richard-thompson

Richard Thompson received the OBE, Order of the British Empire, in 2011 for his “singular and substantial contribution to music.”

Photo by Matt Condon

On his latest full-length, the English singer-songwriter reinforces his role as one of the 20th century’s greatest. Here, he muses on his musical roots, innovations, and rig essentials.

Any list of great British songwriters, from Lennon/McCartney, Ray Davies, and Pete Townshend to Elvis Costello, must contain Richard Thompson. But any discussion of England’s most impressive, identifiable guitar players (be they Clapton, Beck, Page, or Mick Taylor) also needs to include Thompson. And it’s a coin toss which 6-string he excels at more—acoustic or electric.

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Ida Mae's Chris Turpin on Richard Thompson's "The Calvary Cross" - Hooked

The country-blues rocker honors his musical upbringing with several callouts but singles out an "incredible piece of free-form, wild composition" with its odd bends and strange intervals.

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Get inside the style of folk-rock’s most influential 6-stringer.



Chops: Intermediate
Theory: Intermediate
Lesson Overview:
• Understand the essential elements of Thompson’s distinctive playing.
• Create Irish-influenced licks that work over rock grooves.
• Explore unusual open tunings. Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation.

Very few guitarists fit the description of a “musicians’ musician” better than Richard Thompson. For five decades now, Thompson has not only been one of the premier songwriters of his generation—Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, REM, and the Neville Brothers are just a few who have covered his songs—but also one of its most original, jaw droppingly virtuosic guitar heroes on both acoustic and electric.

As a teenager in England, Thompson co-founded Fairport Convention, one of a handful of bands that would go on to define the British folk-rock sound, in 1968. After five albums with Fairport, Thompson left the band and made a string of what are now considered classic albums with his then wife, Linda Thompson, in the ’70s and early ’80s. He subsequently embarked on a prolific solo career that continues today (he released his 18th album as a leader, 13 Rivers, in 2018).

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