It is said that 12 string players spend half of their time tuning and the other half playing out of tune. Well two six stings out of tune can mimic that sound.
In 1965, the Byrds took Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,”
added a rhythm section featuring Roger McGuinn’s distinctive 12-string electric
Rickenbacker, and wound up with a Number One smash. Right away, Columbia
Records attempted to repeat the formula by grafting a rock backing onto “The
Sound of Silence,” an acoustic ballad by newcomers Simon & Garfunkel.
Session guitarists Al Gorgoni and Vinnie Bell were tapped to give the song a
Byrds-like feel. “Except we didn’t have a 12-string electric!” recalls Gorgoni.
“So Vinnie and I just went at it together, and they mixed it onto the same
track. The thing is, if you listen carefully, you’ll notice that the guitars
aren’t even tuned properly - they’re just awful! On the other hand, all the
things that are wrong with the recording didn’t stop it from becoming a huge
success. So there you go.
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