The power of the 12 string electric guitar

It hits you like a sledgehammer. It's just two notes, one an octave above the other, played over and over again. It thunders on for nearly 30 seconds, and it's been a centerpiece of many a mosh-pit over the past 15 years.

It's the opening to Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls on Parade," and it's a great example of what a 12 string electric guitar can do.

Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello is one of the most accomplished guitarists making music today, and many will contend that his greatest work is on that particular track. In it he uses the 12 string electric guitar to create a furious, driving beat that moves the song into dangerous, vibrant and some would say violent territory. It's what Rage Against the Machine was going for in much of their music, and Morello knew how to set the tone.

The 12 string electric guitar is somewhat different than its acoustic cousin. It's more often used, for one thing, but it also is used differently. While the acoustic 12 string tends to be melancholy, the 12 string electric guitar tends towards the power and precision of a RATM, or The Who.

Pete Townsend of The Who was one of the first to make good use of the 12 string electric guitar. He did so on everything from "The Kids are Alright" to "Who's Next?", two of the masterpieces of that great era of music. The Whos live shows were particularly powerful exhibitions for Townsend, who once contended that We may not write songs that are as good as the Beatles, but wed blow them off the stage. Few would argue.

Jimmy Page also made the 12 string electric guitar his own, especially live and in concert. The song "Dazed and Confused" is 9 minutes long on the album "Led Zeppelin"; in concert it could go on for as long as 45 minutes as Page used his 12 string to put together some of the most remarkable solos anyone has ever performed. Sometimes he'd use the bow of a violin to play, stretching the boundaries of what the instrument was capable of.

Of course, that left Page open for a bit of mockery, which came in the form of the 1984 comedy "This is Spinal Tap." Christopher Guest plays Tap's lead guitarist and songwriter, and in one memorable scene he goes from playing his guitar with a bow, to his shoe, to actually using a violen to play the 12 string electric guitar. It was a hilarious bit of filmmaking - and what's more, it actually sounded good!

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