gdg 3 string cigar box guitar scales and chords

G-D-G TUNING

CHORD & SCALES

FOR 3 STRING

CIGAR BOX

GUITARS

TABLE OF CONTENTSACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................... 3

GENERAL................................................................................ 4

6 STRING GUITAR TO 3 STRING CIGAR BOX GUITAR.................................... 4

CHORDS................................................................................. 5

READING THE CHORD MAPS ........................................................................ 5

MAJOR CHORDS ........................................................................................... 6

MINOR CHORDS........................................................................................... 8

POWER CHORDS, 5TH ................................................................................ 10

DOMINATE 7TH ......................................................................................... 12

SCALES ................................................................................ 15

BLUE MAJOR INCLUDING BLUES NOTES ...................................................... 16

BLUE MINOR INCLUDING BLUES NOTES ...................................................... 18

PENTATONIC MAJOR .................................................................................. 20

PENTATONIC MAJOR INCLUDING BLUES NOTES.......................................... 22

PENTATONIC MINOR .................................................................................. 24

PENTATONIC MINOR INCLUDING BLUES NOTES.......................................... 26

PENTATONIC MAJOR, MINOR AND BLUES NOTES ....................................... 28

MIXOLYDIAN .............................................................................................. 30

MIXOLYDIAN WITH BLUES NOTES ............................................................... 32

DORIAN ..................................................................................................... 34

DORIAN WITH BLUES NOTES ...................................................................... 36

2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI would like to acknowledge firstly, Eb’n’Flo (Paul and Fleur) who I saw playing cigar box guitars at a wood show and from this I knew I wanted one. The effort that they both put into http://

cigarboxguitarsaustralia.ning.com/ is great and has provided an extensive resource, forum and inspiration for me and many others, who share what they know without reserve. Without it I wouldn’t have built my own CBG or been inspired to putting this chord and scale booklet together ... Thanks Paul & Fleur for sharing your passion of cigar box guitars.

Secondly, Gerd Klassen for his webpage www.12bar.de which includes the great chord and scale generator that produced the images (chord and scale maps) that are presented in this booklet, not only for regular guitar, and any combination of strings which has enabled the information in this book to be generated. Gerd I really enjoy reading your notes and observations on the blues and EC that you included in your web page and it has truly opened my eyes to how great the blues is. Thanks Gerd for sharing your passion for the blues and the scale generator images.

Finally, and most importantly, my wife and son, who without encouragement and understanding my like of this instrument, I would struggle to find the time to explore and enjoy it. I look forward to jamming with my sone on our CBG’s together. Love you both.

http://cigarboxguitarsaustralia.ning.com/profile/DominicByrne

November 2012

3

GENERALAs the open note on a GDG tuned cigar box guitar is G, the chord and scale maps all start at the G note and progress through to F#.

I have set this booklet out so that if you print it double sided and bind it, when opened to a double page, all of the chords / scales that relate to that type is presented over the two visible pages, just to make it easier to use.

6 STRING GUITAR TO 3 STRING CIGAR BOX GUITARIf you know the string and fret position on a 6 string guitar in standard tuning, locate the key and then locate the same key on the 3 string GDG tuned guitar. As you can see there are plenty of options to choose from.

6 STRING GUITAR, TUNED E A D G B E

3 STRING GUITAR, TUNED G D G

4

CHORDSREADING THE CHORD MAPS

As the open note on a GDG tuned cigar box guitar is G, the chord and scale maps all commence with the note G and progress through to F#.

the chord maps to locate a possible voicing of the chord, locate the root note (red) first and then the notes for the other two string.

The spelling of the chord, outlines the preference of the notes.

Select a root note first, in the above case the G.

Then if you can select the next note in the spelling, B, and then if possible select the third, D.

However if the notes are too far apart from the others the pitch may not sound right. You can hear this by pressing the 12th fret on top (G) and bottom (G) strings and leaving the middle (D) string open. Whilst it may have the right spelling, the pitch doesn’t sound right.

As such the 1st and 2nd represent bar chords, and others being inversions of these:

G ---0---12---4---4---7---7---16---D ---0---12---0---5---5---5---17---G ---0---12---0---7---4---7---16---

Whilst looking through the various chords for a given note, you will note that the bar chord is the same, but the inversions have slight variations, and this is the interesting thing about these various chords.

However at the end of the day experiment with what sounds good to you.

5

Spelling of the chord (notes that form it)

Root note

MAJOR CHORDS

6

7

MINOR CHORDS

8

9

POWER CHORDS, 5TH

10

11

DOMINATE 7TH

12

13

14

SCALESGenerally in this section, the pure scale is presented first, then followed with the same scale but supplemented with the 3rd, 5th and 7th blue notes indicated.

15

BLUE MAJOR INCLUDING BLUES NOTES

16

17

BLUE MINOR INCLUDING BLUES NOTES

18

19

PENTATONIC MAJOR

20

21

PENTATONIC MAJOR INCLUDING BLUES NOTES

22

23

PENTATONIC MINOR

24

25

PENTATONIC MINOR INCLUDING BLUES NOTES

26

27

PENTATONIC MAJOR, MINOR AND BLUES NOTES

28

29

MIXOLYDIAN

30

31

MIXOLYDIAN WITH BLUES NOTES

32

33

DORIAN

34

35

DORIAN WITH BLUES NOTES

36

37