The Setlist Headlines

Like some of you, I live in a town that's not so big, not so small, but just small enough that I miss plenty of great concerts. So when tickets for Kenny Wayne Shepherd went on sale at the local…

Yesterday, August 1st, 2012, marked the 3 year anniversary of when StevieSnacks became my full-time job. Since October of 2007 it had been a hobby that grew into a business, consuming nearly all my spare time. On July 31st, 2009,…

It took almost a year to work out, but I’m finally shooting my first course for Truefire.com next week. It's a huge honor to be associated with a company like Truefire, I'm still not quite sure how this all happened,…

Two sets of pickups. When compared, one set sounds hotter, more gritty than the other. But does that make it "better", or "more like SRV"? Fact: it is easy to make clean things appear dirty. It is not as easy…

I’ve answered this email what seems like 10,000 times since starting StevieSnacks.

“I have _________amp and ________ guitar and ________ pedals. How do I sound get SRV tone with my gear?”

This is a hard question to answer,…

The SRV Style Solo Matrix has been a hit since its introduction. But I've noticed a reoccurring point of confusion. ####Short Version You probably won't have much success trying to moving up in skill level after two beginner or…

Last week I spent about 15 minutes looking at a guitar that I've been listening to for over 15 years. Of course I'm talking about Stevie Ray Vaughan's beloved Number One Fender Stratocaster. It's on display at the Bob Bullock…

(This is satire, meant to make a point. I am not trying to kill the blues. You've been warned.) I love the blues. But let's say for the sake of argument that I hated blues and wanted to kill it.…

When I started StevieSnacks over 4 years ago, my singular goal was to teach people to play like Stevie Ray Vaughan. During that time, I've taught people how I view the fretboard, how I handle the guitar, and how to…

What is the matrix? I remember asking that question in 1998, but that’s not really what this is about. In approximately two weeks, I'll be releasing two different beginner solo lessons, in the style of SRV's "Texas Flood" and "Mary…

10 years of misguided rock-star dreams, followed by 4 years of wildly successful online teaching, has left me with a large collection of computer equipment, software, guitars, amps, and effects. Here, as of April 2012, is a list of all…

Earlier in March, I made the trip to Austin, TX, partly to experience SXSW, but also because....well, it's Austin, and that requires no explanation when you're a Stevie Ray Vaughan nerd.

For the next few weeks (probably two), starting Sunday, 1/8, I'm doing something that I've not done since StevieSnacks began over 4 years ago. I'm taking a break. Practically this means: * No Facebook posting/commenting * No email, except customer…

Lately, I’ve received more “please teach me ______” emails than usual. That's not a bad problem to have, but I should tell you how I feel about lesson requests. The simple answer is that I don’t take requests, it's not…

Today marks the 4th year since I uploaded my first lesson to YouTube. During those 4 years, many things about my life have changed, while other things have not. This post is a tribute to you, the viewers and customers…

There's a great scene in the movie Office Space, where efficiency consultant Bob Slydell (John C. McGinley) leans across the desk, looks right at Peter (Ron Livingston) and says: > "What would you say..... you do here?" That movie has…

First, I have very little experience with compressor pedals. Second, the Ego compressor was not some new release for the Nashville Amp Expo. Wampler Pedals actually had a pretty cool high-gain distortion pedal they were demoing for the first time…

Some of you know, and others may not, but I've not used the Blues Junior regularly since 2009. The tone in my videos, since August 2009 comes from a VAC 23 amplifier, made by Sam Timberlake of Samamp. That amp…

Here's a few notes from my first day at the 2011 Nashville Amp Expo. First of all, I didn't take any pictures because…well, there's no excuse for that. But wherever possible I will include images from the web of the…

Dr. Ken Tangen is a psychologist who's been interviewing people with interesting jobs, and publishing them as a podcast on his site WhatsItLike.info. I got the chance to do an interview for his site, and it turned out really well.