Vigorously strumming on a 12-string without overkill

[Wayne Bell]

I was recently in a music store and tried out a couple 12-strings - a Martin and a Guild. While I appreciated their shimmering chime, whenever I strummed through wide chords at a fast tempo, the sound devolved into an unharmonic mess. Is there a technique that addresses this, such as strumming only two or three adjacent pairs of strings at a time? I'd like to get one eventually.

[JonPR]

It wouldn't be a mess harmonically, strictly speaking, because the notes are the same however fast/slow or loud/quiet you play.
Of course, notes are being doubled up, both in unison on the top strings and octaves below, so you'll get a denser harmony (potentially more close voicings due to those octaves on the bass strings) - but that's the case whatever speed you play.

It's kind of the point of a 12-string that it does sound full and loud when played. If it sounds too mushy when played loud and fast - don't do that! (Use a 6-string if it sounds better.)

Likewise, playing fingerstyle on a 12-string may not work too well, because the bass notes will have higher octaves in them. (It might sound good, it might not.)

Of course you can adjust your strumming in the ways you're suggesting. 12-string does often require a different treatment. It's pretty much common sense, depending on the sound you want. (Some people would like that "mess", or have different ways of dealing with it.)
Just strumming the bass strings will give you the upper octaves too, so would sound much like a 6-string - although some chord shapes will miss notes of course.
E.g., a C/G chord played as 3-3-2-x-x-x on a 12-string will contain all the same notes as 3-3-2-0-1-0 on a 6-string. A couple of other 3-string bass chords will be complete triads, with slightly different voicings to the 6-string shapes - such as 3-2-0-x-x-x (G) and 2-0-0-x-x-x (D) - because the 6-string shapes double up the triad tones more randomly.

[Wayne Bell]

Scott Grove posted a video about this very topic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KV_CJWCbek

[jseth]

Certainly, the right hand strength of attack is something that needs to be dealt with; after all, YOU are in charge of your hands, right?

The "jangle" of a 12 string is one of it's alluring qualities, but it can get overwhelming at times. I don't know when "they" decided that light gauge strings for a 12 string are 11's, but that's what you get with a normal set of "light gauge" strings for a 12'er.

I finally switched mine to 12's (same as I use on my 6 string acoustics) and it "tamed" that jangle a bit...

Especially with modern 12 string guitars, the set-up and action are so low that 11's can start "bouncing around" with anything more than a light attack; not so much with 12's.

As with any acoustic guitar, though, the strength of the right hand needs to be modified to whatever that guitar will handle... unless, of course, you happen to love hearing fret rattle when you're playing!