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marzullo
`Olu`olu
USA
923 Posts |
 Posted - 01/20/2003 : 12:57:39 PM
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aloha e kaua,
i have a 12 string guitar and a couple of six stringers, and i rarely play the 12 string. it sounds great, but:
- picking it, especially with the thumb, is a bit different than a six string. i have to make an effort to brush the thumb more to get both strings, and if i get only one, i get the string an octave up which sort of spoils the whole alternating bass bit.
- some songs sound worse even if i'm careful picking. they sound muddier (okay, i make it sound muddier). other songs, like "young st. blues" sound better...)
i suspect that the second is a symptom of the first - that i've not figured out the trick of playing a 12 string.
does anyone here regularly play a 12 string?
thanks,
keith
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Keith |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
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cpatch
Ahonui
USA
2187 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2003 : 6:41:19 PM
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| Personally I don't like the sound of a 12-string for slack key. To my ear it "muddies" the sound and makes it more complex than it needs to be. This is true no matter how good the player. (I like George Kahumoku's 6-string songs much more than I like his 12-string songs, for example.) |
Craig
My goal is to be able to play as well as people think I can. |
Edited by - cpatch on 01/20/2003 6:42:56 PM |
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finemc28
Aloha
14 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2003 : 9:15:12 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by marzullo
aloha e kaua,
i have a 12 string guitar and a couple of six stringers, and i rarely play the 12 string. it sounds great, but:
- picking it, especially with the thumb, is a bit different than a six string. i have to make an effort to brush the thumb more to get both strings, and if i get only one, i get the string an octave up which sort of spoils the whole alternating bass bit.
I had the same experience a few years ago when I tried my 12 string slacked. I ended up swapping the order of the three lowest string sets so that the low octave string is hit first with the thumb. This helped get the alternating bass sound back, but created other problems because the notches in the nut are sized for each string. Since I didn't want to have a new nut installed I returned the 12 string back to standard tuning.
Update: I just slacked my 12 string again and found that I no longer have this problem. In the last few years as I have improved my playing my thumb has become more accurate and athoratative in striking the strings so that now the bass string always comes through.  Now I have one more slacked guitar!
Just keep on playing.
Mike in Santa Rosa
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marzullo
`Olu`olu
USA
923 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2003 : 9:33:00 PM
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hi mike,
quote:
Update: I just slacked my 12 string again and found that I no longer have this problem. In the last few years as I have improved my playing my thumb has become more accurate and athoratative in striking the strings so that now the bass string always comes through. Now I have one more slacked guitar!
excellent! i'll work on making that thumb more accurate and authoratative. 
thanks, and keep on posting!
keith
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Edited by - marzullo on 01/20/2003 9:33:30 PM |
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kamalu70
Aloha
USA
18 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2003 : 4:01:42 PM
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Aloha:
I own a 12-string, and I understand why some folks feel that it "muddies up" the sound of a piece. I don't play every song I know on the 12...I just don't think it works that way. Some songs and styles just don't sound "good" on the 12. But tune it to C6 Maunaloa and play some Gabby stuff and whoa...look out! I can even give myself chicken skin.
The bottom line to me, in terms of getting a clean sound from a 12-string is the old addage...practice, practice, practice. To me, it's a totally different animal from a 6-string, and takes time to get the feeling of. If you are new to it and expect to be instantly proficient on it because you can handle a 6-string pretty well...I think you'll be dissapointed.
One more thing, and this may be opening a whole new can of worms, I play with a thumb pick, have been almost since I started fingerpicking on guitar. I started using it because in the days when I was beginning to play, all I could afford was a cheap plywood guitar, and the thumb pick helped me get a lot more bass out of it. I can play without it, but I find my thumb to be a lot more accurate and my playing a lot cleaner when I do use it...especially on the 12-string.
play on...
kamalu |
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konavet
Aloha
USA
21 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2003 : 12:32:43 AM
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| I've been playing a twelve string on and off for a long time. One of my first guitars was a '60's german made with a neck like a telephone pole and a sound like frustration. For me, the 12 string is not an insrument to be played lightly. I play with picks on thumb and 3 fingers and find that a good stong (and hopefully acurate) eliminates most of the problems with the octave strings. This is an insrument that demands force- it's at it's best when singing with a loud voice. There are as many dynamic posibilities in the higher volumes as the softer ones. Be strong- play it hard. It likes it that way. |
Dr. Pat |
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duke
Lokahi
USA
163 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2003 : 12:39:29 PM
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Aloha! I play guitar for a hula halau and use a Martin 12-string pretty exclusively these days. It took me a little over a year, though, to build up my left hand strength and right hand coordination. I recently added a thumb pick and feel it has helped me improve the sound tremendously. Dr. Pat's advice is good: Play hard!
Duke |
Edited by - duke on 01/31/2003 12:40:41 PM |
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kamalu70
Aloha
USA
18 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2003 : 8:09:12 PM
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Aloha...had another thought on this topic since my last post. Sometimes it's good to play "dirty" instead of "clean." Let's see if I can give a technical explanation of that...it's when the fingers of your picking hand play more than one string at a time, sounding the primary note on one string but brushing into the next string above it. I don't know if you can understand that...I'm sure those who have been playing a while will. It gives the sound a sort of backyard/party/jam/cut-loose kind of feel especially when playing fast chord-based stuff. You can accomplish it on a six-string, but it's real easy to do on a twelve.
kamalu |
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