What is the difference between a 12 string and 6 string

The extra strings are also tuned a little higher. This makes the guitar sound larger than life, with a wide, expansive tone. Having 2 strings oscillating at the same pitch creates richer harmonics. This makes the sound even wider, as the fundamentals and overtones are slightly skewed which creates modulation.

Usually, the supplementary strings are thinner than the main ones, so the guitar is still comfortable to play. The fretting system of 12s is unchanged; chords and scales work identically to 6 string versions. Both electric and acoustic guitars come in 12 stringed versions. Many of the biggest names in guitar manufacturing have created twelve-string guitars, including Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Paul Reed Smith, and Epiphone.

Generally, the string format is favored by acoustic guitars, but not exclusively. Rickenbacker is known to produce some great 12 string electric guitar models. Besides the obvious biggest difference of string count, 12 stringed guitars have a few modifications to make them more suitable for supporting more strings.

The CDSE dreadnought guitar from Fender features Fishman Aero electronics with a built-in tuner, a solid spruce top, mahogany back and sides, rosewood fingerboard with snowflake fingerboard inlays, and chrome die-cast tuners. Was this article helpful? Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Guitar Cases: A Complete Guide. Lessons Instructor Spotlight: Susan Hawthorne. A standard capo may not be wide enough.

They do make capos for twelve string guitars. But if you have a capo for your current six string guitar it might not work with a twelve string. To learn why - read this 12 to 6 strings on a 12 string guitar - why it's a bad idea I use a twelve string guitar to play a few songs in my repertoire that just seem to sound better on a twelve string guitar.

Have fun on your journey. Improve this answer. Community Bot 1. Rockin Cowboy Rockin Cowboy Good answer, but for completeness maybe needs some mention of fingerpicking? Possible, but much harder to make it sound good on a string. Bacs - good point. Although I have seen a few guitarist who did just fine fingerpicking on a 12 string. Some 12 strings may be designed better for finger picking than others. I suppose it would help to have an extra wide nut for even greater string spacing.

Hammer on's are harder on a 12 string too. Bends are almost out of the question. The list could go on. Many Fingerpicking guitarists prefer to re-arrange the order of strings within a course pair of strings Traditionally the 12 string has the highest string on the low side, but finger pickers may prefer the lowest string on the low side so that their finger picked bass notes sound low.

You mean the guitars or the strings? The individual strings don't have more tension but the overall tension exerted upon the neck of the guitar is greater due to twice as many strings. Individual string tension is often less per string because most 12 string guitar sets have lighter gauge strings and most guitarist will use those lighter sets to reduce the overall combined tension somewhat.

Also, many folks will drop tune their 12 strings to decrease string overall string tension. KaiMaxfield The biggest difference fingerpicking or using a pick to play individual strings on a 12 vs 6 string guitar is that there is less space between strings so it's a bit more difficult to get a fingertip or pick into the smaller space between strings to get ready to pluck or pick your target string.

I have seen folks play a 12 string fingerstyle, but I use mine mostly for strumming. Show 3 more comments. And throw away that flat pick. Downvoter not a Rosmini fan? Grace 1, 1 1 gold badge 7 7 silver badges 28 28 bronze badges. Mal Mal 31 3 3 bronze badges. Billy K Billy K 1.

Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook. The top two strings, E and B, are doubled. Of course, this requires special sets of strings. Drop and open tunings ex. Drop C can also be achieved with this same principle — two higher strings are doubled, while the bottom four have their doubles and one octave higher. Generally speaking, string guitars are more challenging to play. For example, the same lead section that one virtuoso can pull off on a regular 6-string will be technically more demanding on a string.

The string tension does not make it easier at all. These differences can be problematic for guitar players of all skill levels. For the most part, any string guitar is used as a backing instrument for playing chords and some additional notes. Nonetheless, playing one still requires more finger strength, even when playing simple chords in open position. But there are still musicians who played it in the context of a lead instrument, like Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan.

An additional challenge in playing it as a lead instrument comes with string bending. With such a higher string tension and doubled strings, bending is very limited. Especially the younger players, as their hands and fingers are still not ready for this. Beginners who have been playing regular 6-string guitars for a while will be able to adapt to strings more easily.