How to tune a 12-string guitar - commented lesson -

[killer94340]

Même en France on a du bon goût ! UP THE IRONS FROM FRANCE !

[wozhot137]

i dont understand...is he speaking french??

[jfarrell85]

make a new vid, play strings twice and wait a bit between each pluck.

[ijon85]

he  doesnt LOOK French!

[iamyohan]

thank you!:-)



[AdyinH0bo]

I don't understand what the correct tuning is for a 12 string guitar at all...I have a thin set set of strings on my 12 string acoustic right now and all of the strings are set at standard 6-string tuning. EADGBE. I hear so many other people tune their 12 strings differently though so I'm really confused.

[SoftSailz]

@AdyinH0bo thats fine that way you do it. tune them all EADGBE. i have my 6 regular strings at EAGDBE and my smaller strings tuned the same EADGBE. the smaller EADG strings sound an octive higher than the thick EADG strings because they are smaller and give a higher pitched sound. and the last two (B and E) strings sound the same as the others because the strings are the same size as the other two B and E strings. the hard part is getting your fingers adjusted to playing with 12 strings lol.

[ZuluPilot]

All this talk about tuning an octave higher is really kinda useless and probably just confusing for a lot of beginners. If you tune a six string, nobody tells you that you have to tune the high E two octaves higher. It just is like that. I you´d tune the thinner string the same as the thick one it would be too loose to play it properly. Your low E is an E note in the 2nd octave (E2), its treble string (or the low E on the 12th fret) an E3 and your high e is an E4.

[SoftSailz]

@ZuluPilot i think you should re-read what i wrote.

[ZuluPilot]

@SoftSailz It wasn´t directed at you per se (though it´s possible I started writing the post as a reply to yours accidentally so maybe it showed up as one). But yeah, you´re pretty much saying the same thing as me. Sorry ´bout that.

[JeffBend]

aaah, now finally , a 12 string tuning video thats does what is says on the tin - thanks mate :)

[mcouzijn]

An advice to the more advanced players: if you get the 'big' strings (E-A-D-G) and two of the remaining strings (B-E) perfectly in tune (which is a well-tempered compromise, by the way), try tuning their 'thin' counterparts (E-A-D-G) and the two remaining upper strings (B-E) just a few Herz higher. Two or three Herz is enough; you can hear the differential frequency as a tremolo. The few Herz 'out of tune' is in itself hardly noticeable, but it gives the guitar a huge boost in rich overtones.

[Guitarpro2play]

Is the tuning the same with 6 strings guitar? I bought a stagg 12 strings guitar for 170Euro. I have trouble with the G string (The thin one). I am trying to tune it , but the string broke before it gets to F#.

What can I do?

[Strumrr]

@Guitarpro2play - Because NO ONE has mentioned that 12 string ACOUSTIC guitars should NOT be tuned to standard tuning....it should be 2 octaves lower, in effect D, not E. So, the first string should be tune to D, and then follow the same tuning method. This is done so that there isn't as much tension on the neck due to 12 strings! You would just use a capo on the second fret, which would then make it play in standard tuning. Hope this is clear.

[jasonspell]

@Strumrr Methinks you don't know what an octave is.

[a7xfanboyfoREVer]

Oh Yea! The Trooper Iron Maiden!

[BillBrown101]

Into 12 strings...check out " 12 string guitar fans " facebook page.

Thanks

[alzatron290]

damn best end song evar

[specthanatos]

Now I know :).

[BillBrown101]

12 string guitar fans check out our facebook page:

" 12 String Guitar Fans "

[realjuvelive]

Octave ?? each string

[thisplacesucksbig]

would it be better for the guitar to tune lower, perhaps an e flat or a D then use a capo for the standard tuning?

[TheBrokenWing1]

@thisplacesucksbig yes, less tension on the strings this way, resulting in not only longer string life, but less guitar wear

[rainbowp00p]

thank you!

[70076NUD]

A very nice video "tuto" =(tutorial). Full of love, i.e. to help others. and not a lot of ego or self promotion. MERCÍ

[MrChila86]

i think this is wrong how you are doing it !

[questions117]

im afraid im going to break my g string :o I just got a 12 string and people always say that string snaps:(

[captainsim1]

i was tuning my guitar and the high g string snapped and it was an new string. i got so pissed but luckly i had an extra string

[numanuma20]

double standard tuunning?

[Solracx]

I have a question, the high e in the 6th pair of strings is in the same octave as the 2 e's in the 1th pair? Or is the 1th pair of e's higher than the 6th one?

[redeyeMaggpie07]

thank you so much it helped me a lot

[calamariattack]

is it possible ot tune a 12 string in fifths instead of octaves? would it sound nice?

[Crohny]

@calamariattack itd sound heavier. itd give what youre playing more depth

[slashmalmsteen]

hey dude! can i tune one of those with a normal tuner eg. boss tu 80???

[DarkestFireWings]

@slashmalmsteen yes, i dont see why not. especially a boss, i find that they are VERY good tuners.

[buscobanda]

thanks dude i was looking for this, excelente! 5/5

[M1ghtyM1ch]

Cheers man :D

Lovin the Maiden!! XD

[legrandzim]

merci beaucoup denis de montreal

[eiriksoad]

THE TROOOOOOPAAAAAHHHHH

[flasticflastic]

...Use a 0.08 or 0.09 for the thin G it'll take the strain! I really lash into mine and it's got standard guage strings (10s at the top) ...But yep the rule is thinthinthin for G! :D

[XxDrSNYPExX]

THE TROOPER!!!!! UP THE IRONS!!!!!

[PeterRosenqvist]

Thanks !! . {;o)

[imarealhuffer]

kickass credits music!!!

[doggieboy5]

thankyou very very much

[Luigiaco]

UP THE IRONS!!!

[lavawaterfalls]

It is better for the 12 string guitar if you tune it 1 step DOWN from where this guy has it.

[TheComicStripFan]

Yeah I broke a string doing it like this... pity I read your comment too late :(

[xavieruiz1]

yes!!! thats what i was looking for, you go straght to point good keep it up!!!!!!!!

[00watcher]

THE TROOOOPERRRRR¡¡¡¡¡¡

[fabfob90]

and how i tune a 12 string to open c

[ecsta1]

CGCGCE but better do that one note down ( A#,F,A#,F,A#,D)

or maybe the thin g string will brake...(g string lol):-)

and then use a capotasto if you get confused with the chords

[Whydoyoureadme]

Anyone recomend the ASHTON SL29 12 string Guitar?

[jlowellb]

thanks, just what i was looking for! 5/5

[jastallings92]

end it with some Iron Maiden now were talking

[cmannnix]

dude wth is up with the 1st sentence of the video info? nice vid though but the yellow writing did make it kinda hard to read somtimes

[jamesfz6]

Thanks for the video!!!!! The last 10 years i have been playing guitar i have stayed away from 12-strings because i wasnt sure how they tuned. After seeing your video it makes me think i should have asked a long time ago how to tune one because it is really simple. Thanks again for the basic, but very informative video.

[alfred87cron]

thanx, but u should have used different color leters. hard to read them

[Miller9391]

Man , my brother just let me borrow his 12 string, he tuned it "EE AA DD GG bb ee".

I thought that wasent right. Thanx for the vid...

[Shadowrunner340]

i thought the treble strings were done an octave up. i just didn't know the B and high E were tuned the SAME. good thing i don't own a 1 2string, lol!

[weridoman69]

lol imagine if u had one

and tried to tune it yourself lol

[weseehotwings]

@Shadowrunner340 whjy are you watching this then idiot

[druchii01]

My first guitar when I was 16 was a Fender 12 string, I had never played guitar before. My parents had gotten it for me because they wanted me to learn it. Needless to say, there are others in that predicament and something like this is fantastic. Thank you for posting.

[grungexcore]

thank god for this video. merci beaucoup man. i broke so many strings trying to figure this crap out.

[scouseroulette]

standard tuning but tune the smaller strings on the 12th fret! ;)

[headlessgunner]

@scouseroulette

"standard tuning but tune the smaller strings on the 12th fret"

that is all that was needed!! you are the man!! Thank you for imparting your wisdom :)

[scouseroulette]

hehehe happy to think ive helped someone learn something new today! x peace x

[floody38]

Glad i saw this vid, Just bought a 12 string and watching this vid helped me tune it correctly......thanks.

[stupidplants]

12 strings could be a starter guitar if said starter wanted his chord progressions to sound like works written by angels. and thanks for the guide... i actually didnt know how to tune a 12other than it was done in octaves(which i didnt know how many octaves or that the same tuning was used on the b and e) and almost bought one the other day. the whole having to tune by octaves kinda scared me

[Tofty333]

cheers matey - bought one for the hell of it - I am not a atarter but it was indeed hell to tune and your vid was v helpful.

[HarlequinJAmes]

Oh no, no, no, nooo! Because there is a picture of me, I am sticking up for myself! You are right (Mr?) Lulzmoney! And so - of course is user 8466849 - of course ;)

I have played 12 string for years now; I had just got a glen cambpell ovation! I am polite, when leaving comments :)

HaHa - you too gave good advice, a couple of paragraphs below!

[HarlequinJAmes]

Thanks a million! Tuning by ear, always leaves my guitar a touch out = good to hear something that keeps me sharp! Thanks again!

[lulzmoney99]

huh?? Ever heard of a tuner? They cost like $5. Don't get me wrong, tuning by ear is great, if you can do it properly.

[AlanSturgess]

Worth pointing out that 12's often sound better if you use a wound 3rd and an unwound 3rd (G) in unison. You've done this on your guitar, but didn't explain that point. Also worth mentioning that using a capo with a 12 can be a problem if the capo isn't wide enough or strong enough, and that it can often be the case that you need to adjust tuning because unwanted dissonance can happen with capos which doesn't sound so much jangly as just plain out of tune.

[pootinhammer]

nice ending song

[fretsofthebeast]

iron maiden rules man

"the trooper"

[8466849]

if people are that stupid then they shouldn't buy a twelve string!

[usernameforjacky]

if people don't have anything optimistic to say towards how to go about furthering another persons knowledge in a subject they want to learn about then maybe they shouldn't be saying anything at all.

[lulzmoney99]

um actually 8466849 has a pretty valid point. Who the hell would buy a 12 string guitar without knowing how to tune it? A 12 string is a specialty guitar, not a starter guitar. As such, it stands to reason that anyone who required one, would already know how it's tuned.

I came here cuz I was reading about how a 12 string provides a natural chorus effect and was curious to hear how it sounded. I kinda laughed when I realized this was a tutorial on how to tune it.

[theredciocoflender]

I agree that a beginner should not start with a 12 string...

"Who the hell would buy a 12 string guitar without knowing how to tune it?"

Orly?! so you really have to learn to tune one before buying it? how do you do that, if I may ask? oh right, by watching vids and reading some instructions... then what? you just assume knowledge is enough, without hearing what the guitar would sound like in your hands?

[lulzmoney99]

If you bought a 12string you would most likely already know how to tune A GUITAR. Who the hell would want a 12string guitar w/o knowing how to tune a guitar? Most people don't even know a 12string guitar exists...

There hardly needs to be a video to tell people what 12 notes to tune the strings to when the only people who have these guitars only need to know the notes and don't need a visual demonstration of something a 4 year old could do.

That was my point.

[theredciocoflender]

Probably, but I was talking about tuning a 12 string guitar knowing only how to tune a 6 string. If no one tells you, or you never watch a movie or find out what notes you need... then you can only go ahead and guess the notes on the extra 6 strings.

'Tune 3rd string as 1st on 5th fret' should be enough though.

[catkool67]

Thanx! It's been a great help!

[burnoufr]

this helped sooo much THANKS A BUNCH!!

[welcomesweetparadise]

yeh im getting the epihone twin neck sg and the top neack of the body has 12 string so i wanted to know how to tune it and this video was brilliant. and your english is very good. u have probly used a translation site.

[spixel92]

it helped me alot when my guitar were "out of tune". thx!

[freakezoid143]

all are tuned standard.. its just that the upper string are higher sound. than the thicker bottom ones. like high E and lower E are both standard E. hope that helps.. :)

[EVHSlightReturn]

What about the recommendation to tune a 12 string at least 1/2 a step down or a full note down ? Any helpful insights?

[Thetophat2]

i think he's just trying to show us the concept of it. i'm buying one tomorrow, and i sort of found this video helpful

[clint12393]

WHOO!!! Iron Maiden, The Trooper!!!! U ROCK!

[lepticidou]

aujourd'hui j'ai fait l'acquisition d'une petite gratte 12 corde \o/ et grasse a toi je vais pouvoir l'accorder correctement ^^ merci

[JayAlmighty]

What does it mean by one octave higher? Sry.. Im a beginner

[bananatime]

one octave higher means.....this

think of the tone of bottom e...now think of top E... the top E is one octave higer than bottom e

[JayAlmighty]

Ok, well when tuning it using an electronic tuner, how do you tell the difference between a "high a" and a "low a"

[bananatime]

just listen to the notes and look at the tuner if it sounds low and the tuner say "a" then thats the low one...same goes for high "a"

[BertrandGoethals]

You talking about the difference between the first and the sixth string? that's two octaves ;)

one octave is the difference between an ope string and the tone on the twelvth fret of that same string.

[AcousticBlip]

you know how you tune from the 5th fret? Tune from the 12th. Every 12 frets you get a one higher octave on a standard guitar.

[tammerlane25]

thanks man, i was wondering about that.

[Nicorette1234]

its exacly 7 notes higher. like from C to D, its a tone, well, 7tones higher

[hansyfly]

what poor english!?

[23paul32]

have u got drain bamage ?

[grandmafrank1983]

lol

[panduahhh]

Love it how you ended on trooper haha

great stuff

[GoVegi]

Thanks muchly, just got 12 string for christmas, didnt have a clue, now i do, cheers!! 5/5

[boobtubious]

Thanks for this video, helped a lot!

[ktmadre]

E,D,A n' G is tune in E n' Eb, but B n' e the two strings in E =O! great :D nice thnks for the video :D

[amozartii]

The video need work but it helped me with the higher octive strings, good work man!

[MidnightsGhost]

This blew... Your mic was clipping, the guitar wasn't even in tune, and the camera work was like a bad Blair Witch project rip-off.

At least amp the guitar and use a direct inject, get a good camera, and TAKE SOME TIME. As well as, yeah, get the guitar in tune.

[stormyk6]

Oh well, so much for just trying to help out!

[reneearraya]

took a while, whatever, it's tuned

[fst06stg]

dear Lord... would someone please post another video tuning a 12 string guitar. this individual does it twice, messing up both times and going too fast. not only do i want another video for my own sake, but i dont want anyone else to have to go through the torture and mental anguish that i had to endure during the one minute and two seconds of this video. honestly, i wanted to kick myself in the head.

[schoolgirlscaptain]

This was very helpful. I couldn't tune my 12 string successfully until I viewed your video thank you very much, Lou (Ohio , U.S.A.)

[rvpstudios]

Thanks for posting!

[babace35djaxios]

I had some problems to tune my 12-string when I bought so I make this video to help all of those who have got a 12-string....

[epiphoneplayer]

ok dude...it took me like 10 minuets to do this. I think it would be a good idea if you played the same not a couple or times after another so you can tune easier. and then just go slower its like trying to tune while a song is playing haha. other than that good job

[fardinqwert]

Thank you very much! Just got my first 12-string, so this was quite helpfull...