Keeping it Free

Recently, Glenn Watt and I have been very focused on creating 3-string cigar box guitar tablature and posting it in the knowledgebase over at www.CigarBoxGuitar.com. Folks have been asking whether the end result of all of this cigar box tablature creation will be a book of some sort that can be purchased. 

The short answer is: no, we're going to keep it free. Once there is enough we might compile it into a PDF collection (or collections), but even that will be free.

There are several reasons for this. One is that we hope that some folks will buy our products, through the ads included in the tablature.

Another is that you can't sell derivative works of copyrighted material (like tablature of a popular modern song) for profit without appropriate licensing. As long as you keep it free and give attribution when making use of an original work, you can present it to the world. That is how all of the many guitar tab, chords and lyrics sites are able to operate.

But the most important reason for giving it away is that here at C. B. Gitty we believe in giving back to the movement. Yes, we make our livings off of it, but the real core is a love for the movement and homemade instruments and music.

For us, there is no better way to show that love than by creating this tab and other how-to materials guides and videos, and giving it all away to help people get started with building and making music with their creations.

The free exchange of knowledge and information has always been one of the cornerstones of the cigar box guitar movement, and even though we depend on selling our products to keep the lights on and make a living, our intent is to continue creating and giving away as much free how-to content as we can. For us, that's what it's all about.