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There's something special about a great 12-string guitar! Hundreds of great riffs have been written on them, and they're some of the beautiful guitars ever made. All sorts of great songs have been played on 12-string guitars, from the opening riff to the Eagles' "Hotel California", to all of Leo Kottke's great songs Any guitarist who can make a 12-string sing has a beautiful tool on their side, (let alone some strong fingers)!
Many people would like to pick up a 12-string, but are nervous about whether or not they will be able to do justice to it. It's a good idea not to start off playing on a 12-string until you've got a six-string acoustic or electric guitar under your belt. The reason is fairly easy to understand: a 12-string guitar has twice as many strings as a standard guitar, making it twice as difficult to press down the strings. For a competent guitarist this is not a problem, but it may present a challenge for a guitarist with particularly small hands or whose hand strength is not quite up to it.
The principles behind the 12-string guitar is very simple to understand: all of the standard six strings are there, but each string is accompanied by another string that doubles the pitch on the first two strings, and generates a pitch one octave above on the next four. This means that, where you would be pressing down one string on a standard guitar, you're pressing down two strings on a twelve string.
If you're thinking about playing the 12-string, the best thing that you can do is to listen to some recordings that are made with the 12-string, and then just go and try it for yourself. Have fun!
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