Pride & Joy: The Texas Blues of Stevie Ray Vaughan Digital Exhibit Now Open

ContinentalOp

ContinentalOp

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I thought this might be interesting to the SRV fans among us:

Pride & Joy: The Texas Blues of Stevie Ray Vaughan Digital Exhibit Now Open | The Official Stevie Ray Vaughan Site

The GRAMMY Museum has opened the digital exhibit Pride & Joy: The Texas Blues of Stevie Ray Vaughan at their official website. Visit GRAMMYMuseum.org to see SRV's guitars, stage clothes, gear, and more.

The SRV exhibit has previously appeared at the GRAMMY Museum L.A. Live, the Woody Guthrie Center, the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, and The Bullock Texas State History Museum.
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And here's the link to the virtual exhibit itself:

Revisit: Pride & Joy: The Texas Blues of Stevie Ray Vaughan – GRAMMY Museum
 
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sheepdawg said:
I once heard from a very accomplished rock guitarist that Stevie Ray Vaughn did Hendrix better than Hendrix. Pretty tall praise from someone in the know.
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From what I've read, he had mastered Albert King's playing style by the time he was 11 years old from playing along with his albums.
 
Rustyt1953 said:
I am a yuge fan.

Texas Flood should be required listening for any budding guitar student.
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I could never quite get that "chunk-a" strum on "Pride and Joy." I could (kinda) play the intro to "Texas Flood." At one point I was working on "Lenny" (I like his mellower, jazz-blues tunes), but I don't think I got past the intro. [I often had a bit of ADD when it came to practicing...not necessarily the best route to mastery.]

My all-time favorite piece to play was "Riviera Paradise," though. While it's been a while since I could play it well, it's one of the tunes I have a hard time not playing when I pick up a guitar. I was once in a guitar ensemble several years ago and was chosen to play the intro because I was the only guitarist in the group who could play it decently. Oh, the days when my hands could tolerate 5-6 hours/day of practice. *sigh*

Yeah, one look at my guitar and you could see the SRV influence.
 
Hendrix's string gauge was .010-.046, tuned to standard pitch.

Stevie used .013-.058 tuned to E flat. He also used a left handed tremelo so he didn't have to reach far for the whammy bar and it didn't hang over the volume pot when he did volume swells.

I do believe that the wah pedal was invented just for him.
 
Rustyt1953 said:
Hendrix's string gauge was .010-.046, tuned to standard pitch.

Stevie used .013-.058 tuned to E flat. He also used a left handed tremelo so he didn't have to reach far for the whammy bar and it didn't hang over the volume pot when he did volume swells.

I do believe that the wah pedal was invented just for him.
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I don't know how accurate this is, but I've read that towards the end of SRV's life he started using a .011 E-string to make it easier on his hands.

FWIW, for a long time I used to make a set of strings from Ernie Ball singles running .012-.056, standard tuning. I had bass frets installed on my Strat's neck to make string bending easier.

Gee, I wonder why I have hand issues now... ;)

Even with my hand issues, I still prefer heavier strings, currently running Ernie Ball Beefy Slinkies (.011-.054), standard tuning. Though I have to admit, it's been several months since I've played.

Oh, and I thought the wah-wah pedal was invented for Hendrix, or is my reading comprehension off? Or was it the Univibe? Either way, I remember reading that the original [whichever it was] pedal made for Hendrix got passed to SRV, I think through his brother Jimmie. I could be wrong; it's been a while since I've read this info.
 
Live at the El Mocambo is one of my favorite music DVDs to watch. The way he goes crazy during "Third Stone From the Sun" is just...AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!!! Yeah, that's about as articulate as I can get describing it. ;)

And that version of "Lenny"...*sigh*
 
ContinentalOp said:
I don't know how accurate this is, but I've read that towards the end of SRV's life he started using a .011 E-string to make it easier on his hands.

FWIW, for a long time I used to make a set of strings from Ernie Ball singles running .012-.056, standard tuning. I had bass frets installed on my Strat's neck to make string bending easier.

Gee, I wonder why I have hand issues now... ;)

Even with my hand issues, I still prefer heavier strings, currently running Ernie Ball Beefy Slinkies (.011-.054), standard tuning. Though I have to admit, it's been several months since I've played.

Oh, and I thought the wah-wah pedal was invented for Hendrix, or is my reading comprehension off? Or was it the Univibe? Either way, I remember reading that the original [whichever it was] pedal made for Hendrix got passed to SRV, I think through his brother Jimmie. I could be wrong; it's been a while since I've read this info.
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Ernie Ball Super SLinkies 011-054 on all my electric guitars.

And yeah, I too need to play again.
 
Rustyt1953 said:
Hendrix's string gauge was .010-.046, tuned to standard pitch.

Stevie used .013-.058 tuned to E flat. He also used a left handed tremelo so he didn't have to reach far for the whammy bar and it didn't hang over the volume pot when he did volume swells.

I do believe that the wah pedal was invented just for him.
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Plus he only needed 5 strings.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIFdMbhCa94[/ame]
 
In answer to the question of the wah, jimi was given a very early Crybaby and made immediate expert use of it. He was an early adopter of any number of new effects and usually was the first musician of any note approached to try something.

Stevie’s approach was much simpler (although Jimi could light it up that way too). Some effects, not many. Made his tools fit him and work for him and hung onto them. Jimi went through guitars by the gross and they were quite often pawned (he would say they were “stolen”), only to be replaced w something new later.

My attempts at developing SRV chops were much like ContinentalOP’s except I could do a pretty passable Pride and Joy, as well as Cold Shot. Never tried Riviera Paradise, but I always wanted to study SRV’s slide stuff. I know he mastered his Elmore James records-it shows up well on several works from The Sky is Crying.

Love me some SRV.
 
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Justin T said:
My attempts at developing SRV chops were much like ContinentalOP’s except I could do a pretty passable Pride and Joy, as well as Cold Shot. Never tried Riviera Paradise, but I always wanted to study SRV’s slide stuff. I know he mastered his Elmore James records-it shows up well on several works from The Sky is Crying.

Love me some SRV.
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I could do the basic "Cold Shot" shuffle rhythm, sort of. *shrug* Kinda hard to tell if I had it right without a Leslie or similar effect (I usually just plugged straight into my amp).

I've attempted slide before, but never really got the hang of it. I think I've still got a bottleneck hidden somewhere in my guitar stuff.

I read a story that SRV didn't really like playing slide, and at one point during a recording session he got so frustrated he threw his slide across the room and just played without it. Don't know how accurate it is.

Side note: He was also a pretty good drummer. There's a track on one of his albums where he's playing drums. I can't remember which one it is off the top of my head, though.
 
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ContinentalOp said:
I could do the basic "Cold Shot" shuffle rhythm, sort of. *shrug* Kinda hard to tell if I had it right without a Leslie or similar effect (I usually just plugged straight into my amp).

I've attempted slide before, but never really got the hang of it. I think I've still got a bottleneck hidden somewhere in my guitar stuff.

I read a story that SRV didn't really like playing slide, and at one point during a recording session he got so frustrated he threw his slide across the room and just played without it. Don't know how accurate it is.

Side note: He was also a pretty good drummer. There's a track on one of his albums where he's playing drums. I can't remember which one it is off the top of my head, though.
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I did the best I could with Cold Shot, and never had the opportunity to try my hand with a Leslie. The good news was you could tell what the song was, and I could get up and down without embarrassing myself too badly.

His slide stuff on The Sky Is Crying seems fairly pedestrian given his ability to light everything else on fire. To me, that meant it was achievable for a young college band guy like me. But he did a slide song on the 1980 live album (the one recorded at the continental club) that I really, really wanted to copy. It wouldn’t surprise me that he didn’t care for the slide, and I wouldn’t doubt your recollection as accurate.

SRV was an excellent band leader and did know how to play drums very well, along with the bass. Early on, before double trouble, he needed to, because he needed to fit in with bands that already had established guitarists and his own early bands often had a revolving door.

Jimi, on the other hand, could seemingly play nearly anything, and often had to step in when the experience was arguing, or when he was seeking a specific result on a track. He is well-known to have played drums and bass on his own stuff. I think he was defeated by the sitar, however.

There is an outstanding documentary on SRV that I’ve seen a couple of times-Rise of a Texas Bluesman.
 
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