Stevie Ray Vaughan
This spotlight on the Texan legend works on both your rhythm and lead chops
The laTe Texan blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan was certainly one of those players whose influences were assimilated and then combined to create his own distinctive musical voice. Those influences included the three Kings – Albert, BB and Freddie – plus others such as Muddy Waters, Lonnie Mack, T Bone Walker, Jimi Hendrix, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Albert Collins, Larry Davis, and Johnny ‘Guitar’Watson – not to mention a jazz influence via Kenny Burrell and others. Without doubt, though, one of Stevie’s earliest and most important influences was his older brother, Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarist/solo artist Jimmie Vaughan. Stevie often mentioned Jimmie when it came round to the subject of his first guitar hero.
Stevie was a master of all the many techniques that are associated with the blues, such as vibrato, string bending, phrasing, groove and much, much more. He commonly detuned his guitar by a half
Eb. step to The main reason for this was initially to facilitate his vocal range, but as a byproduct it also facilitated the use of heavier strings, something he would become renowned for. He often used a .013 as his high E and a .060 as the low E. For this month’s piece, however, I’ve opted to remain in standard tuning – so thankfully no retuning (or extra-tough fingers) required! www.philhilborne.com