Why I Suck.. Progress Report #12 - Stevie Ray Vaughan

So as 2020 draws to a close – fireworks displays above empty streets saying everything that needs to be said about The Year From Hell – so ends my Great Experiment, transcribing a different blues player each month. It's been a long road, from Albert King back in January to this month's player the mighty Stevie Ray Vaughan. I can still remember getting my copy of “Texas Flood” back in the 90s and as soon as I heard that unique glassy Strat tone, that accuracy and attack, and even then realising “Ah... this is what all the fuss is about!”. Even on his first album, it was all there – ballsy doublestops, intricate open position blues scale work, the sublime shimmering chords of “Lenny”, the relentless energy and attack of tracks like “Testify” and “Rude Mood”... it was a real eye (ear?) opener.

As with Hendrix last month, there is a tremendous amount of information available out there about Stevie's life, so in order to get this post up and done before the end of the month I'm going to limit the scope of this article to a brief synopsis of his life and playing only as far as the “Texas Flood” album itself – when I revisit him later on, hopefully I'll be able to point out the ways his playing developed over his career.

Stephen Ray Vaughan was born in Dallas, Texas on October 3^rd 1954, and first began playing guitar age 7, influenced by his elder brother Jimmie. The family moved regularly as Stevie's father was an asbestos worker, a job that entailed a great deal of travelling, and also struggled with alcohol abuse and fits of temper that sometimes resulted in violence towards those around him, including his family. Both Stevie and his elder brother Jimmie were affected by this, and both sought a refuge in playing music. Jimmie (as we looked at earlier this year) was the first to pick up the guitar while Stevie tried a variety of different instruments including drums and sax before settling on the guitar and getting his first at age 7. So began a career learning songs by Jimi Hendrix, Albert King and many others poring over records and picking out the licks painstakingly by ear. By 1970 Vaughan had made his way through the usual collection of early bands, and his command of the blues had impressed bass player Tommy Shannon who would later become the bassist for Double Trouble. In February of that year one of Stevie's first significant career breakthroughs cam, playing with the nine piece soul/ R&B band The Liberations as ZZ Top invited them to play at the Adolphus Hotel. At 16 Stevie found himself jamming with ZZ Top, and the performance was by all accounts spectacular.

The '70s would see Stevie's career gradually move forwards, albeit not without a few false starts. He formed his own band, Blackbird, and relocated from Dallas to Austin, and in 1973 joined the Nightcrawlers, who toured across the South – usually with little success, however. They split up after being abandoned by their manager in Mississipi – although this phase did see some of Stevie's first songwriting efforts, including “Dirty Pool” which would eventually end up on “Texas Flood”. The next stop was popular and regularly gigging band The Cobras, with whom he would record the single “Other Days” and jam with many of his heroes – Albert King, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy and others – and move on to form his own band, Triple Threat Revue, in 1977. When singer Lou Ann Barton quit the band in 1979, they renamed themselves Double Trouble after the Otis Rush song. In 1981 Tommy Shannon joined, replacing previous bass player Jack Newhouse, completing the power trio lineup with which Stevie would find such success.

Success came at a price, however. Stevie had struggled with alcohol and substance abuse since the age of six, in on December 5 1979 he was arrested after a police officer saw him snorting cocaine before a gig. At this point the band were opening for blues legend Muddy Waters, who remarked “Stevie could perhaps be the greatest guitar player that ever lived, but he won't live to get 40 years old if he doesn't leave that white powder alone. “. He got away with probation, but these issues would dog his career.

Double Trouble got their next break playing the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1982, where they caught the attention of established artists David Bowie and Jackson Brown. Entranced by Stevie's explosive style, Bowie asked Stevie to play on his upcoming album “Let's Dance”. With SRV's distinctive glassy tone on six of the eight tracks, this became Bowie's most successful album to date. This breakthrough, combined with free recording time from Jackson Browne at his Downtown Studios and a record contract set up by producer John Hammond led to Stevie and Double Trouble recording the entire “Texas Flood” album in just two days over Thanksgiving weekend 1982.

We'll pick up the SRV story when we revisit him later on this year, but as “Texas Flood” was my album of choice for studying, we'll hold there and start taking a look at some of his licks, and try and get an understanding of the searing, explosive playing that caused such a sensation.

This first lick is taken from the title track, “Texas Flood” and takes the classic T-Bone Walker opening phrase, bending the G and barring across the B and high E, and spicing up the basic pentatonic framework by adding the 2^nd (A) and flat 2^nd (Ab) into the mix and finishing up with a bend on the flat 3^rd (6^th fret E), first up a whole tone to the 4^th (C ) and then a semitone to the major 3^rd (B).

This next example is a flurry of sextuplets taken from the absolutely gorgeous instrumental “Lenny”, using the E blues scale and finishing with a pianistic hammer on from minor to major 3^rd on the 10^th to 11^th frets on the A string, played against the 4^th (A) on the 12^th fret. Listen to the track itself because the attack and precision SRV plays this with is simply breathtaking.

 

This final example shows some of SRV's open string work on a blues in E, in this case “Pride & Joy”. He starts with classic John Lee Hooker style open E minor pentatonic, sliding up to the 4^th fret G, letting the the flat 7^th (D, 3^rd fret B string) ring against the open high E, before barrelling through a flurry of triplets including a semitone bend on the 4^th (A, 2^nd fret G string) to imply the b5 of the blues scale, and finishing off woth a trill on the G between minor 3^rd (open G) and major 3^rd (G#, 1^st fret G).

We'll be returning to SRV later on in 2021, but next up is another of my heroes, the melodic master that is Neil Zaza! Till then stay safe, stay sane – we might be stuck in lockdown but that doesn't stop you playing guitar.