Hello all. I'm new here although I've been visiting guitartricks for a while. Allow me to introduce myself, if anyone cares. I'm a (almost) 20 year old guy from Athens, GA (home of R.E.M and Widespread Panic) who loves music and playing guitar. I've been seriously interested in music for about a year and a half, ever since I first got into classic rock. I picked up CDs by The Doors, and The Rolling Stones, then later got into Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Cream, etc. By way of classic rock, I got into the blues and I now listen to and love such artists as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Albert Collins, Freddie King, Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Lee Hooker, etc. My love for music inspired me to pick up a guitar and last August I did just that. I borrowed a friend's electric bass and enjoyed playing so much that I ended up buying it from him. I later borrowed an electric guitar of his and began learning to play guitar (with a lot of help from online guitar tabs). Just a few months ago I bought a guitar of my own. An Ibanez PF5NT 6-string acoustic which is now my prized possession. I have only been playing guitar seriously for about three months, though I've been playing bass for about 10 months. I'm doing well, I think, I'm learning chords and blues scales and fingerstyle techniques. I think I'm making good progress for a self-taught newbie. Now that I've introudced myself, I just have a couple of questions that have been bugging me:

1. What is a good way to get used to playing with more than two fingers on the fretboard? I have the bad habit of using my index and middle fingers only for fretting. Is this common among beginning guitar players?

2. There is a guitar sound/effect that Jimi Hendrix and SRV use a lot that I have no idea what it's called or how it's achieved. I don't know how to describe it except that it sounds sort of like the strings are being plucked? The notes are short are muted-sounding. SRV uses it in Lenny, and Blues At Sunrise (with Albert King). The part where Albert tells Stevie "You gotta play it like Jimi played it" or something like that. Then Stevie does his little lick and Albert goes "Do that again. I like that."
Hendrix uses it in the rhythm guitar part on One Rainy Wish. Also, I think the Pearl Jam song Yellow Ledbetter has it, although I haven't heard that in a long time. I hope somebody knows what I'm talking about. I'm sorry I can't describe it better. Is this guitar sound a playing technique, or is it achieved with some sort of effects pedal? Is it just the sound of plucked strings on an electric (slap-picking I think it's called)?

3. Last question, I swear: What is the deal with 12-string guitars? What's the advantage? I know that 12-string electrics give you that jangly Byrds sound, but what about 12-string acoustics? Both Jimi and SRV used them on their only-known recorded acoustic tracks (Hear My Train a-Comin' and Life By The Drop, respectively). Why did they choose 12-string acoustics over regular 6-string? Just curious.

Thanks to all who took the time to answer my questions. I apologize for the length of this post.

[This message has been edited by BarryS (edited 07-06-2000).]