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Richard Thompson does indeed use alternative tunings...quite often in fact...his use of celtic/irish/arabic modalities REQUIRES them.

Shit, there I go thinking like a guitarist again. At least I'm not a gearhead. %^)

Jesuskrishna %^)


P.S. When did RT use a Rickenbacker?

No worries Daniel...just a bit of a joke... %^)


If anyone has questions about where to start with Richard Thompson AND has a few dollars to spend, you can't go wrong with the 3CD career compilation called Watching The Dark. One of the best CD overviews of an artist I've ever seen, it offers a variety of RT tracks from every aspect of his career w/ Fairport Convention(ok, there coulda been more FC on it), with his wife Linda, & his solo career & because it refuses to show these tracks chronologically, mixing them all up instead, it offers a lot of insight into the consistent quality of his output & themes, musical or lyrical. It's also LOADED with unreleased live tracks that should frighten any guitarist, in the womb or elsewhere. I'll get to those...
Richard Thompson is far too often known for his dark lyrics & I while I will admit that there is that aspect in his songs, there is also a wry sense of humour in the songs, even in those that appear to be bleak & pessimistic at first. A song like Hokey Pokey* that uses ice cream as metaphor for sex is straight up fun & silliness, but songs like From Galway To Graceland, Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed, or Wall Of Death have an underlying subtle & intelligent humour that can't be dismissed.
His voice will seem limited to many of you at first, but I find it to be one of the most expressive of songwriters. Like Dylan, Neil Young & the like, it's filled with an abilty to convey a multitude of emotions even though it's first hearing might seem monotone or awkward. Deeper more detailed listening shows a depth rarely achieved by 'better' singers.
His guitar playing is something else entirely.
I'm rarely impressed by 'technical' players, they usually leave me feeling cold & disappointed by the lack of actual emotion in their playing. I tend to prefer players that can express emotions through raw, unbridled, passionate, almost chaotic playing ala Lou Reed, Neil Young, Will Seargent & of course MWP & PK to your wizards like Steve Howe, Alex Lifeson or Zappa. Thompson is both at once. An abilty to play almost any style or complicated lick, coupled with a lack of desire to do ANYTHING BUT capture emotion, he refuses to overdub solos, almost all RT recordings are done in a live setting with the whole band playing at once...if someone gets it wrong, they either start over or let the mistake(even his own) stand.
Given that idea, Richard Thompson can often play a frenzied spell of notes that would make you dizzy, at other times he'll play ONE note & use the vibrato alone to express a wild range of emotions that most guitarists wish they could feel, let alone play.

I'm going to think about this some more, pull out some RT & explain in more detail what I mean by this. This is far from my last word on this subject. You can be sure.

Jesuskrishna %^)