Many musicians over the years have left their mark on the 12 string guitar. Leadbelly, Leo Kottke, George Harrison, Melissa Etheridge and Willie McTell to name just a few. These are just the people who played the instrument, but who invented the 12 string in the first place?
The original maker of the 12 string guitar isn't known. There are however a couple of theories. One says that he was working in an Italian instrument makers. Italian instruments have a history of being dual course stringed. The mandolin is an example of a dual course stringed instrument from Italy.
The other theory is that the 12 string was invented in Mexico, and came across the border into America. Mexico has a history of having different versions of this type of guitar and even have an 11 string guitar!
The 12 string guitar was thought of as being pretty much a novelty and not taken too seriously at first. That is until a blind man from Atlanta came on the scene. Blind Willie McTell played a ragtime style guitar with complicated fingerpicking and strong base tones. Ragtime was a fantastic sounding music with fast stylised rhythms from the 1920's. The style of ragtime played by McTell was the Piedmont blues. Sometime around 1922 he had to stop playing the guitar as it stopped his ability to read braille. In 1927 he picked up the 12 string and this kick started his professional career.
Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) is probably the best known 12 string guitar player. He was a song writer and song collector. In 1912 he bought his 12 string after seeing one played. He sang music concerning different topics such as slave songs, work songs, gospel, prison, sailors and racism. There is a Leadbelly song called the "Titanic" which deals with racism in a positive way. The words tell how black folk weren't allowed aboard so they should rejoice because no black folk drowned. His temper landed him in gaol on more than one occasion. The first time he escaped. The second time after committing murder, he was pardoned after writing and performing a song for the Governor Neff. Apparently Governor Neff used to bring friends to the prison to hear Leadbelly sing. Leadbelly died in 1949, and for a while the 12 string guitar fell silent.
There seems to have been a complete revival of the 12 string guitar in the 60's. Pete Seeger among others picked up the this guitar once again and the rest is history. Why don't you get yourself one of these instruments and see what all the fuss is about?
About this Author
I have been a very happy guitar player for the last 18 years. I have played several different types of guitar, and know which ones I prefer. I perform live as often as I can. I enjoy inspiring others to try different things and delving into the history of the 12 string guitar
For more information visit my blog on the 12 string guitar
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