Technology Information

Big Can & Cigar Box

Although I’ve been playing guitar for many years it is only recently that I have discovered the fun that can be had with a cigar box guitar.

If you are new to cigar box guitars I should explain what they are. A cigar box guitar is, as the name suggests, a guitar made from a cigar box. They tend to be home made instruments that use a cigar box as the resonator in the same way that an acoustic guitar uses its guitar body to amplify the sound from the strings.

Back in the 19th century cigars were far more popular than they are today. Wooden boxes were used to package cigars from around the middle of the 19th century and etchings from the American civil war show soldiers playing a cigar box based fiddle.

It’s quite simple to turn a cigar box into a basic guitar using a length of wood and a few tuning pegs and this is why they became a popular form of folk instrument. The simplest of cigar box guitars might have only one string, but they are commonly made with three strings and no frets. A bottleneck slide, knife or even a piece of animal bone can be used to fret the steel strings.

Cigar box based musical instruments are a traditional form of folk instrument that could easily be made using items that would otherwise have been thrown away. There has been something of an explosion in interest in these simple home made instruments, partly fuelled by the internet. And its not essential that you use a cigar box to make home made musical instruments. Many creative cigar box guitar builders use anything from oil drums to biscuit tins and lunch boxes to make some fine sounding instruments.

So if you are struggling with complex chords on your six string guitar why not put it to one side and get yourself a three string cigar box guitar and get back to some roots music.

Because people actually buy the iphone for the music power it has the app store has recently been bombarded with apps for the people that love specific forms of music and instruments. I personally got it so I would have more room in my pockets and am only really just discovering what useful gadget it is.

There are now several different apps that are available to download for fans of Guitars as well as the fans of things like Rock Band.If you look into it then you will find a Rock Band app for around £5.99 that is most likely a lot more expensive than the American equivalent. Although everything can be done on the app in the same way that it can be done in the console game, singing is done by tapping and not actually singing which is a bit of a shame. There is even a possibility that you can download a few extra songs just like you can in the game, more money for the big companies.

There are many free options out there to take for this as well which is always good but you will find it hard to find something as good as the paid ones. There are also cheaper options to the official Rock Band app which may be worth looking into.

Fir fans of Acoustic Guitars or Electric Guitars then there are guitar tuning apps for you and most of which are actually free.

There are also many other apps out there that could involve quizzes and other bits of information,. Many of these quizzes are quite a laugh to play as you can play them over Wi-Fi with your friends, they can ask you any questions at all and my personal favourite is name that guitar rift.

Why not think about going into the app stor and looking for an app that may suit your guitar needs.