Humble beginnings: Stevie Ray Vaughan’s first ever guitar hero
The blues is a genre that really allows excellent guitarists to shine. With a sound that has a backbone but is largely built on improvisation, a blues guitarist can flaunt their talent and show audiences around the world what they can do. There are some huge names in the genre, but one of the most recognised and talented is Stevie Ray Vaughan.
A master of the pentatonic scale and with a discipline that others can only dream of, Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of the best blues guitarists ever to put pick to string. Releasing classic songs like ‘Pride and Joy’ that were catchy and laden with complex guitar parts, as well as having a famous live show that consisted of elongated guitar solos, anybody who listens to Vaughan is incapable of not being enamoured by his performance.
The blues significantly predates Vaughan, though. Artists who thrive in the genre date back decades, as the sound has persistently been evolving, but talent remains a constant throughout. As such, if you were to try and guess who Vaughan considered his first guitar hero, you would be spoilt for choice, but the actual answer might take you by surprise.
When asked in an interview who his first guitar hero was, Stevie Ray Vaughan took some time to ponder the question and then put forward an answer that no one was expecting. Rather than reference one of the many blues performers who came before him, the guitarist decided to look closer to home.
“My brother Jimmie. He had gotten hurt playing football, so he had gotten a guitar as a safer alternative,” he said, “Part of the appeal was that he was my older brother (by three and a half years), and you know how kids want to do whatever their older brother does. But the other part was that it looked like he was having so much fun.”
If Vaughan had not played the guitar, the musical landscape might look incredibly different. He was the guitar hero for many musicians, inspiring many modern rock stars to begin playing. Subsequently, if he had never decided to play, it may well be the case that many people who would go on to impact rock music and even force it to change may have never started playing either.
It’s funny how many sliding-door moments there are in music. All of the musicians that Vaughan went on to inspire, the fans he made, and the way he changed music wouldn’t have happened were it not for his brother getting hurt playing football. Sibling jealousy and rivalry can often be toxic, but in this instance, they led to the development of unbridled creativity and the enhancement of music as a whole.
