The Birth of the American 12-string Guitar (2013)

Posted by bilegeek 6 hours ago

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Comment by SloopJon 4 hours ago

I'm probably preaching to the choir in a story about guitars, but if you're looking for some good 12-string music, Leo Kottke's 6 and 12 String Guitar is a good start.

If you haven't heard (or seen) Michael Hedges play a harp guitar, there's some background and links to videos here:

https://michaelhedges.com/michael-hedges-the-harp-guitar/

Comment by indymike 4 hours ago

The author is Gregg Miner, and Gregg has an extensive library of harp guitar music. A long time ago I met Gregg when one of my friends Brad Hoyt (a keyboard and harp guitarist as well) hosted a harp guitar convention here in Indianapolis, and I got recruited to help. Gregg and the rest of the artists that were there were extremely approachable, and most of the crowd were musicians (some pretty famous ones, too) checking out one of the more interesting variations of the guitar... and what you could do with one. Fun times.

Comment by faxmeyourcode 2 hours ago

Apparently there was a gathering of harp guitarists here in North Little Rock at a guitar shop that recently opened just down the street from where I live last year: https://www.harpguitars.net/2025/11/29/hgg23-in-north-little...

I was totally unfamiliar with harp guitar but I am sad that I missed such a special gathering!

Comment by babblingbrook 6 hours ago

What I love about links like this is that we see information being shared just for the love of it. This person has done a lot of work simply to share knowledge with the world about something they are passionate about. This is what great about the internet and is easily lost amongst all the commercial content.

Comment by pluc 6 hours ago

12 strings is one thing, but how about microtonal? That's instead of adding strings, you add frets!

If you haven't heard them yet, you're in for a wild ride: https://www.youtube.com/@AnginePoitrine

Comment by adzm 2 hours ago

It is still worth noting that the microtones used by Angine de Poitrine are usually just transient notes, and could instead be played portamento with smooth transitions between the notes (eg on a fretless board) in most situations. It still sounds really cool, though, and certainly a technical and musical accomplishment. But the music itself still follows the usual patterns closely.

Comment by defrost 6 hours ago

A bit spotty, but alright; meanwhile the Italian instrument makers said guitar-harp? Hold our expressos, this'll take some discipline:

* https://www.delta-harp.com/

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdUztFVwi3I

Comment by swiftcoder 2 hours ago

Never having played a harp, whats the advantage here (beyond cool factor) over an equivalent electric guitar?

Comment by bilegeek 5 hours ago

That's the first time I've heard microtonal work in a rock setting. Pretty good!

I see your added frets, and raise "add frets on the fly using Lego":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPCEImSfCwc

Comment by functionmouse 4 hours ago

> That's the first time I've heard microtonal work in a rock setting. Pretty good!

Really? I highly recommend Flying Microtonal Banana.

Comment by dizhn 1 hour ago

Awesome band. Most of their songs sound so familiar to me because they are actually influenced by our folk music. :)

Comment by stronglikedan 3 hours ago

> Really?

Really? Most people's first intro to microtonal guitar is recent and brought to them by Angine de Poitrine.

Comment by jagged-chisel 6 hours ago

Why frets? Orchestral strings don’t use frets.

Comment by bilegeek 6 hours ago

For plucked instruments, besides ease of use, it adds clarity and sustain. Orchestra AFAIK only has Pizzicato where that would matter.

Comment by dmoy 1 hour ago

Sustain

in college a good friend was a very good Oud player (plucked, some number of strings.... more than 8? I forget), and it definitely sounds different from guitar due to less sustain. Clearer notes and chords, but they don't linger as long or loud.

Edit: apparently it's 11 strings? ok.

Comment by analog31 6 hours ago

Frets make chords possible.

You only have to put your finger somewhere in between two frets to get a particular note, so you can play more than the tiny handful of chords that can be played on something like a violin.

There are non-fretted guitars but they are rare, and I think early banjos were not fretted.

Comment by anentropic 50 minutes ago

Isn't it the curvature of the fretboard (to allow for bowing individual strings) that prevents chords on a violin rather than lack of frets?

Comment by jagged-chisel 5 hours ago

Frets make chords easier

Comment by BigTTYGothGF 5 hours ago

It makes hard chords easy, and impossible chords possible (if not easy). Most barre chords, for example.

Comment by ErroneousBosh 4 hours ago

> Frets make chords possible.

What do you think double-stops are?

Comment by bluGill 4 hours ago

There are those who say it isn't a chord until you have 3 notes. I'm going to skip the complex music theory behind the arguments (I haven't studied them enough to understand much less form an opinion).

Of course in most music contexts there is more than one instrument playing and so the others can fill in the missing note making a full chord. Only a "one-man-band" really feels the loss.

Comment by ErroneousBosh 3 hours ago

Power chords only have two notes (although more than two octaves, I don't know if you count that)

Comment by williamdclt 3 hours ago

It's self-consistent: those who say that a chord must have at least 3 notes also say that power chords are not technically chords

Comment by dahart 3 hours ago

What do you mean about more than two octaves? The basic power chord is 3 notes, for example E2 + B2 + E3. One of those is an octave.

Comment by BigTTYGothGF 57 minutes ago

"Power chord" sounds cooler than "power dyad".

Comment by amanaplanacanal 4 hours ago

Whimpy-ass chords. You need three or more notes for a serious(tm) chord.

Comment by ErroneousBosh 3 hours ago

Five for the Hendrix Chord, E7♯9 ;-)

That's E, G♯, B, D, F

Comment by anentropic 51 minutes ago

I read a pretty good argument once that this chord should really be called a b10 (no one does though...)

Comment by telotortium 2 hours ago

Every jazz player knows you can drop the fifth, and the root too if the bass is filling it in. That gives your fingers room to add even crazier extensions

Comment by ErroneousBosh 1 hour ago

Oh man have you seen the Adam Neely video "Seven Level of Jazz Harmony"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz3WR-F_pnM

If not, stop and watch it. But make a cup of tea to enjoy with it first, and maybe put a cloth over your keyboard for when you inevitably splutter tea all over it.

Comment by ErroneousBosh 4 hours ago

What's the difference in sustain time between a cello played pizzicato and a plucked guitar string?

Comment by dhosek 1 hour ago

I’m a bit skeptical of the claims given that multi-course tunings are almost as old as guitar-family instruments.