Twelve-strings should be played in open or altered tunings with only occasional forays into standard tuning. Continuous exposure to a twelve-string guitar in standard tuning has been proven to cause brain damage in laboratory animals! It is believed that the root cause of said brain damage rests in the fact that most people who play a twelve-string in standard tuning either strum it monotonously or attempt to use the same bag of tricks that they use on a six-string and it just doesn't work.

It is acceptable to play no more than two old Byrds songs in standard tuning, but it is then imperative that you revert to open G or C or D or DADGAD or something even more esoteric.

Oddly enough, this researcher has found that while many six-string guitar techniques fall flat on a twelve-string, many banjo techniques work just fine.

Bruce