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SpellboundByMetal · Post by **SpellboundByMetal** » Friday Dec 09, 2005

Does anyone here like Stevie Ray Vaughn? His guitar work is just amazing.
Very distinct voice too.

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Friday Dec 09, 2005

SRV is one of my favorite guitarists, also liked his vocals. A Monster influence to 1000's.

One SRV story I read about is how he loved to jam all night. One time it was reported that he played for so long he tore off his callouses on his fingertips and used super glu to glue them on and kept playing in some honky tonk bar in Texas till sunrise.

I wish there was a bar or private club that could say f%@k you to the local cops and PLCB and just have jam nights till dawn.

SpellboundByMetal · Post by **SpellboundByMetal** » Friday Dec 09, 2005

hell yeah. that would be cool. rotate guys and just jam all night. when one gets tired, another steps in. a Jam-a-thon. i would be a part of that!!

nakedtwister · Post by **nakedtwister** » Friday Dec 09, 2005

Yeah man, Stevie Ray was the man. Love his voice and guitar skills were awesome. It's a damn shame he can't share more.

FatVin · Post by **FatVin** » Friday Dec 09, 2005

Saw him live once....what you heard on Cd ain't nuthin

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Friday Dec 09, 2005

Vin, would love to hear about it.

f.sciarrillo · Post by **f.sciarrillo** » Friday Dec 09, 2005

SRV was a god ....

YankeeRose · Post by **YankeeRose** » Friday Dec 09, 2005

SpellboundByMetal wrote:hell yeah. that would be cool. rotate guys and just jam all night. when one gets tired, another steps in. a Jam-a-thon. i would be a part of that!!

That sort of thing goes on at the Hoedown and even on Sunday, when "almost" everybody is gone, the tuneage continues!

...and Vin, please, can you tell us about it?

Jerry C · Post by **Jerry C** » Friday Dec 09, 2005

I wonder how many people are influenced by SRV? I know I am one! He really had style.

f.sciarrillo · Post by **f.sciarrillo** » Friday Dec 09, 2005

Jerry C wrote:I wonder how many people are influenced by SRV? I know I am one! He really had style.

I used to have a couple of his books. I could never play the songs like him. I found it to be quite tough. I think a lot of that was from the way the tab was transcribed, most of it was by Wolfe Marshall. It was fun to try and get it right ..

FatVin · Post by **FatVin** » Saturday Dec 10, 2005

Okay Children, get yourselves a glass of water and tuck yourselves in and Uncle Vinny will tell you all a story:

It was the Early 80's. Randy Rhodes was Dead. Van Halen ruled and MTV was around but this was back in the day when MTV actually played music videos. So it was a LOOOOOOOOOONG time ago.

I was living in Rome, New York. My Dad was stationed at Griffiss AFB, my family lived in the Base Housing. There were lots of kids my age around to hang out with but only 3 or 4 of us were into guitars and music.

We had read in the guitar magazines about the kid from Texas who blew off a chance to tour Europe and the States with David Bowie. We hadn't heard the Bowie singles yet or seen the videos but for an unkown to blow off it was unthinkable. We had to Know who this guy was!

My best friend at the time was a guy named Dale. Dale's older sister was dating a DJ at one of the local radio stations. She knew we were into guitars and into the blues and one bright day she brings Dale this Album. The station wasn't going to play it but the DJ thought his girlfriend's kid brother might like it so we ended up with it.

So Dale calls me and we go down into his basement to smoke a joint and hear this guy who blew off Bowie. I don't know that I can adequatley describe being lightly toasted and hearing Texas Flood for the Very first time on vinyl. I don't think I've EVER heard anything that sounded as good to me as "Pride and Joy" did that first time. Needless to say We were Stevie Fucking Ray Fans from then on.

Anyway, about 6 weeks later I see in the paper an ad for a Bar in Rome. Coleman's was a place that both Dale and I knew well, they had an All you can drink beer nite of thursdays and every once in a while we could sneak in and get blitzed and they had bands from time to time, mostly local knuckleheads and B-list recording acts. Colemans if it's still there is a little bit bigger than City Limits, the layout is about the same. So anyway there it was in the paper, Tonight CBS Recording artist Stevie Ray Vaughan. SO I call up Dale and we both had money so we grabbed a cab and headed for Colemans

For those of you don't know, Military dependants (wives and kids) are issued Id cards from Age 10. If you hold your Id card just right you can cover up your birthday and the thing looks enough like a real ID that a bouncer in a bar that serves GI's won't know the difference unless he is really looking and we knew this guy, he had seen us at that place a few times, and both our Dads insisted we have short hair, and we looked enough like GI's to get over.

We order a pitcher of beer for the two of us and sit down, off to the side but we can see everything. The place has people in it but it's not packed. and then he came out. He wan't tall but there was something about him. You knew he was a star. The band kicked to "Pride and Joy" and it was like being hit with a sledgehammer right in the chest. It was loud and I mean loud but it was a good loud.

I've seen Felix and I've seen Clapton and I've seen B.B. King but this guy....it was powerful, you could feel it. You HAD TO react to it. It wasn't flashy, there were no effects, no Pyro, it was just this little guy and this big guitar. I didn't hear it as much as I felt it.

The night went by like a bullet.

When the night was over and we got up to leave. We wanted to talk to him but what do you say? This was WAY before Wayne's World and "we're not worthy" but that was about the jist of it. When we got up to leave I looked down at the table an realized that Dale and I hadn't drank a full glass of beer between us we were so stunned by what we had experienced.

Hey not for nuthin but thanks for makin me remember that.

nakedtwister · Post by **nakedtwister** » Saturday Dec 10, 2005

Cool ass story Vin. Last year PBS ran a concert of SRV and I had goose bumps listening and watching his magic. What a guitar God.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Saturday Dec 10, 2005

f.sciarrillo wrote:
Jerry C wrote:I wonder how many people are influenced by SRV? I know I am one! He really had style.
I used to have a couple of his books. I could never play the songs like him. I found it to be quite tough. I think a lot of that was from the way the tab was transcribed, most of it was by Wolfe Marshall. It was fun to try and get it right ..

There's a lot of SRV clones out there, but there's only been one guy I've ever heard that could truly emulate his playing: John Mayer on his Austin City Limits episode. Of course, it helped that he had Double Trouble (one of the most underrated rythmn sections of all time) backing him.

My favorite guitar-based instrumental is Riviera Paradise (closely followed by Freedom by Robben Ford and Perpetual by Malmsteen).

MOONDOGGY · Post by **MOONDOGGY** » Saturday Dec 10, 2005

I agree with you there Paul about John Mayer. I hated the guy because I thought he was just a pop singer taht stums a few chords. Then I heard him on Austin City limits too and I was blown away.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd is an incredible blues guitarist too.

Quail Whale · Post by **Quail Whale** » Saturday Dec 10, 2005

i think i have more tastebuds than earbuds...i just dont like that style. one time, at monday night football, these guys were listening to kenny wayne shepard and i told them they'd like SRV & gave them the CD to keep & i gave them my man's CD....turns out i accidentally gave them Axis Bold as Love...DUH me! i had to replace jimi...haha

YankeeRose · Post by **YankeeRose** » Saturday Dec 10, 2005

What an experience! Thank you for sharing it, Vin.

Hello Quail Whale, it was cool to meet you last night and finally put a real face to the Avatar!

ASB10 · Post by **ASB10** » Tuesday Dec 13, 2005

SRV is my guitar god. I've been listening to him since I was 9 and have always aspired to be somewhat like him, without ripping him off. When I was nine, I received my first guitar. He died that same day, August 27th. I own almost every CD and just wish I could have seen him play live once.

FretBored · Post by **FretBored** » Tuesday Dec 13, 2005

SRV, Hendrix, B B King, Albert King(SRV's musical Godfather) and a host of other greats all had the ability of playing Rythm and Lead guitar at the same time... These are the types you could put on stage by themselves with just a Mic, Amp and Axe and blow you away... Wish I had a 10th of that kind of talent.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Tuesday Dec 13, 2005

MOONDOGGY wrote:I agree with you there Paul about John Mayer. I hated the guy because I thought he was just a pop singer taht stums a few chords. Then I heard him on Austin City limits too and I was blown away.

Yes, he's a very amazing musician, easily one of the most talented guitarists to hit the mainstream in the last couple of years. I'm hoping that as he grows as an artist, he moves away from the poppy stuff and does some more serious music.

Punkinhead · Post by **Punkinhead** » Tuesday Dec 13, 2005

I love SRV and he's been an influence on me. The only crappy thing is how many people try to emulate him and lack the talent and soul to do it. He's always been one of those osmosis type influences. I don't want to kill his songs by ripping off his licks and sucking at them, so I listen to it, play along with it in my own style when I do play with it, and sort of let it seep into me subconsciously.

It's kind of the same thing with playing a Hendrix song. I don't think you should play his solos back note for note. It will NEVER be right unless you can communicate EXACTLY what Hendrix was communicating at the point in time. Let it be you playing it, it will be 1000 times better. But that is purely my opinion and what I like.

Not to say I didn't learn a shitload of SRV licks coming up though...lol...

I agree with the stuff about Mayer too. It would be nice to see him release an album where he actually plays on it. He's decent.

nightcrawler_steve · Post by **nightcrawler_steve** » Tuesday Dec 13, 2005

There has been a band from Wilkes Barre playin at the Phyrst on Friday nights. I think the are Called Tony Jones & the Aces. Guy has a big time SRV feel -worth checkin out if youre into that.

I also learned Stevie was in a band called The Nightcrawlers back in the day.

FretBored · Post by **FretBored** » Tuesday Dec 13, 2005

Punkinhead wrote:I love SRV and he's been an influence on me. The only crappy thing is how many people try to emulate him and lack the talent and soul to do it. He's always been one of those osmosis type influences. I don't want to kill his songs by ripping off his licks and sucking at them, so I listen to it, play along with it in my own style when I do play with it, and sort of let it seep into me subconsciously.

It's kind of the same thing with playing a Hendrix song. I don't think you should play his solos back note for note. It will NEVER be right unless you can communicate EXACTLY what Hendrix was communicating at the point in time. Let it be you playing it, it will be 1000 times better. But that is purely my opinion and what I like.

Not to say I didn't learn a shitload of SRV licks coming up though...lol...

I agree with the stuff about Mayer too. It would be nice to see him release an album where he actually plays on it. He's decent.

"absorbing what is useful" Bruce Lee

ToonaRockGuy · Post by **ToonaRockGuy** » Tuesday Dec 13, 2005

If you're an SRV fan, when the Hurricanes get back into town, talk to Barney Sledge. He used to be in a band down in Texas that used to open for Stevie Ray all the time. He's got some AWESOME stories to tell!

SRV is the only guitarist I've ever seen that had (in the words of Clapton) an "open line to God" when he played. Saw him a ton of times all over the south, from South Carolina to Florida to Louisiana. (He was my "roadtrip" artist. If he was playing within 12 hours of where I was, I went, period.)

YankeeRose · Post by **YankeeRose** » Tuesday Dec 13, 2005

Toona, pretty please with whatever you want on top, and a Cherry, but of course!

Can you tell us a little more about what it was like seeing Stevie Ray play...maybe one time in particular sticks out above all others?

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Wednesday Dec 14, 2005

I experienced one of those "what if?" moments in my life years ago (when
I was touring with Sidewalk Romeo). We actually were in the process of scheduling 2 dates to open for Stevie Ray in Poughkeepsie, NY (through our then management company). As fate would have it, we finally were scheduling the dates and before we got to play them, Stevie was killed in the crash around two weeks before the dates we had set. I was devastated, because at the time I was elated at the chance to meet him
(let alone actually play dates opening). It was a strange combo of music
styles, because we weren't a blues oriented band. None the less, it would have been great. I still love to listen to his music and the talent he had was unreal. I never got to see him live, so I still am pissed he was taken from all of us before his time!
I also saw the John Mayer show on Austin City Limits. It smoked! I loved
when he had Buddy Guy jam with him. John Mayer impressed me with his diversity and skill. he could definately school a few folks.