Blind Willie Johnson:
His father made him a one-string
cigar box guitar at the age of five. Young Willie learned to play
melodies up and down that lonely string using a slide to fret the
notes. This became essential training to his unique style of playing,
for later on in life, he would incorporate the single string melodies
on his six-string guitar. The best example of this is his phenomenal
song "Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground)"
Lightnin Hopkins:
"So I went ahead and made me a guitar. I
got me a cigar box, I cut me a round hole in the middle of it, take
me a little piece of plank, nailed it onto that cigar box, and I got
me some screen wire and I made me a bridge back there and raised it
up high enough that it would sound inside that little box, and got me
a tune out of it. I kept my tune and I played from then on." (from
Guitar Player Magazine)
Charlie Christian:
He made and played a cigar box guitar in
his teen years from a manual class.
Carl Perkins: One of the greatest cigar box legends! His
father made him a guitar from a cigar box broomstick and two pieces
of baling wire. Perkins was seven at the time. He went on to be one of the greatest of all the rockabilly guitarists.
Jimi Hendrix:
Whoa, check this one out... "Eight year old
James Marshall Hendrix wanted so much to play the guitar to set his
poems to music that he used a broom to strum out the rhythms in his
head until he crafted a cigar box into his own guitar." (from
Pittsburgh Post Gazette) Jimi's cigar box guitar had rubber bands
wrapped around the box, serving as strings.
George Benson:
Yes, that George Benson! The eight time
Grammy winner started his career as 'Little
Georgie Benson, the Kid From Gilmore Alley,' playing a cigar box
ukulele on street corners.
rRoy Clark:
Roy Clark
The great country guitarist and banjo player
(and Hee-Haw host) first played an instrument his father made from a
cigar box and ukulele neck with four strings.
Albert King:
Albert made and played several 1-string cigar
box guitars and diddley bows starting at the age of 6. He got his
first real guitar 12 years later.
Hound Dog Taylor:
The Dog first played piano, then cigar
box guitar and then got a real guitar in his teens.
Robert Pete Williams:
In 1934, 20 year old Williams taught
himself how to play guitar by first building one out of a cigar box.
His crude instrument had 5 copper strings. Williams was born in
Zachary, Louisiana, the son of sharecropping parents. While he was a
child, he worked the fields with his family; he never attended
school. Williams didn't begin playing blues until his late teens,
when he made himself a guitar out of a cigar box. Playing his
homemade guitar, Williams began performing at local parties, dances,
and fish fries at night while he worked during the day
Buddy Guy:
In the video Buddy Guy with G.E. Smith and the
Saturday Night Live Band -Real Deal, Buddy remembers the first time
he met the blues...and the first guitar he played. Of course, it was
made from a cigar box.
Albert Collins:
The Master of the Telecaster first started
out on a down-home cigar box guitar. His second instrument was a
guitar made by a local carpenter. Legend has it that he placed
rattles from a rattlesnake inside to improve the sound.
Pee Wee Crayton:
This R&B legend started out on cigar
box guitar as a child in Austin, TX.
King Bennie Nawahi: The great Hawaiian virtuoso, King Benny
played slack-key guitar, ukulele, steel guitar and a one-string cigar
box fiddle.
Big Bill Broonzy: Young Bill Broonzy first played music on
a corn stalk fiddle, eventually graduating to one made from a cigar
box. He got so good at playing the instrument that the owner of the
plantation he lived on invited him to play at picnics and dances.
Eddie Lang: Before he was old enough to attend school,
Lang, a.k.a. 'the Father of Jazz guitar' was riffing on a cigar box
guitar built by his father (who was a luthier by trade).
Louis Armstrong: Don't quote me on this one. I'm still
checking out the sources, but Shane Speal has come across a bio on
ol' Sachmo that said his first instrument was a cigar box guitar.
Josh White: In an e-mail to Shane Speals website, Dr. Tony
Hymas gave him this story of folk icon, Josh
White:
I promoted a folk concert at Colorado State back in 1961 which
featured Josh White and one of the first appearances of Josh White
Jr. He and his son attended a small private party in my basement.
After the concert, I remember him telling me that he too played a
cigar box instrument as a kid.
(Editor's Note: Dr. Hymas is the curator of the National Cigar
Museum)
Fenton Robinson: This bluesman built his first guitar out
of a cigar box and wire at the age of 11. He learned to play by
listening to music from jukeboxes and radio shows such as the King
Biscuit Flour Hour.
Sleepy John Estes: Learned to play on a home made cigar box
guitar.
Scrapper Blackwell: Blackwell, a pre-war bluesman, built
his first guitar using wire and wood and a cigar box.
Scott Dunbar: Fat Possum recording artist, Dunbar first
built an instrument when he was eight from a cigar box, broom stick
and cigar box.
This Bio information has been researched and written by Shane
Speal, curator of the National Cigar box guitar museum. Without his
dedication and long hours of research this history would not be
available. This website owes a debt of gratitude to him for his
contribution. Thanks Shane!