Chords for How to Tune Your 12 String Guitar plus Tones for Tuning | Tom Strahle | Easy Guitar | Basic Guitar

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_ _ _ _ _ _ Hey there, I [Ab] got a request to do a video on how to tune their [N] 12 string guitar, so I'm
going to show you.
I have a Taylor 655, 90's 655 12 string.
It's a beautiful guitar, it's beautiful back, you can see the maple back and sides.
I love this guitar because it's very easy [E] to play and 12 strings [Ab] inherently are difficult to play.
[E] _ Taylor 12 strings are very easy to play, so I really like this one.
[Am] _ So basically [N] what you're going to do is you're going to get your tuner, if you have one.
If you don't have a tuner, you can wait until the end of this video and I'll put tones up
for each of the 12 strings so you can tune to those tones.
_ And then you might also want some coffee because you're tuning a 12 string and it may take a minute. _
But it's not that bad.
We're just going to go one string at a time and it's basically [Em] six pairs of strings.
[N] Exactly the same tuning.
The nice thing about a 12 string is you can play it if you know how to play a 6 string
until just a little bit, you have to push down two strings instead of one.
But it's the same tuning, E, A, D, G, B, E as a regular acoustic or regular electric guitar.
_ But you have pairs of strings and generally the bottom four pairs of strings [E] have an octave.
So you've got an octave up E and then a regular [A] E, an octave up A and a [D] regular A, an octave
up D and a regular D, [G] an octave up G and a regular [B] G.
And then the top two pairs of strings are [E] just B and E like normal acoustic guitar and
they're unison, meaning they are the same note.
They're not an octave apart.
So let's start with the bottom string which is actually going to be the octave up E string
and that was in tune and now here's the lower E string.
_ [N] One way you can also check your work is if you do the harmonic at the 12th fret of [E] the
lower E string and then hit the higher E string, it should be the same note. _ _ _ _ _ _
It's easier to do it the other way around, hit the [Fm] high note and then [E] the harmonic. _
_ Same note.
Okay, so the next string is the A string.
Again we're [Am] going to start with the higher A string.
I got it in tune here, A440.
[A] And then here's the lower A [E] and I can do the same thing where I'll hit the [A] octave up string
and then the harmonic.
_ _ Same note.
Okay, [Fm] next [D] string is the D string.
And now the string is getting pretty skinny.
This string is about the size, this higher [Em] D string is about the same size as the high
E string as far as the thickness [D] of it.
So that allows it [A] to get up there pretty high.
So we got [D] that high D in tune.
The lower D is in tune and I can check my work.
_ Hit the high and the harmonic.
_ _ _ _ _ And [Ab] now this is the one you got to be careful [G] of.
The G string, the higher G string is pretty skinny. _ _ _ _ _
And so often if you tune up too much or if you go above G it's going to break.
Now when I was a [N] kid my second guitar was kind of a very cheap 12 string.
It almost made me want to quit playing guitar.
And I kept breaking the G strings on it.
So what I did was the higher G string.
So what I did was I tuned down all six strings down a half step and then put a capo at the first fret.
And then I was playing standard in front of the capo.
And [E] it allowed the strings to be a little looser and I didn't have to tune up.
[G] But I've not had a problem with breaking that string in a long time.
_ And I'm using Elixir strings.
[Gbm] And I usually buy lots [C] of sets of these.
The reason is I _ can use them for the 12 string [N] and then I can split a set [E] up and use the
higher [A] set, [D] the higher strings, the skinnier strings and [E]
put them on my high string acoustic
and then the lower set I can just put on a regular acoustic.
So you can [G] actually string two guitars with one [B] set of strings that way.
The next string, the second to last string is the B string.
And again they're unison, same note.
And it's the same exact tuning as your [N] normal guitar.
So if you have a normal guitar you can check your tuning by plucking strings on your normal guitar too.
[E] _
Okay, now I'm a little flat here.
Okay, final string is E.
_ _ And we have it. _ _ _
Pretty much in tune to begin with.
_ _ _ [A]
Alright, _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [N] so stay tuned and you'll be able to, if you don't have a tuner you can use
the tones coming up and they will help you get your guitar in tune.
Okay, [G] God bless you guys, I'll talk to you soon.
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