12-String Bass (And Why You Need One!)

That King's X song was freaking incredible, I gotta listen to more of their stuff

The clip of Cheap Trick is from Chicagofest in 1981. The bassist was Peter Comita, who replaced Tom Petersson when he left the band. Tom returned in 1987.

I literally cheered out loud when Doug's name came out of your mouth. He has to be the humblest badass in all of rock music, and King's X albums and songs just grow and grow on you, until they inevitably become your favourite band

Grunge with a 12 string???? Never thought that. Ian, thank you for your unbridled enthusiasm and passion. Every time I watch you, I NEED to pick up my bass!

Somewhere in the mid-1980s I stuck a set of headphones on and was listening to the song roundabout and at that moment I decided I was going to play bass guitar for the rest of my life, thank you and rest in peace Chris Squier.

This has now made me want to add an 8 to my collection. I still don’t consider myself much of a bassist, but that would just be such a cool sound to play with in a pop/old school punk setting.

So happy to see Big Wreck get a shout out. Underrated band with consistently jaw-dropping bass and guitar tones.

Honorable mention- John Entwhistle,The Who, "Trick of the light"- 8 String bass. Jimi Hendrix/Noel Redding- "Spanish Castle magic" and "You got me floating" ,Hagstrom 8 string bass.

I discovered Big Wreck when they opened for Dream Theater in 97 on the Falling Into Infinity tour. They blew me away, and that 12 string sounded HUGE in a live setting

Great video! Except the Cheap Trick clip you played isn't Tom Petersson! That is Pete Comita who stepped in to replace Tom when he left Cheap Trick the first time in I think 1980. Pete was a well known Chicago guitarist. Just setting the record straight :)

You forgot Greg Lake, not only playing an 8 String bass but the sound he got during the performance.

Sometime in the early 70s, a band I was playing with rehearsed in a place in Hollywood where Cheap Trick had a lockout. One day, the door to their equipment locker was open and there was a road case with Petersson's name stenciled on it. Couldn't resist opening it! There was his famous 12-string so I pulled it out and tried to play a few notes. I was struck by 2 things - #1 it was heavy as hell(!) and #2 you need gorilla fingers to play it! Loved the sound, but nowadays I use a Micro-Pog with a bit of chorus and that's good enough for me.

Thank you for including That Song! I was infatuated with In Loving Memory Of when it came out, and I am still obsessed with it and Big Wreck,and basically anything Ian Thornley does.

dUg(Pinnick)is one of my absolute favorite bass players,and the ONLY one who uses a PICK!His tone is massive.I've never heard any OTHER bass tone THAT Thunderous!

My mind always goes to Tom Petersson from Cheap Trick and Jeff Ament from Pearl Jam on Jeremy, admittedly I was also a bit confused by the concept when I first heard about it but after hearing it in action I honestly gotta say they sound so cool and fit the mix perfectly

So glad - and surprised - that you mentioned Chris Squire’s bass on 90125, which is a masterpiece in my opinion. Chris was the first bass player I thought of when I started watching this video. A couple of years ago I bought the OctaBass pedal, which does an incredible job of emulating an 8-string, which I often use when playing along with Patrick O’Hearn’s music.

Adding a little bit of chorus to an eight string does this 12-string tone justice, I can't think of any need to buy a twelve, since the eight can cover it..I do think that this is an excellent overview of Achilles by JPJ and of Tom Petersson, a bass player that I don't think gets as much recognition as his playing deserves. Also an awesome overview of Chris Squire's unusual use of a re-tuned eight string. Great insight to Dug Pinnick's use of the twelve and how it works in the context of a power trio.

Thanks for correctly crediting Tom Petersson and Hamer for producing the first 12 string Quad bass, and remember that the very first one that Hamer made for him was actually a 10 string to test the concept in late ‘77…

Big wreck & King's X! Those are some monsters! I saw Dug in a what became KX back in 1980..FOR FREE! Decided I wanted to be a bass player right there! Ian you get cooler with every video!

Ian Martin Allison is the only reason I tune into these. Such an absolutely fantastic personality and a joy to watch. Always full of enthusiasm and positivity. This was fantastic! I've been fascinated with both the 8 and 12 string since Cheap Trick and Pearl Jam. Very cool to see how these can be used.