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Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → 'Tis a sad day in "Strat-land" for Strat/Joe fans!!
Stevie Ray Vaughanabe's
Deezer,
Did you coin that phrase? So CLEVER, whoever did!
Libby
That was from someone else I heard it from.
Oh man I am almost scared to jump in this one....I once told my drummer that it urked me that I was always drawing comparisons to SRV (yes I play blues/rock in a band). I mean I am flatered but I have other influences too and they shine through as well. He looked at me and said "You play in a blues band, your guitar is a sunburst strat, and your email starts with SRVTWO!!!" I stood queitly and stared..I had nothing. I thought about going home changing my email, selling the strat, and learning to play flamenco. But I thought I like the blues, and I like my strat, and my email since I started playing has always been SRVTWO. I am not a Stevie Ray Vaughanabee, quite the contrary. I actually like Mr. Bonamassa's style better, but I have advanced enough as a player and a person not to change my email to JBTWO. My point is play what you like, do what makes you happy and who cares when other people get it wrong, someday hopefully they will understand.
Joe, I am sorry to hear that Fender went behind your back on the gold strat, that sucks. I know though that alot of your fans myself included will agree that you play a strat (or strat style guitar 
) with an abilty and touch that is simply amazing. I have yet to see its equal. Now I love your Les Paul playing but it is different, much like Jeff Beck on a strat and paul. I hope in these ramblings that I do not come across pretentious but merely sypathetic to your situation, on a much smaller scale.
Mike
I dont think these people even listen to my albums.
Joe Bonamassa
I just got done reading the book "Off The Rails" which was pretty much a diary of Ozzy's bassplayer Rudy Sarzo when Ozzy did the Blizzard of Ozz & Diary of a Madman with Randy Rhoads. It was cool to read about the last couple years of RR's life, but what make it interesting in this conversation if that the show's reviews were in the book too. Day after day, the critics were constantly comparing Ozz's new band to Sabbath and calling them by the names of the studio drummer & bassplayer - when in fact they weren't the touring players.
Rudy mentioned he doubted critics went to the show because they review songs that weren't played during the show, and mentioned the names of the studio players when in fact Ozzy introduces everyone in the band during the show. ha
I'd be willing to bet that happens to your changing rhythm section every now and then...well...the names of the guys and constant comparasons...
Joe, you are just doing what you gotta do with your career. No harm in that. And because of that, very few people (except the people who have no idea what they're talking about) think that you sound like Stevie. But there are certain licks that have that edge, but that's no problem. It's all good there. But looking at Chris Duarte and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, though I'll defend to the grave that they're not Stevie Ray Vaughanabe's, I think it's hurt their careers to have that association. Only Kenny when he put out 10 Days Out I think finally got out from under that shadow. After that, I don't hear it as much anymore. That and having an endorsement from Hubert Sumlin doesn't hurt.
Man, all this talk about great players makes me wanna go play.
Deezer, KWS didn't exactly help the cause going on tour with Double Trouble. I saw him again fronting Double Trouble in Austin. I don't really think Kenny cares if he is called a Vaughnabe. As long as he gets bookings.
i play strats pretty much exclusively (except for when i feel like playing my heavily modified epiphone dot 335) and I personally prefer their tone to Gibsons...but at the same time that won't stop me from respecting someone who's able to pull tremendous tone out of a Gibson...
more power to Joe for being able to slay the beast that is the les paul...those guitars are in a whole different world than a fender strat...
apples and oranges basically...
Joe, you are just doing what you gotta do with your career. No harm in that. And because of that, very few people (except the people who have no idea what they're talking about) think that you sound like Stevie. But there are certain licks that have that edge, but that's no problem. It's all good there. But looking at Chris Duarte and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, though I'll defend to the grave that they're not Stevie Ray Vaughanabe's, I think it's hurt their careers to have that association. Only Kenny when he put out 10 Days Out I think finally got out from under that shadow. After that, I don't hear it as much anymore. That and having an endorsement from Hubert Sumlin doesn't hurt.
Man, all this talk about great players makes me wanna go play.
I've done work with Chris D. and in talking to him a quite few times....he's more happy and into talking about John Coltrane and his life and music (because thats his main idol) than he is talking about Stevie Ray. Chris is from texas and was already doing the club circut WHILE Stevie was still in Austin in the hayday of the blues scene down there... and thats just how they are bred to play in those areas...with that real texas influence, intensity, attitude and style that was there even before Stevie...It just wasn't noticed as much. Kenny is a different story though because he was really young and really idolized Stevie so he intended to play just like him (in his formidable years anyway)
I have to commend KWS for recently attempting to rid himself of that label...thats all they can try to do as artists...more power to him for that.
Deezer, KWS didn't exactly help the cause going on tour with Double Trouble. I saw him again fronting Double Trouble in Austin. I don't really think Kenny cares if he is called a Vaughnabe. As long as he gets bookings.
Having DT for a band would be hard to pass up though. So I guess it says something good if they are willing to play with him on a consistent basis. But with the positives comes the associations to srv. The whole stigma is universally very unfortunate.
jim m wrote:Deezer, KWS didn't exactly help the cause going on tour with Double Trouble. I saw him again fronting Double Trouble in Austin. I don't really think Kenny cares if he is called a Vaughnabe. As long as he gets bookings.
Having DT for a band would be hard to pass up though. So I guess it says something good if they are willing to play with him on a consistent basis. But with the positives comes the associations to srv. The whole stigma is universally very unfortunate.
good point...playing with DT i'm sure would be a dream come true for any blues/rock guitarist.
When I listen to KWS, I think his playing sounds like SRV, but more of a rock version. He's definitely influenced by SRV, but kind of does his own thing with it. His originals are more rock sounding, and Noah's voice (which I love) sounds nothing like Stevie's. I'm a big fan of SRV as a guitarist, but was never really that big a fan of his music (I'm more of a rock guy). So I really like what KWS has done with his influences.
I went to the 10 days out show in Orlando, and I was blown away by the whole show. Both the Blues part and the KWS set.
Joe sounds nothing like SRV, and has much more of a rock influence to his playing and sound. That's probably why Joe strike such a chord with everyone, he kind of reminds you of the best of rock, mixed with the heavy blues influence.
Deezer wrote:Joe, you are just doing what you gotta do with your career. No harm in that. And because of that, very few people (except the people who have no idea what they're talking about) think that you sound like Stevie. But there are certain licks that have that edge, but that's no problem. It's all good there. But looking at Chris Duarte and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, though I'll defend to the grave that they're not Stevie Ray Vaughanabe's, I think it's hurt their careers to have that association. Only Kenny when he put out 10 Days Out I think finally got out from under that shadow. After that, I don't hear it as much anymore. That and having an endorsement from Hubert Sumlin doesn't hurt.
Man, all this talk about great players makes me wanna go play.
Deezer, KWS didn't exactly help the cause going on tour with Double Trouble. I saw him again fronting Double Trouble in Austin. I don't really think Kenny cares if he is called a Vaughnabe. As long as he gets bookings.
I would kill to play with Double Trouble, the Stevie connection notwithstanding. They are one of the best rhythm sections ever. Is it Kenny's fault that he meshes well with them? He does too, from the videos I've heard. Kenny cares, I've seen it in interviews. He says the whole, "Yes, Stevie was a huge influence and got me to play the guitar, but there's so much more to me than that."
When I listen to KWS, I think his playing sounds like SRV, but more of a rock version. He's definitely influenced by SRV, but kind of does his own thing with it. His originals are more rock sounding, and Noah's voice (which I love) sounds nothing like Stevie's. I'm a big fan of SRV as a guitarist, but was never really that big a fan of his music (I'm more of a rock guy). So I really like what KWS has done with his influences.
I went to the 10 days out show in Orlando, and I was blown away by the whole show. Both the Blues part and the KWS set.
Joe sounds nothing like SRV, and has much more of a rock influence to his playing and sound. That's probably why Joe strike such a chord with everyone, he kind of reminds you of the best of rock, mixed with the heavy blues influence.
yes...you can certainly tell the difference between a blues player who gravitated over to rock as opposed to a rock player who gravitated towards the blues...shred-master frank gambale gives a good lesson on youtube about studying the blues before moving on to rock and how alot of younger players tend to overlook the aspect of the blues...
That's exactly what I've always thought, that Kenny did play a lot like Stevie but moved it into a little harder style of music. Like I always tell people who say that Kenny sounds exactly like SRV, would Kenny have done the song In 2 Deep? Was? Blue On Black? No.
It must be said, he was not the purest of blues. He had plenty of rock in him too. Songs like Voodoo Chile and Come On, Tightrope, Wall Of Denial definitely rock in my opinion.
That's exactly what I've always thought, that Kenny did play a lot like Stevie but moved it into a little harder style of music. Like I always tell people who say that Kenny sounds exactly like SRV, would Kenny have done the song In 2 Deep? Was? Blue On Black? No.
It must be said, he was not the purest of blues. He had plenty of rock in him too. Songs like Voodoo Chile and Come On, Tightrope, Wall Of Denial definitely rock in my opinion.
When Stevie started, he did nothing but alot of old blues covers...in fact his biography states he was very wary of doing Jimi covers or anything that pushed the boundaries of "traditional" blues because in Austin at that time, the Fab Thunderbirds were the big draw and they were strcitly a blues band...both Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon had to deeply voice their opinions otherwise...i believe it could have been the deciding factor (and a very smart one at that) that set Stevie apart from his brother...
songs like Tightrope and Wall of Denial didn't come until much later...but earlier stuff like Couldn't Stand the Weather and even before that with tunes like Love Struck Baby (even though the chord changes are very similar to the I-IV-V blues progression)...he was venturing into the rock world...
If I remember, it was Jack Newhouse, the bassist before Tommy, was the only one that wasn't keen on doing Hendrix covers because they weren't the blues, and that when Tommy joined, there was nothing holding Stevie back. He finally felt free to do as he wanted.
If I remember, it was Jack Newhouse, the bassist before Tommy, was the only one that wasn't keen on doing Hendrix covers because they weren't the blues, and that when Tommy joined, there was nothing holding Stevie back. He finally felt free to do as he wanted.
yes Jackie was before Tommy and he didn't like doing anything other than blues...but it wasn't him holding Stevie back...it was Stevie's own reservations...he was afraid he's alienate the purists..
have you checked out caught in the Crossfire...stevie's bio? great read...
Yes, but I've also read interviews from Tommy and Chris that basically said that once he had a rhythm section that would follow wherever he wanted, he just let go.
Yes, but I've also read interviews from Tommy and Chris that basically said that once he had a rhythm section that would follow wherever he wanted, he just let go.
thats true...but they had to convince him of that...they had to convince him that they would support anything he wanted to play and not to feel restrained...i think losing Jackie and picking up Tommy was the best move to make...
Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → 'Tis a sad day in "Strat-land" for Strat/Joe fans!!
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