Chords for Lightnin’ Hopkins Trademark Riff

_ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _ [E] _ [E] _
_ [B] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ [E] _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ [B] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ _ _ [D] _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Hello, I'm Tom Feldman and I'm going to teach you the main riff that Lightning Hopkins uses
for many of his E blues compositions.
We're going to be in standard tuning.
[E] Here's your low E, _ _
[Am] _ A, [D] _ D, _ [Gm] _
G, _ [B] B, [E] and our high E.
_ Alright the left hand [Bm] mechanics for this riff, very [A] simple.
We're going to be at the second fret with the third string, [Cm] first fret with that second
string and [G] we're going to _ slide up to the fourth and the third fret.
The first way I want to look at this [Eb] is by doing a brush.
So we're going to be brushing strings one, [E] two, and three.
Our sixth string is going [E] to be the bass.
We're going to go one, two, three, one, two, three.
[G] _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ And to get back into the E, we're just [A] doing [G] _
_ third [A] _ _ _ string, [G] second fret, open, fourth string, second fret.
And then again that sixth string and then strings one, two, and [E] three.
So one, two, three, one, two, [A] three.
_ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The next way is by just picking [Em] the individual [A] strings.
So _ _ that's _ [E] _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [G] _ [E] _
_ _ [Bm] three, two, three, three, two, three _ [E] for the strings.
[A] _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ So those are two different ways you can go about playing that [N] main riff.
And I don't think there's an E blues that Lightning Hopkins recorded where he does not use that.
So it applies to so many different songs.
Enjoy messing around with that.
If you have any requests for more of these riff lessons, you can reach me at tom at tomfeldman.com.
[E] Take care. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [Em] _
_ _ [B] _ _ _ _ [N] _ _