new music track

At last I've been able to do some recording again. Been so busy with making amps and stuff that music making has taken a back seat. I started a project with a pal a while ago. He sings in a band called The Choppers who are out in Cambodia. He had a song idea and we played around with some riffs and managed to knock out a punky/rocky/bluesy sort of number. Took a few takes and it's a bit rough and ready (as I like it). Two guitar tracks on it are played on one of my CBGs and the vocals were done through my ex-military bakelite headset mic - hence the thin sound quality of the vocals. I've put it upo on Soundcloud - here's the link if you want to listen to it.

http://soundcloud.com/smojomusic/mayday

Happy New cigarbox guitar Year

Hope you all had a great Christmas and maybe got some cool new toys. Had some problems with my internet and couldn't watch anything on Youtube for a while - bummer! Just completed two new CBGs. One of them was built for someone who asked for frets. I'm not keen on fitting them as they can be a pain and difficult to set up. Anyway I built it and it's a little beauty. The guy asked if it could be "ratty" so that's what I made. Trouble is I've fallen in love with it myself and it'll be hard to part with it. A lot of processing went into getting that "rough-as-shit-but-cool-and-also-plays-well" result. Here's a photo of it. Not happy with the strap so I'm gonna change it for a piece of tea-stained rope which is more in keeping with the style. I made a quick but rough vid of me noodling on it. You can see it here if you wish.

http://www.youtube.com/smojomusic#p/u/6/5khi9NPCQ2E

I'm taking a bit of time out from CBG making so I can complete some of my other projects. remember the nasty day-glo yellow electric 6 stringer I bought in a charity shop? Well it was never gonna stay that way. I decided to chop the body down to a small rectangular shape and cover it with pieces of old brass or tinplate to make a ratrod slider. I've made a start, I stripped all the parts off and cut the body. Just started with the metal plating. So far so good. I'll post some photos of it's progress soon.

Music-wise, I have been getting into some weird experimental stuff. Started out just experimenting with different effects on my pedals. I hit on some pretty heavy, dark sounding stuff which kinda reminded me of some kind of hellish workshop or satanic place. Some of them came out as workable pieces so I hit on the idea of doing a series of them along the theme of Dantes Divine Comedy also known as The Inferno. He describes his trip through the various circles of hell. The imagery of his poems is very inspiring and so I've used that to put suitable titles to my tracks. You can hear what I've recorded so far on my CigarBox Nation page here. look for the music section on the left of the page.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/profile/smojo

Getting even weirder than that, I've got interested in circuit bending againv after getting a cool book at Christmas. Re-wiring old electronic toys and such to get weird sounds. I've made some great contact mics from piezo disks and been experimenting with sounds made from everyday objects, interference from electrical equipment etc. I haven't been able to make anything particularly musical from it yet but hoping to combine some of these sounds with some bluesy CBG playing for something a little different from the usual 12 bar shuffle. What I love about this whole thing is how diverse you can get. No need to ever get bored with your guitars. And best of all - it's a helluva lot of fun.

building cigar box guitars again

Well I've broken the spell that was keeping me from making guitars. I just needed to completed some other unfinished projects and have a crack at some recording. I've done enough of both now to satisfy that lust for a while and feel I needed to make some more guitars. I'm building two simultaneously. Neither will be meant to be keepers - but I've said that before and had to eat my words! I'm using my last green Ramone Allones box for one guitar, these are my favourites in terms of making pretty looking guitars. The other box is a Don Thomas one. Nothing radically new about either design but I'm using my aged paint look on the necks with burnt in fret markers. I think they'll both be pretty guitars when finished. I have thought about trying to age some of these paper covered boxes but am reluctant to try in case I just make a mess of them. I think I prefer to let them age naturally by the owners. After a year or two they will blend down nicely with the other ageing I have done to the necks.

Talking about recording, I had a fun time messing with my new gear. Mainly using the Akai Headrush, my Zoom 505 effects pedal then recording it in simple mono on the Backtrack device. It works well - nice and simple. The backtrack records everything you play as seperate WAV files, so you can drag them onto your PC, import them into your editing software and produce a track quite easily. I found that whilst simply "messing about", a musical idea would start to take shape and with a bit more practise and fine tweaking, I can produce something quite listenable (I think). I now have a loose plan to collect these odd tracks together and eventually put them together as an album. Maybe not for general consumption, but mainly just as an interesting project to work on with a tangible product at the end of it. I'd urge any of you players to have a go at something similar yourelves. It's fun and it tightens up your playing and helps get you out of those ruts we tend to get stuck in when just playing on our own.

practice makes perfect

Not much to tell you about CBGs at the moment, been having a rest from building them and concentrating more on playing. I've been messing about with the Akai Headrush, creating loops and other effects and even recording some of it. As this is a newish direction for me, I want to tell you a couple of lessons I've learnt from the experience. I'm sure there's a few of you who are like me, purely amateurs, playing on your own but with some small aspirations to produce some of your own music and maybe, hope you might get good enough one day to record something. Even give or sell a few copies of your own album. Probably you lack confidence and therefor think you'll never be able to produce something good or professional enough. Well I've got news for you, you can. The first lesson I've learnt is that practice definitely helps but may not "make perfect". The second lesson is - it doesn't need to be perfect! Let me expand on these.

I've never been disciplined to practise regularly, I tend to pick the guitar up when I feel like it, mess around on it and tend to play the same old familiar pieces that I have been playing many times. Nothing wrong with that but it is very limiting and gets boring. It's one of the problems of playing on your own. The Akai pedal has really opened things up for me because I can create a looped riff or rhythm to play along to. It's quite easy with a little practice and that's where I am learning this first lesson. I noticed how my tempo drifts, tending to speed up. The looped riff is very regular and so it shows up my playing when I jam to it. So when I get a nice little idea going, I have to really listen to the beat and concentrate on keeping time with it in order to produce something listenable. Something you don't do when just playing on your own. I find I keep trying over and over until I get it right because I am now motivated to. So there's the practise bit. Even a small amount pays dividends. So don't give up just because it seems hard to get it right. Just try again and again and it will eventually happen. You'll benefit a helluva lot from it.

Second lesson - aiming for perfection. I'm a bit of a perfectionist at heart with most things I do. If I wait until my playing is 100% perfect, I'll never achieve my small ambition, to record an album of my own music. Let me say here, I have no ideas of selling thousands of copies and getting famous. It's just an aim for my own satisfaction, to actually produce something tangible out of all this. A few pieces of music I can say are my own creation. So yes "practise makes perfect" but do we need or even want perfection? Think about it - we are living in cigar box guitar world. It's the imperfections that we like and even strive for. What makes music "alive" are often the small variations of tone and tempo in a person's playing. Listen to some techno stuff generated from a computer or whatever and you'll probably agree that it sounds sterile and clinical compared to a live performance played on "real" instruments. Fine if you like your music like that but for me, I like the warmth and soul that a real person playing an instrument, puts into the music. Think about blues and folk. Very often the playing and singing is nowhere near perfect in terms of purity. Some vocal examples - compare the likes of classical singers like Pavarotti who are probably pitch and tempo perfect to the likes of Bob Dylan, Hendrix, Tom Waits, Howlin Wolf to mention a few. What they might lack in perfect singing voices is more than compensated for in their feel, emotion and delivery. They're not trying to sing roughly, it's just the way they are - they are just being themselves and you have to like it or leave it. I saw a video clip of Son House playing bottleneck slide. His guitar sounded out of tune, he was holding the slide at about 45 degrees angle to the neck and to be honest, if that was me playing, I would probably feel a little embarassed. But there's no doubting it was a great performance and completely enjoyable to me. The emotion and rough quality of his singing and playing was what made him great. No matter how much I practise, I'll never be able to come close to that. But I might come close to just being Smojo, whatever he/me has to offer.

So I say to all you perfectionists, by all means practice and try to get close to a great sound/performance as you can, but don't be frightened to just let it rip and once you have something down that you feel 75% happy with, that's good enough for most folks. Don't let the striving for perfection get in the way of just enjoying your music and being creative. That's the key - let your creativity flow unimpeded, have fun with it, be proud of your creations and don't be frightened to share it with like-minded people.

some cigar box guitar ramblings

I'm amazed and thrilled at the spectrum of experiences I've enjoyed through this wierd and wonderful subject. I've just had the pleasure of free tickets to the Pasion de Buena Vista - a fantastic stageshow of Cuban music and dancing. It all came about from meeting someone who bought a guitar from me and who happens to be the tour manager for the show at present. He kindly offered me a backstage tour where I met some of the musicians, then free tickets for the show later. What a brilliant show and it was a thrill to meet the guys. I even got to play one of my guitars for them. I am deeply thankful for the opportunity.

Next up is tickets to Ian Clayton's Concert for Billie. It's a benefit gig that Ian organises each year in memory of his young daughter who died in a tragic accident a few years ago. I'm really looking forward to that and it came my way through CBGs.

I've made some great friends through CBGs too. But one of the best thrills is when I finish a guitar, string it up, tune it and start playing. Something deeply satisfying happens. I know it sounds weird, but up until that point, a new guitar is still just a collection of parts that I have assembled. Even though I am familiar with every aspect, I don't see it as an instrument in it's own right until I have added the final touches and played it. Those first few minutes of playing are incredibly satisfying. It's like a new baby taking it's first breath. I have a little ritual when I reach this point. I bring it into the lounge and stand it against a plant stand next to the tv in front of where I usually sit. It's just so I can look at it, admire it and drink it in. It's as if I am seeing it for the first time and I can't get enough of it for a day or two. I can look at it and think "Yes I like that, I'd buy it if I didn't already own it". Weird isn't it? It's as if it came from somewhere other than myself.

Updates - the "special" is finished. I'm absolutely delighted with it. It completes my CBG "kit". It goes fantastically well with the wooden case I made and the old radio extension speaker that I converted into an amp way back and my hand-cut bottleneck slide. Every bit of it my own work that creates a completely unique and desirable outfit. This is a definite keeper and no money would prize it from my hands. I'm gonna take some photos of the whole kit soon and post them so be sure to watch out for that. Hopefully I'll get around to videoing it for Youtube.

The little recording studio I'm building is almost there now. Just received my Fostex PM04 monitor speakers but need to build a shelf to put them on. I had a play with the Roland midi keyboard I bought on Ebay. It took some figuring and I'm not completley happy with the set-up yet. It does some random things when playing. Occasionally, the notes played, continue playing until you hit the keys again. Not sure what causes it, probably something in the software I'm using that needs a tweak. Aren't computers frustrating? That's all for now.

"my special" cigar box guitar update

Making some progress at last with the "special" I'm building. Got the frets in, fiddly and a bit scary when you think you can mess the whole thing up if you're not careful. JuJu's single coil pick-up is sitting nicely in the lid now, just need to get some bits to wire it in. I made a jack socket and volume control plate out of a piece of rusty metal which is looking cool too. The headstock has been given a white crackle finish look. I'm really taking things slowly though, thinking about every detail. When trying to create a "ratrod" (old distressed) look, it's a fine line you tread between too opposing forces. The desire to make something that looks like it's thrown together from junk and the strive for perfection which can lead you to over-working it. It needs to look like crap but in a cool and pleasing way and most of all, it needs to play well too. Of course you never know if you've created a winner until it's strung up and by that time, most of the work is done.

Been doing some home recording. Wow that takes some concentration. First the steep learning curve of getting to grips with new technologies and software can be extremely frustrating and hard work. Then trying to get your musical ideas to sound half-decent. It makes me realise how hard it is to keep perfect timing when trying to play a new track to add to it. Anyhow, after many hours of messing about, I eventually created a short piece which I am fairly pleased with. No cigar box guitars were hurt during the process - in fact none were used. I'm playing my Harmony H44 through a Zoom pedal and some looping provided by the Akai Headrush. See what you think, it can be heard on my Handmademusic site here.

http://handmademusic.ning.com/profile/smojo

recording my cigar box guitar stuff

I seem to have opened a can of worms by wanting to do some recording. A while ago I bought Cakewalk 4 recording software but haven't done anything with it. When I recently bought the Akai headrush looping pedal, I got excited enough to want to try my hand at recording. Well that led me to wanting/needing a small mixer so I can mix guitar and mic into the Headrush. So far so good. I also spotted a handy new piece of kit - the Line 6 Back Track. This'll plug into a guitar and keep track of anything you play. Great for keeping a copy of any good stuff you might knock out which you can save to PC and load into recording software. Still doing good. So I got everything set up, got a nice little groove going, saved on the Back Track.

So now comes the bummer. My laptop only has a mic input. First problem - The signal level from the Headrush is too high and distorts. I could use the mixer to drop it but then I can't use it with the guitar and looping pedal at the same time. Second problem is once you get one track down on the software and try playing another piece to it, you get a half second delay on the live signal out of the monitor headphones, so impossible to get your timing in synch. Feeling frustrated I decided to listen to my one and only decent track on the Back Track only to find that it's stopped working! Only had it a week or so. So I can't play with that either. Double bummer.

The good news - which I want to pass on to anyone thinking of recording with their PC, who might know little or nothing about it (like me) . I did some research and discovered my two problems can be sorted without having to buy a new PC. The delay is an effect called "latency" and you're gonna get this with most standard PC soundcards. The answer is a USB standalone soundcard. This will also solve my input level problem at the same time. It has direct monitoring of your live signal and you usually get two inputs which can be mixed to the correct signal level for your PC. There are several around - Line 6 pod studio; M-Audio Fast Track and Novation Nio all look good. The cheapest is the Line 6. You get amp modelling and recording software included and this one is the cheapest. M-Audio is more expensive but probably better quality but no amp modelling but the one that seems to offer the most, even though more expensive again, is the Novation Nio. Has amp effects modelling, two stereo inputs and recording software. I think that's the one I'll go for.

So don't hold your breath waiting to hear anything musical from Smojo for a while yet. More pennies needed to get the sound card and a steep learning curve getting to grips with all these new toys.

Cigar box guitar playing on YouTube

Been experimenting with some short videos on YouTube to demonstrate my CBGs. Here's a bit of slow improvisation inspired by the Delta. Check out my others at

http://www.youtube.com/smojomusic

cigar box guitars through effects pedals

Just been playing with pushing my CBGs through different effects and amplifying them. I've been using a Zoom 505 and there are some amazing sounds to be found. Coupled with the unusual sound of playing slide guitar, the responses of the piezo pickups as opposed to normal wire wound coils - you can get some great results. One setting gives a sort of violin type effect. When you pluck a note, it sort of zooms in the sound (by volume). It works brilliantly with notes slid from one to another. I must try to record a sample and put it on my Mutiply site. I have some other sound clips on there if you haven't found them yet the link is:-

http://smojo.multiply.com/music/item/1

Trying to record some cigar box guitar music

Well I've been trying to get something down onto MP3 so I can put some clips of these little instruments on my site. It's proving to be more difficult than I thought. I bought a Korg PXR4 mini studio some time ago but never got to grips with it but I'm having another go. I'm nearly there with it. Just real basic yet though. I managed to save a single track to my PC but it's in MP2 format. You can play that on media player but this site doesn't support that. Trying to convert to MP3 but can't find an application on my PC to do that yet. Found a Korg thing that converts MP2 to WAV though but the files are too big to post but maybe I can convert that to MP3. There must be an easier way phew!

Update - I did it. Here it is http://smojo.multiply.com/music/item/1