"... but after some careful research, I am prepared to say that, I don't know. I'm just gonna teach you the way that I hear it," Like a scientist! Thanks for the lesson!

I believe he slides and bends both. Depending on his mood

I have played this for many years, and that a bend, or slide to b I have a theory. Lots of people question how he did it, well it was always slide live, but I am almost 100 percent certain it was a bend on original recording. Reason I know that is because I slowed it down pretty much to 1/4 tempo when I learned it years ago, and it was definitely a bend. You could hear a continuous bend and a slide would have sounded totally different. I am guessing when he recorded it, he was using much thinner strings and that bend that close to the nut on 3rd string would be extremely hard on the fingers with heavy guage strings. That's my take anyway.

I think I need to call it "scuttle buttlin" from now on.

From what I gather from Paul Davids come up Stevie bends on the album version and slides on live versions

This riff cracks me up! Remember, when Stevie was live in Montreux, and dressed like a purple coked-up pirate? Came on stage with this song first, he was so high, they played the song in double time. Please go look at that video!

Just to reiterate what Anthony's video clean-up project revealed, SRV used a finger to pluck the high e string on the 3rd note of the run so the picking is humanly possible.

I saw him play live in 1989 and I was under the stage. He opened just with Scuttle Buttin 'and I was fascinated by how fast he played all this lick with just one finger, and I have no doubts (just because I was so near him), he slipped between one note and another. His sound was like a wall coming at you

Guys and gals, I've been listening to Scuttle Buttin for over 30 years, and playing it too on guitar. Have always thought when I played it with the slides, that there is something off from the album. IMHO, on the album, Stevie bends the first note G string, picks the b string, and uses the middle finger of his right hand to pick the high E. When I switched from slide to bends it made a hell of a lot more sense and I think sounded better IMHO. I believe TBA posted a brilliantly researched video of Stevie using the middle finger of his RIGHT HAND to pick. Obviously, he played every version of Scuttle Buttin live using slides that I have seen. But, Stevie may have modified a few things live for ease and comfort. I do also have the opinion that Tightrope is played slightly differently on the album, where the B7 is played on the second fret, where live Stevie is up higher imho. Thanks for listening. Big Stevie fan and big TBA fan. Keep Rockin!

not many can play as fast as stevie,to play that fast and to have developed into what he did probably requires starting at 7 yrs of age as he did,it takes alot of time to develop into greatness.

oh my god thank you, that "magic sauce" you were talking about is the one thing i wasnt doing, i have been playing this riff for so long and felt like i was missing something but couldnt quite hear it in recordings or see him play it. YOU HAVE COMPLETED THIS RIFF FOR ME

Years ago I worked for months getting this worked out. In the start, the only way I could play it was playing it as a swing shuffle. I also use a hybrid pick on the hi E string and pull offs on the G string which smoothed it out. Since the youtube era, I think I have found SRV playing the riff in all thinkable variations. Thank you for breaking it down--you are the BEST Anthony!

On the recorded version, he clearly bends. You can slow it extremely slow and hear it. While playing live, he found it too difficult night after night on his tendons in his hand. He began to slide to ease pressure on muscles.

You're the first I've seen that teaches showing the fret hand in the proper view so the viewer can see the chords clearly...

0:21 PrOoBably one of the most requested things that ...

I saw Stevie do it live several times, mostly he slides, but he did use the bending technique as well...

I've seen enough live videos to assert that Stevie definitely used the slide technique, not the bending that other lessons show. Also, something that I read about Stevie's playing that might help with this lick: he played with the pick upside down. In other words, he played with the more rounded shoulder part of the pick. This little tip, plus using a heavier smaller pick, heavier strings, and the action raised a bit, has helped me get closer to Stevie's speed and articualtion on this lick. Using the shoulder of the pick gets your hand a little closer to the strings and makes for a smoother attack. Try it out - it might help you too!

This has to be one of the best lessons you’ve posted! Thanx!!!

The sound on that strat is nice the tones sounds bright just like Stevie.

Also, I start the riff with an upstroke. That somehow helps get the next few notes played cleaner.

On the studio version Stevie bends the first note. He slides in his live performance

3:48 I want you to yell at me :-) lol

Wicked awesome. Guitar is a big thing now. Come back!

Bends in the studio. Slides live to keep his fingers from cramping up.

Love this camera angle

watch the video of him doing it in a sound check. no bends, its all slides

Superb guitar lesson. Thank you!

Agreed. I'm using Guitar World Magazine Tab and the old Tascam Guitar Trainer. When you slow it down you can hear the bends and trills(pull offs} in the opening riffs, then a combination of slides and bends in the rest of the song. There are also subtle changes in the notes and combinations of notes struck(especially in the opening) that gives it a more melodic vibe than when using pretty much the same riff every time. The Tascam slows down from 0-8-16-32-50. I have to stay@32 to play it clean.

Omggggg that tone is so SRV 🗿🍷

I think you totally nailed this one. Watching the Tokyo video with the pirate pipe prop, (the meaning of which seems to be lost on many of the KZfaq commenters), he was definitely sliding this as per your instruction. Goal is to have this 50% speed in under 50 years. That was one of the most badass performances ever. More chills as per usual.

Love this

Wow, this is played quite differently than I imagined it was, though Ive never learned how to play it myself. Great lesson!

Thank you man. Gonna take a little practice for this guy.

Muy bueno..lo enseñas bien te felicito..

Thanks for the lesson, Anthony. Can't wait to check this out after work.

Excellent breakdown lesson on a great tune.

The thing is, when he was younger he used to bend it. As years go by he adjusted to sliding due to finger aging and years of performing live. That’s based on one source.

that's exactly it! exactly how it is in Stevie's videos

Thanks! This always seemed like one of his more intimidating songs to try and play to me. I think like you, I'm not sure we are all meant to play at this level of technique and speed lol. Great video lesson though! It will definitely get me rolling on finally attempting to tackle this bad boy.

it was bends in the studio version

camera angle is great- like your looking at your own neck-unique

I agree with Dennis, tuition videos should all be in standard pitch as rule of thumbs

Excellent job Stevie! Great demo. Thanks. Musician/Artist USA- ThomMeinert

WOW, something I already knew before you posted a lesson on it! Thanks a first! lol. Amazing stuff Anthony!

woah... i think i asked for this and you made it! AWESOME! thanks!

There is a video of Stevie doing a sound check and plays this lick. He uses slide technique.

I heard bends on studio but because of intenses road tours he started doing slides. Its hard to do those bends with 13's down there. Plays havoc on your fingers after awhile. 👋

"I don't even know if you;re meant to play it" haha. good video though

Great technique but I feel it would be better to teach SRV in standard tuning we all realize he tunes down but when your jumping back and forth on lesson videos I tend to move on because of the hassle to re tune. Thank You

Wow that was a great lesson.

SRV IS THE BEST GUITAR PLAYER IN THE WORLD

Excellent

Album: First half of song it is for sure bends. After the coda for sure slides and the tempo is a few bpm faster. This is what I hear slowing the track way down. Live? Seems to be all slides. Also, for science note. Stevie used such heavy strings that doing a slide nearly cancels out the fret stepping sound often heard when sliding.

AWESOME!

Stevie combined bending and sliding on the studio version. On all of the live versions I've seen he uses slides only. A good program for slowing down playing speed is VLC media player which is a free open source program.

The picking you are talking about being difficult on the B and E strings can be solved by hybrid picking them, as Stevie did...using thr middle and ring finger nails, instead of the pick..just try it

sometimes stevie used to play it even faster than normal as well, I mean like lightning fast, think i have the footage somewhere, and it is at least double what he normally played it at, crazy fast, will post when i did it out

he slides !

"Uh I don't even know if... you're meant to play it at full speed. *sigh*" Lmao

Shit man, really appreciate this! Finally got it down!

Magic sauce!!!

The tone is also super, what did you use for it please?

Stevie bends on the recording. Slides live.

he bends onthe recording and alternates between bends and slides live

From what I've seen, he bends on the album and slides live supposedly because of road wear on his hands and fingers.

He definitely slides live but I'm fairly sure in the original recording he used bends. Live is infinitely better anyway in my opinion. Great video!

thank you for post. my ear was wrong.

Can you do some licks from SRV's Chitlins Con Carne? It has some awesome fast jazzy/blues licks and it would be great for picking as well

Agree.

It's tuned half a step down guys

The truth is, Stevie alternated between bends and slides for this lick. Though he did more commonly use slides and you find many more recordings this way. Simply another example of bluesmen such as Stevie playing things however they want, and often different from the last time.

In my opinion this song was inspired by Mary had a little lamb.

Scuttle buttlin

Great lessons. Suggest you always mention guitar model, strings and amp being used in the demo. Thanks!

:Maybe we weren't meant to play it at full speed". Well there was only one Stevie.

yeah, this would be great ;)!

Slow Gold, world wide woodshed is a good slow down product for PC(windows)

Also... i think that magic sauce was my main problem the whole time!!

Should log showed the 3 chord changes. It is part of intro.

awesome lesson man! just wish this lick didn't take so much god damn practice :( any possibility of doing a lesson to the intro to "i'm cryin'"? love the turnaround lick with the trill and wanna learn it badly!

Don't do it near the bridge. Just strum the three strings near the neck pickup. At the same time you can move your strummin hand along the neck to help you keep the speed up. Hard to explain, but just try to do it like SRV did it.

@gr8bluesgtr Could you please tell me what your amp and pedal settings are? Thanks for all the awesome videos thru the years btw. :)

you could probably play that toggle between the open b and e much cleaner and faster if you used the point of your pick.

what do you mean theres a video with him doin slides

Magic Dust....Magic Sauce....I've checked Musicians Friend, American Musical Supply and eBay. Can't find any.

You can see he slides in the live videos

Trying my best to be "Constructively" critical here... Ahh finally at 1:57 mins the instructor gives a clear run at what's actually being played the rest, the explanations the back and forth, the choppy bit by bit walk thru is frankly very difficult to get and kinda a huge waste of time(just like this comment) and counter- productive☺

7年前でこの画質すげぇな

Great video Anthony :-) The SRV Strat, is a USA made guitar correct?

I just put out a cover on my channel. Was a lot of hard work

Actually I think he was playing it just rolling down the notes rather than trilling that half step to A# from A. I just slowed down his video and listened to it.

He bends it on the album but since then every time he played it live he used slides

are you using the other more rounded off ends of the pick when you play? like at 4:00 or around there. it looks like it. if so is that personal preference or is that really how stevie played?

Haha! Finally someone gets it!

Pride and Joy please?

Hey Anthony, I don't know if it's already a lesson but in Dirty Pool when Stevie strums really quickly, is there a certain technique?

He just puts his finger on the 10th fret on e, B and G and then strums them very fast. There isn't really a special technique, it's pretty simple. The same stuff is also played from 3rd and 5th fret.

Bending the g string at the second fret for 2 minutes is one thing, but if you're doin' your 3rd or 4th gig that week and you wanna cut your fretting hand off between shows, I'll slide up bro...

I mean is there a certain way you can strum to build that speed?

Miss the solo