The time I met Stevie Ray Vaughn and had a discussion about music with him

So it was sometimes in the 80ies, and how this meet came about is another story.

So here I was in the back yard chilling in the afternoon sun, strumming on my trusted old acoustic guitar, playing a variation of John Lee's "Boom Boom", just noodling about when Stevie came out of the house and joined me. I have to be honest, I was intimidated as f**** but I held my nerve and kept on playing. I kept it really simple, did not attempt any flashy stuff, because...well it's Stevie ducking Ray sitting there. SRV!!! :D .
Secretly I hoped he would somewhat join me or say something nice about my playing, but Stevie just sat there on the inclined garden chair, and said nothing and looked into the distance. At one stage though he turned to me and started to make fun of this guy (or generally about people) who use guitar effects. He wasn't nasty but... Boom :o . An arrow straight into my heart, that's how it felt.

Now the normal reaction would be "...yeah Steve, tze tze tze, everybody knows all you need is a Strat and a tube Amp, and the fingers. The sound comes from the fingers... yeah you are right man, that's the way to play" Because it is well known that SRV played that way. But, TeeGee is not normal, is he? Well, I like my guitar effects. I have a pedal board, and I love playing with it. Robin Trower, whose sound I admire, uses effects. My mate A.S. who is a proper signed rock star guitarist uses them... I am not hiding that for no one, SRV or not!

I could feel the famous TeeGee temper rising, although I managed kept it low. I turned to him and said: "Ahhhhhh you are a purist, aren't you?" and he laughed. I continued "if you are such a purist, how come you play with a pick? Why do you not play finger style?" He only smiled and did not say much. And then I went for the kill: "And why we are at it, why do you wear shoes?" Why do you wear clothes? You want to be a purist, go all the way man. We are using things all the time to make us more comfortable!" Boom!!! :O . That told him, and he did look at me a bit surprised, I don't think he expected that. Beep beep beeep----beeep beeep beeep. Beeep beeep beeep oh maaaaaaan!!!

That's when I woke up this cold January morning, smiling, because it was such a cool and funny dream. So before I forget this whole story I opened up Wikiloops and wrote it down :D It's a true story!!

So anyways people, the lesson from this dream is: If anyone asks you why do you not play fingerstyle or why do you use guitar effects, counter that with "why do you wear shoes??" :D :D :D

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TeeGee attached the following image:

🤣🤣🤣Too funny! As for me, I play without effects with my socks on outside, and when I mix for WL inside, I add effects by taking my socks off. I only use a Strymon reverb because my amp doesn't have one. To be honest, I find that effects distort Lucille's sound. It's also related to my playing style, and I think everyone uses them or not according to their own preferences, and that's fine. Keep going, I won't steal them from you!🤣🤣🤣

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

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