How To Get Started Playing The Three String Cigar Box Guitar

The three string guitar, sometimes also called the cigar box guitar or CBG is a great instrument to add to your guitar collection. However, you can’t just pick up a CBG and starting playing it like you would a standard six string guitar. The tuning is different and, well, there are only three strings. Many of the methods you know from your standard six string guitar, electric or acoustic, aren’t going to move easily to the three string. If you’re good with alternative tunings on the guitar, you may get your head around the three string guitar a little more quickly, but it still takes some getting used to.

If you’ve only picked up the three string guitar recently and you’re a little stumped, don’t worry, you’re not alone! A friend of my wife makes three string guitars out of various things (not just cigar boxes) and she got me one more than a few years ago. If took a few false starts before everything just clicked and I figured out what guitar knowledge to apply and what to approach differently.

What’s In A Name?

Before I go further, let’s clarify naming conventions. I prefer the term “three string guitar” rather than cigar box guitar. Why? Well, many cigar box guitars have four strings. Some only have two. Hell, some have all six. 

Commonly, yes, a cigar box guitar will only have three strings. And yes, commonly a three string guitar will be made out of a cigar box. But not always! The terms three string guitar and cigar box guitar are fairly interchangeable. But just be aware.

And obviously the reason a cigar box guitar is called that is because it’s made out of a cigar box! In this case, the cigar box acts as a resonating chamber, the same way the body of an acoustic guitar behaves. Anything else will work though, as long as it’s hollow. I’ve seen guitars made out of old buckets and various tubs. I’ve even seen them made out of oil cans. You can also get solid or semi-hollow body three string guitars made out of various materials.

Three String Guitar Tuning

Being more of a folk instrument, there’s nothing really “standard” about the three string guitar, and that includes its tuning. “Standard” tuning on three string guitar is usually 1-5-1; so the lowest string is the root, the middle string is the 5th, and the highest string is an octave above the lowest. That’s likely how most three string guitars are tuned, but don’t be surprised if you see something else.

While guitar standard tuning is E-A-D,-G-B-E, things can change on the three string. D-A-D is pretty common, as is G-D-G. Both of these marry up fairly well with standard guitars. But, depending on the scale length of the three string, it may be tuned in some other 1-5-1 arrangement.

While guitar standard tuning has its own intrinsic sense, so does the three string’s. Firstly, this 1-5-1 tuning allows you to play a power chord as a barre up and down the neck. If you’re stuck, just move up and down. It also makes it easy to add a third or a minor third to the chord, as well as 7ths. The 1-5-1 tuning is also symmetrical, so chord shapes work if you reverse the highest and lowest string. This can be nice for chord inversions and slash chords.

You can strum a three string guitar just like you strum a standard guitar, but obviously it doesn’t sound as full. Regardless, it’s still good to know your three string guitar chord shapes. I have a separate article on that, so follow the link.

Note Finding On The Three String Guitar

I cover much of this in my chords for three string guitar lesson, but it’s just as important in a getting started article as well. By now, you’re probably pretty good at note finding on the six string guitar, so just use the same strategies that work for you.

What works for me is reference notes. If you’re playing a chord, you know where the one, the five, and the octave are. You can then move up and down from there. 

Obviously scales are different on the three string guitar, but, despite some shifting to get all degrees of the scale, there’s actually not a lot of movement if you don’t worry about playing the fourth. Here’s a diagram with the 7th highlighted since you can play it in two different places.

It gets even easier if you’re playing the blues, since it’s hard to hit a bad note. Check out everywhere you can find a flat 3rd, 5th, or 7th.

For me, as someone who doesn’t often stray away from standard tuning, understanding the new tuning of the three string guitar was one of the biggest hurdles. But once I sat down and mapped it all out, it was eye opening.

Blues Comping On The Three String Guitar

Ultimately, the three string guitar is best for Blues based music, and a simple blues comp is super easy.

When playing on the lowest string, realise that the next string is the fifth, so you can get an easy blues comp by strumming the two open low strings then by fretting the second fret on the middle string. That’s your basic Blues rhythm that you can build everything else on.

Drone Notes On The Three String Guitar

The three string guitar also lends itself well to drone notes. You can play melodies or chordal fragments across two of the strings while droning away on the third one. 

If you check out the three string guitar chords article, you’ll also notice that it’s common to play the root of a chord on the middle string. This means that on a standard Blues that may go something like I-IV-I-V-IV, you don’t actually have to shift positions that much. Take a look at the following two diagrams: