There came a point when I just get annoyed with myself for continually hitting a wrong note when I was playing a melody on the Cigar Box Guitar. I realized this could be helped by learning a few easy scales. This article looks at easy major scales on the Cigar Box Guitar. There is a free PDF download at the bottom of the page.
- The easiest major scale on a Cigar Box Guitar tuned in open G is the G major scale played this way:
- Lowest string 0 2 4 5
- Middle string 0 2 4 5
- This covers one octave
- An upper octave can be added on the top string 0 2 4 5 7 9 11 12
G Major On A Cigar Box Guitar Tuned G D G
The diagram above shows all the places on the fretboard where the notes of the G major scale can be found. (I’ve only gone up to the 15th fret)
Start the scale on the open bottom or top G string or on the 5th fret of the middle string:
Here is my YouTube video:
Fretting Hand Position For Playing Scales
You can see that you can play the notes for this scale all on 1 string or across 2 or 3 strings. Playing the scale at the top of the page using 0 2 4 and 5 on the bottom 2 strings allows you to keep your hand in the same position and just move your fingers.
However, you will need to slide your hand up the guitar neck if you play the notes all on one string.
On a 6 string guitar it is usual to play scales across different strings rather than move up the neck and it’s useful to be able to play like that with only 3 strings.
There is however another way of playing 3 ( or 4 string) guitars where the melody is played on the top string with the lower 2 strings played as a drone. It’s useful to be able to know the notes of the scale played just on the top string if this is the style you are playing in.
Some players like to use a short slide and play the melody on the top string with the slide and drone 2 string chords below this – another reason to learn to play the scale on the top string alone.
Why Did I Bother To Learn Scales On The Cigar Box Guitar?
My guitar is tuned to open G and I wanted to learn to play melodies in a major key by ear but I kept hitting wrong notes, so I thought it might help to learn the G major scale. At first, learning scales seemed like a really boring thing to do and reminded me of practicing for music exams when I was at school. However I began to realize that scales can be seen as a really useful tool. I now think of learning scales as a way of training my fingers to find the correct notes more quickly.
I know enough music theory to work out scales so I set out to make some useful diagrams and they are in the PDF below.
3-String Guitars With Spread Out Tuning
I tend to play with the middle string being the same pitch as the 7th fret on the bottom string and the top string being the same pitch as the 5th fret of the middle string.
Be aware though that your guitar may have the highest string an octave higher than this or the bass string being an octave lower than this. The notes will be the same but the pitches are different. If your guitar is tuned across a wider range than usual you can play scales in the same way on individual strings but there will be an octave jump across some of the strings.
D Major Scale On A Cigar Box Guitar Tuned G D G
Another useful key to play in on the Cigar Box Guitar in open G is D Major. The chords needed for this are D, G and A and are easy chords to play. See this post for more information: Easy Chords For G D G Cigar Box Guitar Part 2
The differences between this scale and the G major scale are:
- they start on different notes
- the C played in the G Major scale becomes C# in the D Major scale.
- the 5th fret on the outer 2 strings is replaced by the 6th fret and the 10th fret on the middle string is replaced by the 11th
Try playing this scale just on the middle string, moving your hand up after playing the A on the 7th fret.
Then try playing it starting on the 7th fret of the lowest string and moving across to the middle string when you need to play the A:
The Major Scale Of A On Cigar Box Guitar In Open G
The last scale we will look at today is the A Major scale, another key with easy chords on the Cigar Box Guitar: A, D and E
This scale starts on the 2nd fret of the outer 2 strings or the 7th fret of the middle string and is a little confusing at first because we need to remember to play G# so no open G strings in this scale:
If you aren’t sure how to play the E chord apart from fretting across all strings on the 9th fret, you might like to see my article Easier Way To Play In E On A 3-Stringed Guitar Tuned G D G which shows an alternative method and also includes how to play the Buddy Holly song ” Not Fade Away” in the key of E
Working Out Which Key You Are Playing In
I started playing Cigar Box Guitar partly to get away from following too many rules. As a classically trained guitarist, I can read music and even do a bit of sight reading but I always struggled with playing by ear. I really want to improve this so I have been trying to pick out melodies without using any music or tab.
Since my guitar is often tuned G D G ( sometimes I drop it down to E B E- see this article if you are interested: E B E Cigar Box Guitar: Common Chord Shapes Part 1) I tend to pick out tunes in G. This is because I start with one of the open strings.
Music in G often starts with G but the middle string D is another common starting note. In fact it’s much easier to work out which key you are in if you work out the last note of the music as a lot of melodies end on the first note of the scale also called the tonic or do of do-re-mi or I (one).
When I tried to pick out Amazing Grace for instance on the 3-stringed guitar tuned G D G, I naturally started with the middle D string, but I end on the top G string. This means the key is G rather than D and I can check this by seeing what notes I need:
- I need to use F# i.e. fret 11 and not 10 on the outer 2 strings; fret 4 and not 3 on the middle string
- but C not C# i.e. fret 5 and not 6 on the outer 2 strings; fret 10 and not 11 on the middle string
PDF Download For G,D And A Major Scales For G D G Tuning
Here is your free download with all the notes on the fretboard that fit into a particular scale. I’ve put TABs for 1 octave scales using one string and two strings and I’ve suggested fingering for these. However some of these are quite a stretch and you can use whatever suits you.
Really my aim in giving you this PDF is to help you picture the fretboard in different keys do that you can have fun learning to play your favorite music (or writing your own) without hitting those notes that just sound awful because they are not in that key.