1952 Vincent Black Lightning Guitar Lesson

My favorite live performance, which I transcribed note-for-note for this lesson
Playlist of all 5 video lessons for this song

1952 Vincent Black Lightning – Verses and Main Theme

1952 Vincent Black Lightning – Simplest Version

1952 Vincent Black Lightning – Interludes and Ending

1952 Vincent Black Lightning – Verse Variations

Almost certainly Richard Thompson’s most popular song, it’s renowned both for it’s moving lyrics and innovative guitar work. The Travis Picking in this style is typical of Thompson’s dronal techniques where he changes chords relatively infrequently while playing sophisticated variations on riffs interwoven with his picking patterns. Especially at the speed of his more recent performances of this song it’s quite challenging to play, and not to be done lightly given the heavy subject matter of the song.

Tabs

Simplified Tab

Short Score Tab

Full tab

Verse Variations Tab