Chords for Blues in the key of E lesson - Lightnin' Hopkins - Three Times Lightnin' - Tablature explanation

_ Okay, this is a short lesson about the song I videotaped _ called Three Times Lightning.
_ And you can order the tap, you can see it in the sidebar.
And I'm not going to explain the whole song, but just highlight a few, let's say, hot spots.
_ And the first [E] difficult phrase I think is in the second bar, _ where [Ab] I'll play the first
bar so you can [Em] hear what it does. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ [G] _
_ _ [C] _ _ [Dbm] _ It's that phrase.
[Bb] We're bending [E] with our second finger, [Ab] the eighth fret.
[Gb] We're pulling off and then we're sliding [G] down with the index finger.
[Gb] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ And here, [C] those triplets, I'm really [Abm] hitting the strings hard.
_ _ [G] And we want to avoid that third string rings.
So I just raise my _ ring finger just a little bit so it touches the third string and eliminates
the sound so we can really whack those two [Abm] strings. _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ [C] _ _
Then in the descending [Bb] lick, _ _ [Bb] _ _ [E] _
[Bm] _ _ [Bb] _ [Gm] _ [E] _ _ _
[Cm] notice that _ _ [E] _ _ those [D] three notes really stand out so [G] I accent them. _
_ [A] _ [G] _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ Okay, then in [Am] the second verse, _ [Em] where we go to [A] _ _ [E] the_ _
_ _ That's a show of course, lighting, I like to do those things. _ _ _ _
[G] And you have to take care, let your middle finger help you do this bend.
Because the bend is more than a full tone [E] _ higher and if you use your second finger to
help you with the bend, it will be much [Em] easier. _
Okay, _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
[Em] pinky on this tenth fret to help you there.
And when we go to_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ I'm _ lifting.
Every time I play the eighth and ninth fret on the second [G] and third string.
So because I [Fm] don't want [Em] those notes to sustain.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Then we're going down.
_ _ _ _ [E]
And that's a real fast flick of the index and middle finger.
And it helps when [B] you're sliding to the fourth fret and then you have [Bm] to play_
If you in your [G] mind think about the [D] second string, third fret. _ _
_ [G] If you think about that note, it will help you play it.
Strange, but it works for me.
[Bm] _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ Okay, then [Ab] at the end of that verse, where we [Em] go. _ _ _
[Bm] _ _ _ _ _ [E] I use my [Bm] middle finger to do that tremolo brush.
[G] But if you're not able to do [Abm] that, although it's a wonderful effect and it's worthwhile
to practice it.
But if you're not able to do [G] it, you can go around it and play, [Em] for example. _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ [Bm] _ [D] Or [Eb] _ _ [B] _
_ _ [Em] a variation. _ _ _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ [Em] _
_ _ [Bm] _ _ _ [G] _ _ [B] _
_ _ [Em] _ Lightning really had a whole bag of tricks to do this [B] kind of lick. _ _
Okay, then in the third verse, _ just notice that [E] _ _ [Abm] I'm _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ [E] _ strumming down with the thumb.
You can use _ _ the index also, but it's a [B] different way of doing it.
And notice that I'm really, I'm sort of playing _ crescendo here.
I start softly [Db] _
[Abm] and _ _ _ _ playing harder so [Em] that the [B] second string, the open string [E] in the
last triplet is also audible.
_ _ Then when we go to the _ _ A [Db] section, _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ [Em] _
_ _ [A] _ _ [Bm] _ [Em] _ _ _
the accenting also.
And then when we [A] go to the_
[C] _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
[C] _ [E] _ _ _ It's really [N] almost a ghost note, that fourth fret, fifth [A] string.
_ [Cm] _ [E] _ _ [A] _ _ [C] _ [Em] _
_ _ [E] _ _ And _ there [A] _ _ [Cm] _ [Em] _ _ _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ _ [A] _ [G] _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ we have a variation _
[G] _ _ of_
[Bb] _ [E] _ _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] And also you can, well, you can _ _ create different variations of that.
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _
[Em] _ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Listen [Em] to recordings of Lightning.
He did a lot of variations for this kind of lick. _ _ _ _
And then finally, _ when we played _ _ the whole verse, we have a [N] sort of an end tag.
And [Bm] _ [Bbm] that's_
[B] _ _ _ [Bm]
Notice that the damping.
So it's two triplets.
_ _ This is the first, and then we're going [Bbm] down.
_ Let it hang in there.
And then we're [C] sliding up to [N] the fourth fret on the third string.
And the second string is played open.
[B] _ [G] Very [Bm] fast. _ _
Almost in unison.
_ [Bbm] _ _ _ [Bm] _
[A] _ [E] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ [G] _ _ [Gm] _
[A] _ [Em] _ _ _ [Db] _ [Em] _ And that last bass run, _ only in the first video I did that, the first time I played
the [A] song, _ without the thumb pick, because it's easier to do without a thumb pick.
[G] It's picking the bass notes together with the thumb and the index.
So it's hard to show.
_ [B] _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ And [Bm] I'm doing this because you get overtones if you do that.
[D] Because you get_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Although it's the same note, _ _ _ _ you hear _ the [Em] overtones, almost harmonics.
_ [A] _ [Bm] _ _
_ [Bb] _ [A] _ _ [Bm] _ [A] _ [Bm] _ _
_ [Db] _ [D] _ _ _ Okay, [E] _
_ _ [A] _ _ that's it.
Have