What Is a 12-String Guitar?

A 12-string guitar is a musical instrument with 12 strings strung along the neck and body, usually made of metal. It has a similar design to most 6-string guitars, but the 12-string guitar’s neck is likely to be wider. This type of musical instrument can be acoustic or electric, which means it either doesn’t need any electrical amplification or uses pickups to send string vibrations to an electric amplifier. The goal of this guitar is to produce a fuller, richer, more resonant sound with its own chorus effect.

The standard 6-string guitar has strings of varying thicknesses; when tuned correctly, these strings produce the note pattern EADGBE. Although the strings can be tuned to other notes, the EADGBE pattern is the most common. When a 12-string guitar is in standard tuning, it will also have an EADGBE tuning, but instead of six strings being adjusted to match these tones, 12 strings will be adjusted. To match a single tone, each note has one course, or pair, of strings. One thicker gauge string tuned to E and a thinner gauge string tuned to E but in a higher octave, for example, will make up the low E tone. The same note’s two strings are usually played together.

A 12-string guitar’s neck is likely to be wider as a result of the additional strings, which can make playing the instrument more difficult. When a player presses a string or strings against a fret, the tone of those strings changes to a different note. To change the tone of two strings on a 12-string guitar, a player will usually press two strings in the same direction onto a fret at the same time.

The first 12-string guitars were acoustic instruments, which meant that the sound produced the string vibrations was resonated the guitar’s body. The sound would be amplified the body, allowing the string’s vibrations to be heard. Because the electric guitar was developed after the acoustic guitar, 12-string electric guitars appeared much later in the history of music. The sound vibrations created the strings are “picked up” magnetic pickups. These pickups are connected to a jack, which is then connected to an electric amplifier that amplifies the sound.