Tips, Techniques, Examples about my favorite musical instrument, the Twelve-String Guitar.

If you play guitar check out Playing Technique, or Strings / Setup. There are also some interesting posts about guitars at, you guessed it, Guitars.

If you want to spread your musical talents around, you will find some good info at Recording.

Marketing - meh - I'm probably the world's best bad example. Although you could find funny stuff there.

I've made some music videos through the years, and you can find them and other interesting music at Music I Like, Music I Play.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

How to Play a Twelve-string Guitar

With its unique shimmering sound, a 12-string guitar may be a good instrument to have in your arsenal. Before choosing your instrument, let's go over several ways that you can make music on it. We'll use links to youtube videos for demos.


Strumming


Strumming is the simplest method. If you know a few chords, grab a flat pick, finger a chord, and run the pick down the strings from the lowest (deepest) notes to the highest.
Careful that you don't get too enthusiastic; the pick can scratch the wood top. So this works best with 12-strings that have a pickguard. 

Flat Picking 


A little more complex that strumming; grab a flat pick, finger a chord, and strike any of the string pairs. 

Examples of Strumming and Flat Picking  12-string guitars.


Finger Picking (or Finger Style)


Can be done with or without finger picks. Can be done with or without fingernails on your picking hand. Amazing sounds result from this. Here are some examples.






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