For you solo “giggers”…do you use both a 6 string and a 12 string?

[Slothead56]

Title says it all…

• How many of you that gig utilize both a six string and a twelve string?
• How do you feel about it and, more importantly, how do your patrons feel about it?
• Are there specific songs or types of songs that you use the 12 on?
• Do you switch back and forth or try to lump 12 string songs together?
• Do your patrons “get” 12 strings? Is there any acknowledgement that some of the songs are played on a 12?

Any other comments welcome….

[Methos1979]

I do not. I don't own a 12 string and never have. And most likely never will. Just not a fan of the sound, hate the looks of the massive headstock, and the thought of having to change 12 strings instead of 6 makes me cringe.

[eyesore]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

I do not. I don't own a 12 string and never have. And most likely never will. Just not a fan of the sound, hate the looks of the massive headstock, and the thought of having to change 12 strings instead of 6 makes me cringe.

yes my feelings exactly .don't like them .

[Yamaha Man]

I like and use both. sometimes if i have tuning issues with the 12 string, i'll change guitars to my 6 string.

[jseth]

Been doing solo acoustic gigs, primarily, with both a 6 and 12 string guitar for over 3 decades (not so much in the past year and a half!), and I "wouldn't leave home without it", not for a "real" gig, anyway.

Love playing certain songs on the 12 string; some just don't sound right without it, while others benefit from the paired courses to double up single note lines, give a bit more weight to them (especially bass lines). "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys", Stevie Wonder's "Another Star" and "I Believe (When I Fall in Love With You It will Be Forever)" are a couple examples. I like playing blues tunes on it, as well - not so much for the bending of the strings, but for the overall grooves. I've written quite a few songs on the 12 string, and they don't sound quite "right" when I play them on a 6 string...

I don't and would not base my own tastes of either instruments or songs on what the audience "seems" to think... that's just a never-ending pit to fall into... I will say that folks usually ask about the 12 string, along with "how do you get your guitars to sound so good?", so I suppose they do notice that I'm playing it.

Since it takes a moment or two to switch guitars (even though they're both plugged in and ready to go), I usually do 2-4 songs on the 12 string while I've got it in my hands, although there have been times when I've just kept going with the 12 string, because the songs I thought to play lined up just right...

As for staying in tune? My 1983 Mark Angus 12 string is the most stable instrument I've ever owned or played... the thing stays in tune incredibly well! I've rarely had to go back and retune, once I've tuned up for the evening's performance, once the guitar is acclimated to the temperature in the room in which I'm playing.

Hard to beat a 12 string for strumming, wanting that full rich sound for a song. I've often wondered "why?" so many folks on this Forum have a plethora of 6 string guitars, yet so few own a 12 string... different strokes, I'd guess.

[Glennwillow]

I use both a 6-string and 12-string guitar. Sometimes I explain to people what a 12-string guitar is. At those times, I think the audience "gets" the 12-string.

What an audience gets is whether they like the overall sound or not. A 12-string is a powerful tool if a player knows how to use it. But if you use it all the time, it loses quite a bit of its power. Mixing up a 6-string and 12-string is very helpful, as John Denver and Gordon Lightfoot did.

A 6-string guitar is very articulate compared to a 12-string; a 12-string is a much bigger, fuller sound. Some songs were written specifically for the 12-string, something like Paul Simon's "For Emily" or Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown." They just don't sound right on a 6-string.

I do try to play 6-string and 12-string songs in groups of songs for each guitar so that I am not constantly taking guitars on and off my shoulders.

- Glenn

[L20A]

Over the years I have decided that as long as you are playing a nice sounding guitar that is IN TUNE, the audience doesn't really know or care what the guitar is.
To me the KISS system is now the best system. [Keep It Simple Stupid!]

Sold my big and heavy PA system and got an all in one Line Array system.
One guitar only these days.

Life is so much simpler and my audiences have never noticed the difference or complained about it.

[leew3]

Not a solo here but part of a duo. I use both 6 and 12 string and our audiences enjoy them both. We get requests specifically for the 12 string. At our most recent gig I played exclusively 12 string as Rokdog's J45 pickup was acting up so he played my 6 string for the night. I enjoy them both, play them on one channel and switching back and forth isn't much of a hassle.

[donlyn]

…do you use both a 6 string and a 12 string?


Personally I very much like the sound of a 12 string, and I will try all my material on both 6 and 12 string guitars. Some surprising things happen, like "Pipeline" and "Walk Don't Run" sound great on a 12, as do certain songs like "Knocking on Heaven's Door" which seem to be 'made' for a 12 string.

But like someone previously observed, most of your audience won't know the difference. But to anyone who has played a 12, you will instantly recognize the sound of one, acoustic or electric, live or recorded. Even if the recording engineer tries his best to obscure or minimize it.

Might depend on the gig, but bringing one guitar is easiest. And that would mean a six string.

I also fingerpick all my instruments, and keep a six and a twelve in DADGAD intervals.

Don
.

[birkenweg42]

I have not played out in years besides the occasional open mic due to arthritis issues. Hopefully, with my new medication, I will gig again soon.
I used to play a lot of Kottke instrumentals. 12 string in open tunings with slide has always been a conversation piece and very well received.

[bufflehead]

I gigged for about three months with a borrowed Guild F412, and did everything in my power to fall in love with it. The guitar belonged to my roommate, who had switched to a F512 and was willing to give me the F412 for $200.

It was a happy day when I decided that 12 strings was 6 too many and returned the guitar.

[Silly Moustache]

Yes, for a full gig, or even a guest spot of, say 40 minutes, I'd take a 12.

I tend to do three on a 6 then one on the 12, and follow that pattern.
My 12s are tuned one tone down and give a different dynamic.
If doing a full 2 x 40/45 type gig I'd take my national too and do some bottleneck stuff.

[rstaight]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Yes, for a full gig, or even a gueat spot of, say 40 minutes, I'd take a 12.

I tend to do three on a 6 then one on the 12, and follow that pattern.
My 12s are tuned one tone down and give a different dynamic.
If doing a full 2 x 40/45 type gig I'd take my national too and do some bottleneck stuff.

This what I would do if I did gigs. I don't have a National but this is a good thing to do with the 6 and 12 strings.

[rko]

I recently bought a 12 for that purpose. I haven’t used it yet and don’t know whether I will or not. 12 strings are annoying, in my opinion, and they limit you when playing. Tune, play. Retune, play…

[Glennwillow]

A good 12-string with a good clip-on tuner requires very little effort to make slight tuning adjustments. I go out of my way to never tune a guitar in front of an audience, at least where it's obvious what I am doing.

- Glenn