How to play a 12 string guitar?

hawk

hawk

New member
I'm getting one soon, just for variety and because I love the sound. So, what can you do with one besides strumming chords? The strings seem too close together to pick individual notes accurately, though I'd guess with practice you could manage that somewhat. Anyone have any advice on techniques?
 
there are very few guitarists who actually fingerpick individual strings on a 12 string guitar as it is a phenominally difficult technique to master. The appeal of the 12 string is the volume that it puts out and the rich harmony and big bodied sound.

12 Strings were first manufactured here in the U.S. in the early part of the century and were popular with street performers and bluesmen (like Leadbelly) because they were cheap (they were considered a bit of a novelty instrument) and they allowed the guitarist to project out beyond the noise of the street, a noisy bar, or a band.

The 1960's brought the 12 string to the masses and almost every guitarist has taken a turn at recording something with a 12 string.

Be advised that some special considerations need to be taken with your 12 string in regards to string tension. If you are going to store it for any length of time you must de-tune it if you don't want bridge separation or warping/caving of the top/neck to occur.

Experiment with different tunings (some open tunings can sound incredible on a 12 string) and play it as you would a normal guitar and you'll still get many hours of enjoyment out of it. You can attempt advanced fingerstyle techniques later if you choose.
 
It's really not as hard as you think to play individual notes. There is a 12-string played on this song:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=165678
along with 2 other 6 string tracks. My guess is after a few hours of playing, you'll get used to it.

Here are some of the difficult areas for me when playing a 12 string:
1) the strings a close together, so my fret hand gets lost somethimes as to what string its on
2) using a slide...probably not supposed to do that...but tried it anyway
3) keeping it tune after a few days of not playing it
4) tuning it...you'll probably need to muffle the other strings as they tend to resonate easily
5) bending strings or soloing

Overall, they have a great sound. I really enjoy my 12-string, but it has its place and is not the most versitile of instruments.
 
I havn't played 12 strings to much extent, but i was at Samash recently and picked up one of those cheap $100 Carlo Robelli acoustic 12 strings on a whim. It's good for what it is.

This is kinda stealing your topic, but i have a question related to the strings. It almost seems as if it's got electric strings on it. They are too light to be regular acoustic strings. Is this something to do with having 12 strings, that they need to be lighter? Or was it an error at samash(it was a floor model...).

Thanks alot guys,
 
Perhaps you'll excuse me, but to my ear it sounds remarkably like you are picking the grouped strings together, not picking each one of the 12 strings individually. I have known many 12 string guitarists in my life and watched hundreds of them play. I have seen about a half dozen guitarists pick each individual string. THe vast majority pick it in the same manner that one would pick the strings of a six string and play the grouped string as one string.
 
prestomation said:
I havn't played 12 strings to much extent, but i was at Samash recently and picked up one of those cheap $100 Carlo Robelli acoustic 12 strings on a whim. It's good for what it is.

This is kinda stealing your topic, but i have a question related to the strings. It almost seems as if it's got electric strings on it. They are too light to be regular acoustic strings. Is this something to do with having 12 strings, that they need to be lighter? Or was it an error at samash(it was a floor model...).

Thanks alot guys,
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I think it's that, due to the increased tension, plus (I'm only speculating) if the octave strings were a lot smaller than their normal counterparts, you might have some problems getting them fretted cleanly.
 
GoldFalcon said:
Perhaps you'll excuse me, but to my ear it sounds remarkably like you are picking the grouped strings together, not picking each one of the 12 strings individually. I have known many 12 string guitarists in my life and watched hundreds of them play. I have seen about a half dozen guitarists pick each individual string. THe vast majority pick it in the same manner that one would pick the strings of a six string and play the grouped string as one string.
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Leo Kottke is a fingerpicker who often plays with a twelve string. You should check him out. It certainly can be done.
 
hawk said:
I'm getting one soon, just for variety and because I love the sound. So, what can you do with one besides strumming chords? The strings seem too close together to pick individual notes accurately, though I'd guess with practice you could manage that somewhat. Anyone have any advice on techniques?
Click to expand...

Wait a minute. Are you meaning pick only 1 of the twelve strings, or picking one of the six courses (pairs of strings)?
 
I was assumming he wanted to pick one of the six courses. Not sure why you'd play a 12-string and only want to play individual strings...? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?
 
famous beagle, yes I've heard Kottke. I have a few of his CDs and his technique is simply awesome. I really dont have any ambitions of getting as proficient on the 12 string as he is, but was just wondering about various picking teqniques or any advice at all on playing a 12 string vs. a 6 string. I didn't know most people (with a pick,) play the sets as one string - that's good info to know. I can see that as doable but will take some practice.
 
hawk said:
famous beagle, yes I've heard Kottke. I have a few of his CDs and his technique is simply awesome. I really dont have any ambitions of getting as proficient on the 12 string as he is, but was just wondering about various picking teqniques or any advice at all on playing a 12 string vs. a 6 string. I didn't know most people (with a pick,) play the sets as one string - that's good info to know. I can see that as doable but will take some practice.
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The strings are usually played in pairs. Each pair is called a course.

Concentrate on making sure you pick, or pluck, or whatever you do across both strings in each course, on up and down strokes. Rest strokes help with this. Upstrokes require more practice, and I find myself just using down strokes in a lot of places I would alternate on a six, so I can keep the sound consistent.

Damping on the bridge with the heel of your hand is really important.

A lighter pick than I usually use works better for strumming, I find.

A well-maintained and lubricated nut is even more critical on a twelve-string than on a six.
 
Leo Kottke is a fingerpicker who often plays with a twelve string. You should check him out. It certainly can be done.
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Yes, it can be. But the physical conditioning that it takes to train your fingers to pluck a single string of the grouped strings with a plecturn of any sort is beyond what mosts people who play the 12 string care to do. Most are happy to fingerpick it as they would a six string as it still produces a distinctive sound over a 6 string.

It takes a very high calibre of talent to do so, coupled with years of practice. I have been playing 12 string guitars for more than twenty years and have never had the desire to learn this technique and have met few people that do simply because it is so technically demanding.

*Edit* Wow a lot of posts while I was writing this. I assumed from the first post that he was wanting to know if players typically spilt the courses and plucked individual strings. All of my subsequent posts made the assumption that we were all talking about that, not simply fingerpicking the courses, which, of course, is commonplace.
 
GoldFalcon said:
.......All of my subsequent posts made the assumption that we were all talking about that, not simply fingerpicking the courses, which, of course, is commonplace.
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Fingerpicking the courses? How is that done? I mean, your finger can only pluck one string at a time, right? Or do you mean plucking a course together? Mabye this is just foreign to me coming from a classical/nylon string style of fingerpicking, or am I missing something?

Edit: I realize I wasn't clear enough on my original question. Mainly I wanted to know if you pluck (with a pick,) both strings together or split the courses. That's pretty much been answered - you CAN split them but it takes a lot of practice to do well but most play them together. The fingerpicking aspect is interesting as well. I'm still unclear how that's done compared to 6 string fingerpicking.
 
hawk said:
Fingerpicking the courses? How is that done? I mean, your finger can only pluck one string at a time, right? Mabye this is just foreign to me coming from a classical/nylon string style of fingerpicking, or am I missing something?
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Well, strings in a course are pretty close together, so they are plucked in rapid succession using a single movement. Ever try a lute?

Also if you use a folk style with your fingertips rather than nails, you can pluck two strings in a course simultaneously.
 
mshilarious said:
Well, strings in a course are pretty close together, so they are plucked in rapid succession using a single movement. Ever try a lute?

Also if you use a folk style with your fingertips rather than nails, you can pluck two strings in a course simultaneously.
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No, never tried any multi-course instruments at all but have wondered how they are played. I play fingerstyle with my nails (nylon and steel.) You're saying you'd attack both strings in a set with one finger together in one finger movement? Sorry this probably sounds like a total newb question!
 
hawk said:
No, never tried any multi-course instruments at all but have wondered how they are played. I play fingerstyle with my nails (nylon and steel.) You're saying you'd attack both strings in a set with one finger together in one finger movement? Sorry this probably sounds like a total newb question!
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Yes indeed.
 
mshilarious said:
Yes indeed.
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Yes on the strings question or yes it's a newb question? :) JK

That technique sounds interesting. I can't fathom how one can do that with nails but hey, you learn something new every day.
 
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