Stevie Ray Vaughan (“SRV”), born on October 3, 1954, in Dallas, Texas, was an influential American blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He emerged in the 1980s as the frontman of his band, Double Trouble and played a major role in the revival of blues music. His career was cut short when he died in a helicopter crash on August 27, 1990, at the age of 35.
SRV’s main guitar was a 1963 Fender Stratocaster named Number One, which he modified with a left-handed tremolo. He also played other Strats called Lenny and Scotch, and occasionally used a Gibson ES-335 for particular songs.
Stevie’s playing style featured his powerful string attack, expressive bending, and use of fast pentatonic runs. He often played with heavy strings (usually .013 gauge) and tuned his guitar down a half-step, which gave his sound extra thickness and warmth. He combined techniques such as double-stop bends, rake picking, and hybrid picking, with a fluid yet aggressive right-hand approach.
His influences included Albert King, Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Freddie King.
Stevie Ray Vaughan Live 1983 [by Bbadventure, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons]