The 12 Greatest 12-String Guitar Riffs 

Twelfth.

Watching Don Henley claim Hotel California is hilarious especially since he didn't write it, Don Felder did.

One wise man once sang: "welcome to the hotel can't afford y'a"

I am so grateful to see Rush on this one, especially Closer to the Heart. That is easily one of my favorite 12 String riffs of all time.

Hotel California will be forgotten if they will keep blocking it when it comes to a video :)

I was kinda surprised neither "Mr. Tambourine Man" or "Turn, Turn, Turn" by The Byrds didn't make the list.

An honourable mention and one of the finest songs of all time: "Turn, Turn, Turn".

I love how the comments are recommending songs to replace Hotel California. Nothing from The Byrds, really?

0:00 Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi 0:26 Breaking the Girl - RHCP 0:42 Over The Hills and Far Away - Led Zeppelin 1:37 Closer to the Heart - Rush 2:00 Mama I'm Coming Home - Ozzy Osbourne 2:15 More Than a Feeling - Boston 2:32 Ticket To Ride - The Beatles 2:55 I Stay Away - Alice In Chains 3:09 Free Fallin - Tom Petty 3:32 Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd 4:13 Hotel California by The Eagles but.. 4:23 Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin Enjoy the whole video if you want, I'm just helping

I have *more than a feeling* I can't afford a 12 string.

As someone who was born in the late '60s, you just played my entire life. Joys of tears my friend. If we could only relive. Thank you Tyler!

You and Rick Beato must be doing the same thang.... stick it to the blockers!!!

Hey Tyler, just wanted to say I love the channel .

AND THE MEN WHO HOLD HIGH PLACES, MUST BE THE ONES WHO START...

Some 12 string notable songs 1: America A horse with no name 2: Pantera Suicide note part 1 3: Rod Stewart Maggy May 4: Rolling Stones Wild Horses 5: Queen love of my life

Hi Tyler. I just wanted to let you know that the prs camp and masterclasses were a huge blast. I learned so much from all the classes that you, Tim, Bryan and everyone else taught and it’s improved my knowledge in that field to a whole new level. Thanks for advertising it so much on your channel or else I would’ve never known about it lol. These last 4 days have truly been fun. Thank you!

For acoustics, Diablo's Tristram theme is top tier 12-string playing

You must’ve watched Rick Beato’s rant about Don Henley 😂

I smiled when "Wish you Were here" started...awesome!

That was spectacular! The Eastwood 12 sounds amazing - certainly one of the best electrics I've heard. Your playing was was great as was the camera work. You made playing the 12-string look easy, something difficult to do. Thanks

Don Copyright and his band the Seagulls did some long forgotten number about a one star air b&b in downtown Detroit or something.

0:43 I used "Over The Hills" intro to test guitars back when I worked in a shop. I found that opening riff to be a good way to pick out playability issues. Even better, also I learned it upside-down. Being left-handed and most customers being righties, I'd throw them for a loop when I'd demo my work to them by flipping their own guitar over and laying into it. =^-^=

THANK YOU FOR THIS. I started my channel a year ago, focusing on all things 12 string. I've been waiting for one of the big you tubers to do a 12 string video. Views on my channel tripled today! I appreciate you bringing attention to the 12 string! I also really enjoyed the camp you did with Tim Pierce, PRS, et all. You really pulled it off. All the best. -Mark

Eastwood is an INCREDIBLE company. So glad to see you show them love! I have their bigger Gretch-esque 12 String in White. AMAZING guitar!

That's a good headstock design. Haven't seen anything like it

Substitute Wholehearted by Extreme for Breaking the Girl and I totally agree with the list.

Never thought I'd see you do "breaking the girl" by RHCP. That was my jam back in the day. Bravo!!! That little bit just made my whole day. 😢🤯

One of my favorite videos so far! Such a beautiful sound😁

When you realize that you were listening to the video on the Bluetooth speaker in the library while your headsets were on, and then you realize that it wasn’t at a low volume inside your headsets... it was blaring outside.

Excellent guitar work. The Bryds brought a lot of attention to the 12 string in the day.

I really love you for putting Breaking the Girl on this list, my heart skipped a beat when I heard you playing this riff

Thanks for including closer to the heart, you just made all is Rush nerds happy.

"I f***ing hate The Eagles, man" - The Dude ;P

" Mr. Tambourine Man " by the Byrds is what really brought the 12 string to the forefront. Good choice of songs, however I think we all can agree some were left out, that should have been there instead of a couple of them. " Closer to the Heart was played a little to fast. However, one can never go wrong playing one of Alex's guitar riffs, unless you just plain suck !!

I thought I would never watch this video again! I aways listened to it mainly because of Over the Hill's and far away! But it just vanished from RU-vid 1 year* ago! Thanks for finally reposting it!

The sound of this guitar along with these camera angles make my mouth water...

Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys! An absolute taste tested and approved; sick riff!! 🤘🤘

Why did you originally take this down? Glad to see it reuploaded! Edit: Just got to that part of the video.

Really nice video! Thank you for the wonderful music.

Missed this video. Don’t know how many times I tried to find it when it left but it’s so heavenly

Mysterious Ways by U2, it's a very little known fact that the riff was actually played on a 12 string Rickenbacker with a lot of distortion. The Edge also changed the fourth string to a bottom end string for extra girt.

Favorite 12-string riff = Smoke on the Water

SO many great 12 string performances, Gerry and the Pacemakers " It's Gonna Be Alright" was my favorite back in the day...

Great vid man! Expected a '39 cover as well but those songs are really cool and well played. Keep on rocking!

Bruh, no Tambourine Man by The Byrds? What are you even doing with your life?

What 12 string songs weren't in the top twelve? "Damn Good" - David Lee Roth

I admire your stones with the prolonged Over The Hills segment. Glad it didn’t get blocked!

Great video! Gets me wondering about what other 12 string riffs are waiting to be made today

Hole Hearted by Extreme is my personal favorite. Amazing riff

It's not often that Alice In Chains is brought up by guitarists that know how to play well. Seeing them in this video made me really happy that one of their riffs is a 12 string riff. Thanks for that Tyler and keep making this amazing content ^^

I love that Eastwood 12 string, it looks just like the Charvel Surfcaster, what a beautiful guitar.

lovin the jangly tone of the 12 string with lipstick pickups makes me miss my old danelectro 12 string i lost in a house fire keep up the great content

I almost thought you weren’t going to include Wish you were here

Roger Hodgson from Supertramp has written a lot of great 12 string guitar riffs and songs. Give a Little Bit and Even in the Quietest Moments are two *great* examples!

Wonderful job. That was a real treat.

Over the hills and far away sound so good!, Good job Tyler!

Really blurring the lines between a riff and a chord progression here, but great list! I've see some Eagles songs get used in lists by not mentioning who it is on screen or vocally. Maybe try that next time?

Best cover of Hotel California I’ve ever heard!

heyy I really enjoy this channel and also the Guitar Super System, it's great

Thank you. I woke up to this video and it is so relaxing and beautiful

What? NO BYRDS???

I can't get over that headstock, reminds me of classical guitar

I’m so glad this is up again, I’m not sure if this was the case, but for some reason when I tried searching for this video I could never find it, so I just assumed it was taken down, most likely for copyright claims. Nevertheless, I enjoy this video very much.

12-string guitars are such a pleasure to listen to, very soothing, like a piano too.

Life by the Drop, SRV, and Hear my train a comin' Jimi

Not actually famous as a 12-string riff, but everytime I hear upper octave harmony whether it's from an actual 12 string or effect pedal like whammy I always think about Radiohead's My Iron Lung

Oh and - awesome 12 string playing. So few can, including myself, that it's nice to hear some one who can get a clear tone out of all of the strings.

That was great - beautifully shot!

didn't include any R.E.M. or Byrds Hella dissapointing

Inb4 video is blocked because the text “Hotel California” is in it

I noticed that this particular video doesn't go on and on for once, and be over 15 minutes. Straight to the point, and showcases 12 awesome riffs. Another video can be more of a discussion of sorts, and gives more info of what makes the riff sound good or even just the 12 string guitar.

You re posted this video so happy love the 12 string

How the hell is there a 12 string riff video without The Byrds.

Why when it comes to these 12 string compilations, does everyone miss out Even In The Quietest Moments Supertramp?

Thank you for putting closer to the heart!!

So glad to see Closer to the Heart here. It's such an underrated riff.

The Forbidden SONG 😵.

No Byrds? I'm sorry, do you know what a 12-string guitar is?

Thank you for putting I Stay Away by AIC. Song is so good!

Nice list, I can add Look Through Any Window by the Hollies, that riff is amazing

Let's never play again Hotel California.

Oh and also I Appear Missing by Queens Of The Stone Age

Love the guitar man sounds and looks great

Loved It. Wish I could play as well as you. Beautiful. !

"You can check out anytime, but you can never leave."

The Hollies - Bus Stop or On A Carousel?

Played most of my favourite artists! Goosebumps

1) LOVE your style for youtube... no BS just play. No self promotion LOVE IT. 2) I did not realize many of those songs featured a 12 string - very nice. 3) Your guitar is so unique and badass... worth owning just for that headstock wow that is cool.

Don Henley and Glenn Frey made careers off the backs of far more talented and creative musicians, but postured themselves to be the big dogs of the Eagles.

Where is Do I wanna Know? by Arctic monkeys

un son sublime ; la 12 cordes apporte beaucoup en harmonies, c'est incomparable. bravo

Finally it's back. For those who don't know this or at least a similar video of his got pulled down a while ago. Really like this one too.

First person I think of is Roger McGuinn of the Byrds..

The Cinema Show by Genesis

I Love that Surfcaster XII, what a gorgeous looking and Sounding instrument, you just make it sing.

The cinematography in this video is top notch!

4:23 is what you are looking for

Jesus, in every video he has a new guitar🤣

Awesome. Good work!!

So happy to hear the Rush riff