EAGLES: Top the Best of the 12 Stringers list
When it comes to guitar lists, what’s left?
There have been lists of who’s the best, fastest, as well as the best solo, riff and on and on. But here’s a new twist – Guitar World has compiled the “Top 30 12-String Guitar Songs of All-Time.”
To qualify, they “looked at not only the legacy of the song but how prevalent 12-string guitar is in the song and how influential the song would be in inspiring others to pick up their 12-strings.”
Topping the list is the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” which, when performed by its co-writer, Don Felder, you knowis coming once he straps on the white Gibson double neck. Commenting on this list, he says, "It's such and honor to be voted the number-one 12-String Guitar Song of All-Time. To be in such company is such an amazing dream for any musician. Thank you Guitar World."
The Byrds, led by Roger McGuinn and his Rickenbacker 12-string, had the most songs on the list with three, followed by Led Zeppelin and The Beatles with two each.
Here are the "Top 30 12-String Guitar Songs of All-Time," according to Guitar World:
- Eagles – “Hotel California”
- The Byrds – “Eight Miles High”
- Led Zeppelin – “Over the Hills and Far Away”
- Pink Floyd – “Wish You Were Here”
- Stevie Ray Vaughan – “Rude Mood”
- The Beatles – “Ticket to Ride”
- The Byrds – “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)"
- Tom Petty – “Free Fallin’”
- Boston – “More Than a Feeling”
- Ozzy Osbourne – “Mama, I’m Coming Home”
- Rush – “Closer to the Heart”
- Led Zeppelin – “Stairway to Heaven”
- The Byrds – “Mr. Tambourine Man”
- The Rolling Stones – “As Tears Go By”
- Bon Jovi – “Wanted Dead or Alive”
- Rod Stewart – “Maggie May”
- The Beatles – “A Hard Day’s Night”
- The Who – “Substitute”
- David Bowie - "Space Oddity"
- Supertramp - "Give a Little Bit"
- Jimi Hendrix - "Hear My Train a-Comin'"
- Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Breaking the Girl”
- Mahavishnu Orchestra - "You Know You Know”
- Queen – “39”
- The Hollies – “Look Through Any Window”
- Alice in Chains – “I Stay Away”
- Gordon Lightfoot – “Early Morning Rain”
- Bob Dylan – “Hurricane”
- America – “A Horse With No Name”
- John Butler Trio - "Ocean"
Don Felder talked about his iconic white Gibson double-neck guitar:
"If I had known, 40-something years ago when I actually wrote the music for 'Hotel California' and played 16 guitar tracks on the record itself that I would have to be lugging that beast around for 40 years, I think I would have written something differently, you know. The thing weighs a ton. It's as heavy as two guitars. I think my back problems are a direct result from playing that guitar for 40 years."