Hi, 'Catters!

I was wondering what tunes all you 12-string players out there prefer to play on the 12- rather than the 6-string guitar. I find that certain flatpicked bluegrass type tunes sound much better on 12-string because of the cascade of ringing notes that you get, so that you don't really need an accompanying instrument for it to sound sufficiently full.

Also many *simple* fingerpicked tunes work fine for me on the 12-string, but the intricate Travis style stuff sounds muddy. That may just be due to my lack of dexterity in hitting the strings cleanly and not to any intrinsic property of 12-string guitars, though.

I also like playing some Irish tunes on the 12-string because the change in timbre that you get when shifting between upper and lower registers on the 12-string, between the unison and octave-separated string courses, mimics the changes in timbre that you hear when traditional Irish pipes shift registers.

I would stay away from attempting blues riffs on 12-string, unless you are really adept at making slides sound like bends, or have exceptional finger strength and coordination to bend 2 strings at once and make it sound good. Also, most alternate tuning stuff is *really* a hassle with that many strings.

Any thoughts?

--Finn