Stevie Ray Vaughan style

[electrico777]

What would you say it would be the best cd/dvd/book that would be the best to learn a bit on his style. I know that it's not that simple just to pick up a book and you can play just like him, but my style is heavy metal and I'm having a hard time playing his songs, I need some insight on how some things should be done. Anyway in Musician Friends they have this book/cd Hal Leonard The Guitar Style of Stevie Ray Vaughan is this the best one, or would you recomend another one?

[Endrik]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan style

blues style is learned by jamming along with records and while you are doing it you are learning the licks, phrases, bends etc. from the other player (SRV).
It is THE BEST way, trust me.

[mjtripper]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan style

I used to only play metal and when I started trying to learn some of his songs I was getting very frustated. He was a great player and had an amazing right hand and used a lot of left hand string muting. His rhythm playing still astounds me. This was before the web and olga was still pretty small so you couldn't really find that many free tabs. I ended up borrowing a tab book for texas flood I think. It took me forever but I had to learn some of those songs really slow, bar by bar as the technique was completely different then anything I had played.

So, I'm not really sure what book to recommend becuase it's been a long time since I've looked but I would say see if you can find a couple tabs somewhere to your favorites online and work through them really slow. I learned a lot about his style just by learning a few tunes and playing them with some other guys. Maybe start with something slower with a good groove like pride and joy or cold shot and take it from there. Hope this helps, sorry I don't know about any books.

[SeventhSon]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan style

Try learning some of his easier ones by ear. One of the easier songs/solos to learn by ear is Mary Had a Little Lamb. Cold Shot is another one.

I've got Scuttle Buttin down to about 140 bpms. I had to use a slow-downer for that song. SRV recorded it at 160 bpms...unbelievable! Anyway, I've already spent way too much time on that song, and it's time to move on. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

SRV's solo style on (for lack of a better categorization) on faster songs is pretty simple. Either 8th or 16th or 8th note triplet lines. But his note choices are amazing. Obviously, on slower songs, he does a lot more feel type of soloing.

There are a lot of cool SRV-isms that you can incorporate into your pentatonic soloing. I'll try and tab them out.

Endrik is right. The best way to learn is to jam with blues tracks. I could go on and on regarding how to approach blues soloing if you're coming from the metal world. If you're interested I'll post my thoughts.

BTW, what is "olga"?

[mjtripper]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan style

olga is the online guitar archive. It used to be about the only way to trade tabs, sheet music, transcriptions, lyrics, and stuff like that unless all the people you traded with happened to be on the same bbs. This was before the web so we used ftp, newsgroups, gopher, and email to pass things around. I haven't used it in years but I just did a quick search and they still exist at www.olga.net

[electrico777]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan style

I've tried to play Voodoo Child, and I think that to much away from my reach in tearms of feeling... a thing that I really notice from seeing videos of him is that he really plays a lot with his tone and volume knobs and also switchig thru the neck and bridge pickups. Thats really out of my metal leage since my guitar has 3 mini switches and it normally stays in the bridge pickups allways.

[electrico777]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan style

I forgot to also say that it only has one volume knob and no to knobs.

[SeventhSon]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan style

OK, here's my first SRV lesson. You will have to copy it and put it in notepad for the tab to look right. I've tried to indicate rests in the phrasing by using relative spacing.

Here's a cool lick at the end of his solo on Crossfire (not the outro solo). This is the one that he throws in almost as an afterthought, but it's a real gem.


12---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12--------------------------------------12-14(15)-12-------------------------------------
---14(16)---14p12---12------------------12-14(15)-12-14----12----------------------------
-----------------14-----14p12-----12-14-----------------14--12-14-----12-------12h14-----
-----------------------------12h14-------------------------------12h14---12-10-----------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0---


Here's the closing phrase of his solo on Mary Had a Little Lamb



----------12--15(16)12--12---------12---------------------------------------------------------------------
--------12--12--------12--15(17)-----12-15-12--------------------12--12-----------------------------------
14(16)---------------------------------------14(16)--14-12-------12--12-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------14-12---------14p12----12--12----------12h14---
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------14-------14s12--10---------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0-


-------------------------
-------------------------
12--x-14-12--------------
12--x-14-12--------------
12--x-14-12-14-12-14-----
-------------------------
-------------------------


That 2nd part can be used after any phrase that ends on the E chord. It's kind of like SRV's signature way of emphasizing "yes, I landed on 1 chord." Try it at the end of the Crossfire lick.

Both licks share SRV's signature 12-14 on the D string to the open E.

[MBreinin]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan style

I have found that playing in SRV's style is very much different from what you would practice in playing metal. Watch SRV pick, this is how I pick (I used to idolize SRV) which isn't really picking, it is attacking the strings with an entire hand motion. When I see guys like Pete and their ultra precise right hands that barely move, it amazes me. I rake EVERYTHING because when I learned, I was trying to emulate that wild style that SRV had. It took YEARS and years to get to the point where I could have such a wild picking hand and actually hit the strings I wanted to, and not all of them. And yes, knowing how to palm mute strings that you don't want to strike is important.

Stevie uses quite a few signature licks that once you learn, you can incorporate into your style and sound much like him. I have very, very rarely sat down with a tab and learned a SRV song, with the exception of Lenny. Mostly, I just copped his style, his fluidity, his attack, and his TONE. The tone is essential.

Funny, I was playing this weekend for a friend who wanted to buy an amp from me (he ended up buying it), he isn't much of a player so he wanted me to play it, which is pretty funny. However, we dialed up a suggested SRV tone and I went to town on it. I hadn't played SRV style stuff in a while and he was pretty impressed. I wasn't playing anything SRV in particular, just some wild noodling, but he immediately associated it with SRV.

Best suggestion...listen to the records...over and over and over again. And practice your pentatonic scale in all positions.

SRV is all about feel and attack.

Mike

[Aaron]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan style

Should i strat a thread on this subject? i thought i should ask here since you guys brought him up. But how do you get his sound. Amps, amp settings, effects and settings,etc....

[MBreinin]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan style

[ QUOTE ]
Should i strat a thread on this subject? i thought i should ask here since you guys brought him up. But how do you get his sound. Amps, amp settings, effects and settings,etc....

[/ QUOTE ]

I also responded to your other post. The easiest way to get close to his tone is to play a strat with at least 10's through a 6L6 powered tube amp, pushed with a Tube Screamer. You don't need a genuine Fender amp, or some fancy boutique amp. I could nail his tone with a Peavey 4x10 Bassman copy. I also could get his tone very close with my Tech-21 TM-60.

His tone is not THAT over the top. It is more of a biting overdrive than real distortion. There are some exceptions, where he went heavy and into Marshall territory...for example the unreal, incredible solo from "Life Without You", but getting close to his tone is not that difficult from an equipment standpoint. Now, will you sound like him? That takes lots and lots of practice...and strong hands!

I find that playing with his tone is very hard, because it is not forgiving. There is not a ton of gain to cover up your mistakes or pull you along with endless sustain. You have to PLAY to make it work. I am often too lazy to work with that tone, so I revert to Gary Moore blues tone!!! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Mike