"

Jun 3, 2019

Cause the Blue rat replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"The 1, 5, 8 tuning is a starting point. With every different open tuning there's different music to be had. Even tuning three or four stings in standard tuning works. "

Jun 3, 2019

Bill replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"Thanks, John. Will do.I don't foresee much sliding, hopefully some fingerpicking and strumming."

Jun 3, 2019

Uncle John replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"You sound like you have more music theory than I do. There are a great many tunings used and I think yours makes an open G. I think if you are just sliding it might be great, but like Korigan said, if you want to do some finger chords…"

Jun 3, 2019

Paul Craig replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"I use the 1"x 2" boards for my necks(actual 3/4"x 1&1/2") and I have the short fat fingers too. Which is why I played Rhythm guitar using power chords. LOL Remember that 6 string guitars are usually 1&11/16" or…"

Jun 2, 2019

Bill replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"Hi, Paul. Thanks. I am enjoying learning playing this thing, and have been pleasantly surprised to find out that at least on simple songs, I can actually sing and play at the same time! There may be a 4-string in my future, if the string spacing…"

Jun 2, 2019

Korrigan replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"Not trying to talk you out of more guitars but...If you are in open G (151, GDG) it's really easy to tune to open D major (513, ADF#)."

Jun 2, 2019

Paul Craig replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"Basically these are usually tuned 1-5-1(old Rock power chords) for the simplicity, but you can tune to what you want. I prefer 4 strings that I tune 1-5-1-3. That way I can add a 3rd when I want and makes playing with 4rths and 7ths easier. Welcome."

Jun 2, 2019

Bill replied to Cigar Box Nation's discussion The Barnwood "Mountain Tenor" Guitar - Built by Shane Speal from a C. B. Gitty kit

"Sounds great to my ears! What makes it a Tenor guitar, as opposed to standard (haha) CBG? Can you guess what the string spacing would be on the 4-stringer? Signed, Fatfingered Bill"

Jun 2, 2019

Bill replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"Hello BD. Yep, GDG is pretty friendly, and I don't see me abandonong it. I guess the only reasonable solution is to have more than one guitar! :-D"

Jun 2, 2019

Bill replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"Thanks for the input, Korrigan. I love the "there's no wrong way" perspective with CBGs :-) I will be able to use the two-note harmonized scales I am familiar with. Happy picking!"

Jun 2, 2019

Blind Doughboy replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"I'd venture a guess that most CBGs are tuned to some sort of open tuning. There are countless variations that approximate a chord, such as GDG, AEA, DAD, EBE. Makes it very easy if you want to just strum along and play basic slide. But,…"

Jun 2, 2019

Korrigan replied to Bill's discussion Why Not A Major Triad?

"It's not a dead end at all! Though I prefer 513 tuning (open G would be DGB for example). The chord fingering is easier in my opinion."

Jun 1, 2019

Profile Information

How did you learn about Cigar Box Nation?: Ran across it researching cigar box guitars.

How many instruments have you built so far?: One

What do you find most interesting about cigar box guitars? (If you do not enter something meaningful here (at least one sentence long), your membership may be rejected as a spam/bot fake account).: Ease of use