[Jimmy Recard]

Existing 12 string players will probably roll their eyes and go "well derr, that's the point" but this all new and exciting for me.

When I recently bought my first 12 string I was a little concerned I may have bought something of a white elephant. As its turned out I've loved every moment of it and have been pleased to discover how versatile they are. Starting out, one of the most jarring things was when I tried to play my existing songs, and thumbing the bass notes would ring out the top octave, especially when I'd thumb down to the third and hit that octave G. I've since adjusted my thumb's angle of attack to accentuate the bass more. I've also had to become more versatile with my I, M and A fingers, allowing them to play across the 4th, 5th and 6th courses when I really want the bass strings to ring out. Sometimes I find myself thumbing and fingering the same course, which is different.

This has led me to my biggest discovery, a lot of the blues songs I play in open tunings, once I reorganise the fingerings, are easier to play. One example is Skip James' Special Rider Blues, which has a lot of parts where you run up and down fretboard pinching octaves, which I can now play on one string. Some songs can even be played entirely on 2 strings only.