Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood - Intro - Guitar Lesson

About Texas Flood - Intro

Few guitar intros say more with less than the opening of "Texas Flood." Stevie Ray Vaughan plays it in Eb Standard tuning, which drops every string a half-step and gives the whole thing a slightly thicker, more mournful quality than concert pitch would. The key is G minor, and that tonality sits at the heart of every bent note and slow vibrato in the intro. At 94 BPM the tempo is unhurried, but that is exactly what makes it demanding: slow blues exposes every imprecision in your bends and vibrato in a way that fast playing simply does not. The real work here is getting the wide, controlled vibrato and the full-step bends to land perfectly in pitch and feel authoritative rather than tentative. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop just the first phrase slowed down, and focus on matching the depth and speed of the vibrato before worrying about anything else. Blues Rock phrasing lives and dies on those small expressive details.

• The intro is played in Eb Standard tuning, so tune every string down a half-step before you start or your bends will land in the wrong place.
• Slow blues at 94 BPM demands precise full-step bends and wide vibrato: any wavering in pitch is immediately obvious to the listener.
• Looping the opening phrase slowed down with the Practice Toolbar is the most effective way to isolate and match Vaughan's vibrato depth and timing.