The 12-string bass is an electric bass with four

courses Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

of three strings each, though they occasionally have six courses of two strings. Normal tuning is eeE-aaA-ddD-ggG, with one string of each course tuned similarly to the corresponding string of the four-string bass, and the remaining two strings tuned to the octave. The first known 12-string bass guitar, the "Hamer Quad," was designed by

Jol Dantzig Jolyon C. Dantzig (Jol Dantzig) is an American artist, songwriter, designer, guitarist, luthier, author and one of the founders of Hamer Guitars. Biography Born in Chicago, Jolyon (Jol) Dantzig began playing guitar and piano in grade school. H ...

and built in 1977 for

Tom Petersson Thomas John Peterson, better known as Tom Petersson, is an American musician who is best known for being the bass guitar player for the rock band Cheap Trick. Career Before joining Cheap Trick, Petersson played in a number of bands, including t ...

Hamer Guitars Hamer Guitars was an American manufacturer of electric guitars founded in 1973, in Wilmette, Illinois, by vintage guitar shop owners Paul Hamer and Jol Dantzig. The company's early instruments featured guitar designs based on the Gibson Explorer ...

. Petersson's

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. The current lineup of the band consists of Zander, Nielsen and ...

bandmate

Rick Nielsen Richard Alan Nielsen (born December 22, 1948) is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and leader of the rock band Cheap Trick. He is well-known for his numerous custom-made guitars from Hamer Guitars, incl ...

reports that Petersson first conceived of the instrument in 1973, and worked with Hamer over the next few years refining the design.

Notable players

. Gretsch unveiled the white USA Custom Shop Tom Petersson Signature 12-String Falcon Bass in 2016, followed by the "relic"-finish G6136B-TP12 * Jeff Ament of

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...

. His 12-string bass playing can be heard in the song " Jeremy" * Allen Woody of The Allman Brothers Band,

Gov’t Mule Gov't Mule (pronounced "Government Mule") is an American Southern rock jam band, formed in 1994 as a side project of the Allman Brothers Band by guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody. Fans often refer to Gov't Mule simply as ''Mule''. ...

and Blue Floyd *

Doug Pinnick Douglas Theodore Pinnick (born September 3, 1950), sometimes stylized as dUg Pinnick or simply dUg, is an American musician best known as the bass guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and songwriter for the hard rock and progressive metal band King's ...

of King's X * Chip Z'nuff of

Enuff Z'nuff Enuff Z'Nuff (a sensational spelling of "enough's enough") is an American rock band from Blue Island, Illinois, founded by singer Donnie Vie and bassist Chip Z'Nuff. The Chicago-area band is best known for their charting singles " Fly High Michel ...

* Clint Bahr of TriPod * Les Fradkin * John Gallagher of

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

*Odell Robinson of Super Mega Everything and Judge Unger

Manufacturers

Dean Guitars Dean Guitars, commonly referred to simply as Dean, is an American importer and maker of stringed instruments and musical products with its headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Its products include solid-body electric guitars, bass guitars, and acous ...

* Gretsch * Waterstone Guitars * Musicvox *

Schecter Guitar Research Schecter Guitar Research, commonly known simply as Schecter, is an American manufacturing company founded in 1976 by David Schecter, which originally produced only replacement parts for existing guitars from manufacturers such as Fender and Gibs ...

Other bass guitars with 12 strings

Basses with 12 strings and different layouts have been built. A bass with six two-string courses (bB-eE-aA-dD-gG-cC) was played by John Paul Jones of

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

Notable players

Manufacturers

Other bass guitars with 12 strings

See also

References

External links

Six-course bass