While most of his contemporaries were busy shredding around, SRV knew how to play fast without getting annoying and repetitive, and play slow when it was needed. He matched the timing of a song really well with his tasteful phrasing instead of mindlessly playing around a scale or key, and had the temperance to utter out single notes at a time to enhance sonic quality.
When playing fast, he never missed a note. Stevie Ray Vaughn was one off…bringing he sound of blues…waking up the music world in the 80s…. I dont know why we compair guitar players. These two men had there own set of rules. The never settled. I think it was a harder trail for SRV to get where he was. It was a totally differant world…than that of the 60s. Thank you so much for your comment and such a great assessment of Hendrix and SRV. As you said, he totally changed the landscape for future guitar players, enabling guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan to work on their craft and take it in new directions.
Two of the best guitar players of all time with their own approaches and strengths! Basically it was totally clear if you have observed both of them clearly, that SRV was an extremely precise player, and he actually stuck to the default conventional blues style, while Jimmi, used a lot of heavy effects, and mainly, Jimmi was rage, but Steve was rage without anger! Overall i have been influenced by Steve like no other guitarist, not even legends like Slash, Joe satraini, Steve vai, i mean yeah they are legends but SRV, im just glued to him man when he plays, well that was my opinion, yours could be different.
Great article. A like a few but most leave me cold. All of whom are criminally underrated and have much deeper catalogs. Just my two cents. Thanks so much for the comment RD, I think you make a very interesting and insightful point. As you can probably guess — I am a big Stevie Ray Vaughan fan and I do think that he is a fantastic guitar player. Personally I think that he is so celebrated because of the nature of his playing.
In a sense it is very simple. He used mostly simple scales and he never strayed too far from the basic blues form. Yet he achieves a sound and creates a feel in his playing that has never really been replicated, just through the sheer intensity and physicality of his playing. He played with a huge amount of intensity, pretty much all of the time. And to play with the same approach is very challenging.
John Mayer said that he can recreate it for small sections of songs, but to try and recreate it for whole songs is impossible.
A lot of his songs are upbeat and catchy, and I think that a lot of people enjoy listening to them purely for that reason. Having said that, I do think you have highlighted the importance not only of historical context but also of marketability. Conversely, if you look at Rory Gallagher — you see an example of a musician who was totally set on just playing the music that he wanted to play, and doing it his way.
He flatly refused to compromise his artistic vision on any occasion and once turned down the offer of joining the Rolling Stones! But I do think he probably played the system a bit better than a lot of his peers. As a final observation — what I do find interesting, is the way these players are imitated.
There are a lot of guitar players who achieve a sound and playing style similar to Stevie Ray Vaughan. I am not sure if that is because there are just more players who have tried to sound like Vaughan, or whether it is just more difficult to sound like those other guitarists. Either way, I would love to see someone come along now and play like Rory Gallagher!
Great article and thanks for writing. I love SRV, any information is great education. What I will say is that where are any of these type of talents today?
So happy I grew up and had Stevie and Jimmie. Buy a great sound system and play their music and transcend yourself to a place of inner blys. Thanks, Steve. Thanks so much for the comment Steve. No matter what other blues music I discover or listen to, I always return to these guys and continue to be blown away by their playing! Man, you are full of crap. In fact one of the techniques for which Hendrix is famous is the way that he manipulates rhythms and plays in free time for sections of his solos, before locking back into the groove.
You only have to compare any Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan album to realise that Hendrix strayed much further away from the traditional blues form than Vaughan.
I hope that helps to give a bit more clarity to what I wrote in the article. Thanks man and have a great day! Great stuff Aidan. Discovered your site very recently and really like the quality of your articles.
Well researched and well written. Very helpful and eye-opening for the beginner that I am. Thank you! Thank you so much for the kind words Julien, they made my day! If you ever have any questions at all about playing, gear, or anything else to do with guitars or blues music, please do get in touch.
By the time rolled around, Stevie had become lead guitar and vocalist, and the name had changed to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. They played a lot, generating popularity in the Texas club scene, before their producer recommended that they should play at the Montreux Jazz Festival way out in Switzerland. A long way from home, but it was absolutely worth it; this was the performance that took the band, and Stevie, from an unsigned club act to one of the most influential blues acts of all time, all thanks to somebody standing in the crowd that day — David Bowie.
Just as fast and sudden as his rise to fame, it was all over. To pull it off, try sticking your index finger on the D note of the A string 5th fret. Once you manage to get that sounding right, try planting your ring finger on the E note 7th fret.
Just get your ring finger down, and lay your index finger across the strings to prevent them ringing out. A stratocaster guitar with vintage style pickups, played in the 4th position neck and middle pickups together will get you in the door, but Stevie would also tune the guitar down half a step to Eb standard. If you want to be true to style you would also want to play with heavy.
His playing style can be seen in thousands of modern players today and you could do a lot worse than follow his style for inspiration. Guitar Heroes Stevie Ray Vaughan Arguably one of the most prolific, inspiring and often imitated guitar players of all time, we take a look at what made Stevie Ray Vaughan an icon in the 70s and 80s and see the impact his playing still has today.
Posted: 4th August History Arguably one of the most prolific, inspiring and often imitated guitar players of all time, Stevie Ray Vaughan started playing guitar at an early age in the s, inspired by his brother Jimmy Vaughan who also became a guitar icon.
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