I discovered SRV in 1985. I'm glad to know that the music is just as powerful today as it was to me as a 16 year old kid.

It’s comforting to be reminded that it’s ok to not be an immediate fan for a guitar legend

SRV was the #1 reason I wanted to pick up a guitar and have been obsessed for nearly 40 years. I was even able to see him live and he did not disappoint. Another great video sir! 🤗🤗

Stevie Ray was my gateway into so many older blues artist it’s unreal. Currently diving deep into Muddy Waters. Electric Mud was a revolutionary album

Watching Live at the El Macombo is what got me hooked. Had that blasting and it’s just an explosion on tone.

I did my PhD thesis on Einstiens theory of major key relativity, I won't have you slander my work by saying it doesn't exist!

Watching live at El Mocambo still blows my mind every time I listen to it. I don't think I'll ever get Testify down but its still fun trying. Cheers!

Stevie was that guy you had to see live. A lot of your favorite guitarists/bands will disappoint you live, Stevie let you know what you were missing. Being from central Texas, I was fortunate enough to see his meteoric rise firsthand. His interpretation of the blues is/was unequalled in my ears and eyes.

dude i really like this video format you are using. And I really like to see younger guitar players tell who the inspirations are for them when they first started playing. Keep it going! Greetings from Argentina!

It’s so wonderful to see and hear your joy when you talk about Stevie Ray, I saw him twice, he changed my life, still can’t believe he’s gone, there continue to be days when I can’t even listen to him

Really great perspective on gateways; I was the same way with SRV until I heard Lenny. Or Clapton before I heard the Bluesbreakers album. I've been playing for 20 years and to this day still find myself needing those types of "familiarity gateways". Loving the longer form content dude and I'm amped for more!

My first taste of Stevie Ray was live! He was touring with Jeff Beck, and when we got inside the arena, and i walked up to the railing, i saw this guy with a giant feather in his hat, playing the craziest stuff i had ever heard. I stood at that railing and didn't go find my seats until his set was over. At the end of the night he came back out and he and Beck played Freeway Jam together! That was one of the greatest musical moments ive ever witnessed!

My first time hearing SRV was live in '85 in Chicago at the Aragon. My jaw was on the ground for the whole show. It was mind blowing. He was on fire.

i love your content man, learn so much every video!!!

I have always loved SRV's tone. He was a monster player and he had a decent voice. Shame he died such a long time ago.

I'm really enjoying your videos. Thank you.

So glad I subbed. Love your stuff!

Congrats on approaching 100k Mike!

There are so many gateway songs/artists out there, it's just a matter of listening. Could be folk, could be punk, could be blues. It doesn't matter, so long as you're open to something different. For many of us SRV was the latest interpretation of what we'd been missing for too long, and damn, but did he deliver but good. Glad that you discovered SRV, hopefully that opened doors to you to discover Pat Travers, Peter Green, early Clapton, Albert Lee , Elvin Bishop, Walter Trout, Jimmy Thackery .... it's a never-ending rabbit hole, but full of surprises.

Great video and many thanks!

Dude I love your videos. You are such a positive inspiration to this world. We need more inspiring kind souls like you! ❤

Loving this content, please keep doing videos like this!!

Amazing content, keep it up Mike!

i was a huge avenged sevenfold fan and eventually made my way to srv after a brief jump into frank zappa and steve vai. now i love hubert sumlin buddy guy and obviously albert king. your words are definitely true. to understand a musician you need to hear their influences and absorb yourself into the music. its always fun finding those bridges

Love all your videos but blissfully enjoy the longer in depth videos.

In one of my guitar classes in college our professor had us play the intro to Chitlins Con Carne by SRV. It was one of the most fun songs we played and it made you feel really cool when playing it!

Thanks man great video👍👍🤙

Always fun to hear where musicians travelled to get where they are. Once again your presentation excels and entertains.

I love this and its so true. I got obsessed with Clapton in the 90's. And did the whole "back to HIS influences" so I got into Robert Johnson, Buddy Guy, then Freddie King, Albert King and doubled back to SRV.

Yo, love these long form videos. Dont stop, cant wait to see the next one!

My gateway to SRV were his contributions to Bowie's Let's Dance & China Girl, such great pop songs with pretty great guitar solos

Really loving your longer form content. You've proven yourself to offer some much more than a couple passing laughs. Keep it up!

I really enjoy your videos.

You really deserve more recognition. You're amazing Mike!

Positive vibes,nice going

I really enjoyed this video. A really great way to move your comfort zone snd explore new Music.

love your videos mike!

You're channel is gonna blow up dude. We know it when we see it. Amazing quality videos!

Music, like most things, comes down to individual taste. As a listener, I've transitioned to many different musical forms in my life, with my only regret being that I did not diversify my musical interest base far sooner. It's one of the greatest gifts life has to offer. Best of luck, Mike, on your musical journey.

In your future I see you falling in love with the classical guitar and the beauty and texture of classical guitar music.

Really vibe w/ the points you're making, especially about needing a "gateway" to get into something out of your wheelhouse. Sometimes we need context to get into something. Can't tell you how many songs that I didn't care for at first became favorites once the layers were peeled back enough for me to step through the door. There are so many possible "gateways" too- listening to a song in the context of the album, hearing a story about that song or it's recording sessions, learning more about the artist, diving deeper into lyrical context, hearing another band in that same genre that can more gently segway you into this band and one of my favorites is when I see a band perform a cut live that I don't really care for and then realizing how awesome it actually is by seeing the live performance and experiencing it differently among other people who are enthusiastic about it.

I went on a journey like this during the pandemic, and man did it completely change the way I play. Now I’m definitely racking in good tip money when I play in bars 😂😊

Great post. 🤘

I was at his last show at Alpine Valley Wisconsin that fatal night. The ticket was Robert Cray, Stevie Ray & Eric Clapton. Stevie's brother Jimmy (Fabulous Thunderbirds( sat in with Stevie and Buddy Guy sat in wirh Eric. The end of the show was all of them jamming together till past midnight. It was so foggy, we couldn't get out of the parking lot until past 3am. The last song Stevie ever played on stage was Sweet Home Chicago. Funny thing is that it was his destination when his chopper went down

Loving the long form content.

I hope that you post more long videos like this one. The 'meme' videos are great but this really provides a better look at you and I really enjoyed it!

“I enjoyed acoustic like Room for squares, I wanted a bigger challenge” Neon: “am I a joke to you?”

You should make more of these longer vids

Mike, I really loved your short videos, but I am seriously enjoying your longer videos such as this one. “Where are the dominant 7th chords bro?” -thank you for that😂

I started playing when I began taking acoustic guitar lessons every Friday evening from age 10 to age 17, which is when I went off to college. I mean EVERY Friday for 7 straight years. I was classically trained, taught music theory and how to read music from Day 1. It was a LOT of classical guitar music. Outside of that I was the worlds BIGGEST Beatles fan by age 10 as well (still am), and so we played some of their songs too at the end of each lesson. Right before my 13th birthday I hear Stevie Ray Vaughan for the first time and it touched and awoke this “thing” deep inside my soul. I bought myself “Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Stevie Ray Vaughan”, and my life changed FOREVER. For my 13th birthday I received a brand new Squire Strat, and right away when straight to work on how to play this new (to me) music. I found crude tabs of Pride and Joy and Texas Flood online and just get trying and trying. Meanwhile I never told my guitar teacher and kept on taking the classical lessons. But for me, there was no gateway from the beautiful melody Beatle music to SRV and the blues. I dove in head first and I’ve never been the same since. Then when I discovered John Mayer, I was already familiar with great songwriting, melody and harmony, and chord voicings from my training and love of the Beatles, but with the Trio record and all of Mayer’s guitar work since that record, he was coming from that same place of SRV and the way he saw the guitar neck was tue same way I did because we both “spoke the same language” of Stevie Ray Vaughan. So here’s Mayer, with the beautiful song craft and melody’s that I was used to from the Beatles, combined with the guitar style of SRV, and again, my life changed forever!!!

Oh wow man. You're jus5 now learning real music 🎶 🎵 what a beautiful time for you. Keep following the blues until it takes you over. Don't be afraid. Everything is from the blues

Love how related these stories are, beginner’s gotta pay attention.

love the old stuff!

There are so many great guitarists . . . now and in the past. From Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery to Tommy Emmanuel, Chet Atkins, Larry Carlton and on and on! Many different styles to learn from. Another YTer you might check out is Lucas Brar. BTW I love SRV, but the best live blues guitarist/entertainer I ever saw was B.B. King, who did not have the chops of SRV, but indicates that sincere feeling can be just as important as technical ability. Good luck with your guitar journey.

Love the longform!

Cool video man

Mike, great advice for newbies as well as players that are stuck in a particular genre!

I recently found this prog band called Oasis. I was too afraid to admit that I don’t understand their music. But you encouraged me to out myself. They have this really complex song with acoustic guitar. It absolutely blows my mind. I think it’s in 7/4.

Ok.. this is the second video of yours I've watched in a row. (Josh Klinghoffer one first)... your story telling, personality, editing and just overall style is crazy engaging... it keeps my attention... in addition to the "guitar stuff" I came here for your content creation is incredible. You should literally make instructional video on how to create content RIGHT.... amazing... God bless you sir!

Just started watching your videos ..great personality. I like how you dive into how wrong you can be. And great playing

this was a amzing video i have had a similar moment when i discroved bb king and buddy guy from mayer and this is just so relatble

I'm glad you have found SRV and you'll be loving his music. Keep learning and growing. Also check out some of his live music but some of the rare stuff. SRV said he never played any song the same way. I have a lot of his live stuff and he didn't. Come up with your own style and keep jamming. Yes, Sweatwater is cool spot for guitars and gear, drove down from Detroit to check it out. 🙏🏽👍🏽

“Learn from their influences” such great advice!!!

MIKE: You are a gifted storyteller / videographer.

Your channel is great and you sir have an open mind! Making some amount of commitment to playing a musical instrument has got to be one of the most rewarding these you can do. Apart from Gear Aquisition Syndrome, it really doesn't have to be expensive, it continuously delivers and you'll go down paths you never thought you would.

I ALWAYS follow artists back to their influences. It's how I end up finding new artists to love.

If you haven’t, check out Rory Gallagher. His - Irish Tour '74 - cd is amazing. Keep up the great work, your site is a pleasure.

Mike, the long form is the way to go! You had my full attention while eating lunch today and I hope Google makes it worth your time! This topic is giving me deja vu… I might have to give the man a try after this!

Tin Pan Alley is one of my all time favorites. Especially Johnny Winter's cover.

Mid ‘70s we were doing the disco at a college gig , a live band was also booked so while we were setting up the band was doing a sound check, the guitarist was incredible, never heard playing like it, they were Be Bop Deluxe and the guitar man was Bill Nelson, they had a big hit here in the U.K. with “Ships in the night”the gig was amazing and their album “Live in the air age” is still one of my favourites.

Quickly becoming my main go to music tuber hands down

Thanks, Mike, well done (and very funny) as always; you are a super nice guy.

I was there too. Grew up in the shredder scene. 8 strings crazy legato sweeps tjat nonsense, won best musician in high-school and college. I always disregarded the "overrated" hendrix SRV Clapton John mayer all those names. Til one day. I was handed a vintage strat with an old super reverb. Had almost zero gain. Tons of clean headroom. I was so adapted to hiding behind high gain, I embarrassed myself. Could not play a damn thing like 20 Years went out the window. As of the last 4 Years, sold everything. Now I use a strat and tele. Single coils, modded blues junior. My playing has never been the same.

Thats right. Thank you.

Just had another listen of couldnt stand the weather, I thought the title said “I COULDNT STAND the weather until”

Brilliant thoughts about gateways to unfamiliar forms. Yes, it does go back to Bach. Including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Beatles.

Lenny was the the SRV song that originally jumped out at me, the one I liked the best, so good point!

Long form content is way intresting , enjoying it . Btw I'm still the room for squares rhythm guy😅 that's a nice guide video for me to start exploring other artists.

Big SRV fan. I play him not infrequently on my college radio show (FM, WWW). Yeah, Couldn't Stand the Weather is awesome. There are some insanely great YT videos of Stevie, people. Been into the blues like my whole life. Rock and Roll came from the blues, in fact most of it is just rocking out with the blues.

My first SRV experience was his Soul To Soul album, and while it has blues, it's got some jazz influence as well. His live version of Voodoo Chile on Live Alive is SICK!!!

Love the Chanel and the authenticity mate… next in the journey should be the golden prog trio: Guthrie Govan, Shawn Lane and Alan Holdsworth…

"You hold your horses." lol 😆 ALRIGHT 👁👄👁

You played an acoustic... but never thought to play blues on it? No judgement, but I just love the acoustic and blues sounds pretty good on acoustic

I recently discovered SRV on my guitar journey, and hear me out, I had heard the name before. But I had never listened to him or other mainly blues driven music very much. But since the day I first listened to him, I just got it, it just clicked right away. Almost the same way it did with Hendrix. I think blues has just been a genre that resonates with me, so I’m glad to have heard it now. It’s only made my guitar playing better, and I’m going to keep going on that road. Edit: I’m also just going to high school so my music taste is only just maturing. And even before I was into a lot of very blues driven music, I listened to similar music like rock and country as that was what my family would play. Along with hip hop obviously

60s-70s guitar rock like Cream, Led Zeppelin etc got me into the blues guys like BB King, Bobby Bland, and Muddy Waters. Those blues guys in turn got me into the early stuff like Robert Johnson. The Grateful Dead got me into Bakersfield sound country music and Western Swing. The blues backdoor’d me into Jazz. 90s hiphop got me into the likes of Isley Brothers, and Parlament. It’s a beautiful rabbit hole.

Hey, man, just discovered your channel recently and I love your longer form content. Have you ever listened to Tash Sultana? If not, give Blackbird a listen

I don’t know if you’ve talked about him, but Duane Allman is another guitar legend with a very unique sound who left us way too early

Lenny made me fall in love with SRV!

My son's main guitar is the Les Paul I picked up used as a gift when he turned 10 years old. He wanted a 1980 model because he was born that year. He has been playing it for 32 years now,. He played between 8 and 12 hours a day until he started college in his late 20s and started his career as a software developer. He played every spare hour to this day and his playing is to die for. He rivals the best guitar players I've ever heard.

Spot on with the gateway comment, in my opinion. There are a number of genres that I never thought I would enjoy. It was gateway songs that made me want to dig deeper. Thank you for your videos.

Honestly totally relate to this one. My mom would play SRV in the car and I genuinely hated it lol, crazy now as I play a lot of blues these days

You're now ready for Frank Zappa Mike :)

you said something in this video that is so painfully true "it is really tough to pick up a new genre as a guitar player" I've been primarily a metal head the entire time i've played guitar. i dabbled a bit in some of classic rock but most stayed with metal. the first song i heard by john mayer was 'your body is a wonderland' and i wrote him off as a just a cheesy 4 chord singer/song writer and didn't pay attention to him for years. and just a few years ago a much more musically mature (but still very much a metal head) me actually sat down and listened to a couple mayer songs and i instantly wanted to learn how to play like that, and while there's a fair bit of cross over between blues and metal, it was still just a completely different and frustrating beast.

you deserve WAY more subs than you already have! i love your vids mike!

I just got into srv a couple years ago and I’ve been playing guitar like 16 years 😳 I missed out a lot.

this was so cool i have a channel to binge threw

100k subs is coming

I like your videos, very entertaining. If you eliminate jump cuts in your filming/editing process your video quality will improve to another level

I first got hooked to guitar because of John Mayer and the I learned his influence was srv I think the first song I heard of his was Rivera paradise and I was hooked then I watched him play Texas flood and I was even more hooked then when I heard srv play tin pan ally live at the capital theatra I new that’s blues is what I wanted to learn and I new srv was one of if not the greatest guitar player to ever walk this earth

I totally agree on this. I don't quite 'get' SRV, but I love to play Lenny.