1. Pick one of your favorite artists, rock, blues, country, it doesn't matter.

2. Pick a song.

3. Find the key of the song. This is easy. Just slide up the first string until you find the note that best matches the song's first or last note. At the song's ending, find the note that sounds best as the last note. Of course you'll need to know the notes on your guitar.

4. A quick way to find out what chords are being played is to decide if it sounds major or minor. Major chords sound upbeat and happy, minor chords sound dark and sad.

5. See if the IV and V chords are in the song. For example if you are in the key of A, the I chord is A, the IV chord is D and the V chord is E. Almost all songs have at least the IV or V chord in them. The IV chord is the chord that is made from the 4th note of the scale, so D is the 4th note of the A major scale, E is the fifth note of the major scale, the corresponding chord would be the V chord or the E CHORD (not the E NOTE). Many, many pop songs have the IV and V chords in them, just make sur eyou determine whether or not it's a IV major or minor and V major or minor chord.

6. Learn the melody. Almost all melodies come from either the major or minor scales. If the song is in a major key, the melody almost always comes Of course you'll ned to know the notes on your guitar. the major scale. Is the song is in A major, learn the proper fingering for the A major scale on your cigar box guitar. You should be able to easily pick out the melody from that scale

7. Many, many MANY blues songs use just 1, 2 or 3 chords. If you tune your CBG to a chord (and I think you should) the melody of any song is even EASIER to find. You'll find that the vast majority of the melody can be played while strumming the open chord as the notes are already 'inside' the open chord.