(Log in to disable ads.)

  • Lessons

  • Learning Stevie Ray Vaughan - Scuttle Buttin'

So thanks to this here challenge, @V8 and I now have to learn Scuttle Buttin' — my first SRV song.

Love the guy's music but never bothered learning any of his songs (or any songs, really — bad habit of mine, I'm not a strong finisher)

So what's the first step? For me it's probably gonna be Rocksmith 2014. It has a "Riff Repeater" you can use to isolate the riff and slow it down to something playable. You can then slowly increase the tempo up to the tempo of the song.

I might add in a metronome to my practice so I can eventually play without the game because I find it difficult to "hold onto" stuff I've learned in Rocksmith. So Rocksmith will probably be how I learn the notes and transitions between notes but some stuff can't easily be learned there, like:

  1. Strumming style. There's a bit of strumming between the licks and if I want to sound right, I'll need to listen carefully and try mimic what I'm hearing. Maybe some YouTube videos will help there.
  2. Tone. You can't really "learn" how to get a certain tone in Rocksmith. I'm gonna need to experiment here. All I have is an Orange Micro Terror. Probably not gonna get the right tone with that but maybe if I put one of my humbuckers in single-coil mode, I can get somewhere close? Gonna need to listen and tweak.

And probably at least 5 other things like where to position your thumb (over the neck? at the back?) and so on.

So Rocksmith will get me started but then methinks it'll be up to my ears and eyes to complete the picture.

The plus side is I won't need to go buy/download any lessons for this. (I saw one this morning that had the lick played with bends instead of slides... I'd rather avoid the possibility of learning the song wrong.)

Another thing I could try is playing this video from Paul Davids at a slower speed. Maybe I'll do that once I have some of the lick nailed down. 0.25x speed (the lowest YouTube will slow a video) might still be too fast for the initial learning.

@V8 what are you doing to learn this one?

  • V8 replied to this.

    NorioDS what are you doing to learn this one?

    Everything...

    So far (20mins into the challenge), I like this guys explanation :

    Gonna go for the slidey style (live version?) of the main lick, a whole step bend so near the nut will kill my fingers if I try and play it too much.

    AFAIK - Tonewise, it's a single coil into a tube screamer driving a tube amp a tad harder. I reckon your Terror should do a good job of the tone - perhaps adding a ts style boost pedal will help. I'll worry about tone once I've got the licks down, though I do have access to a TS style pedal if I need - likely I'll just dial in something usable on my (t)rusty Zoom B2 and go from there.

    I won't be going Eb tuning with 11's. Been there and didn't dig it at all. Gonna stick to E standard tuning. Fortunately I slapped some fresh elxir's on the strat for Xmas, they're pretty much still feeling new - so we're good to go.

      NorioDS Strumming style. There's a bit of strumming between the licks and if I want to sound right, I'll need to listen carefully and try mimic what I'm hearing. Maybe some YouTube videos will help there.

      Just remembered - SRV does a version of "Mary had a little lamb" (original blues version by Buddy Guy), which has the same chords (E blues 12 bar) but is a fair bit slower (albeit with very different fills). Might be a easy way to get familiar with the chords down between that ludicrous speed lick.

          V8 I won't be going Eb tuning with 11's. Been there and didn't dig it at all. Gonna stick to E standard tuning. Fortunately I slapped some fresh elxir's on the strat for Xmas, they're pretty much still feeling new - so we're good to go.

          Yeah I'm not keen on changing my tuning either. Although I did block my trem recently so I could get away with. But I don't see the point on my 9s, especially if I'm just sliding.

          I might try those Elixirs! Need new strings anyway and have always used D'Addarios without even trying anything else.

          As for tone... I suppose I lied a little. I have the BR-600 which might sound good going into the micro terror and I have GarageBand but there's noticeable lag there so maybe not ?

          • V8 replied to this.

              NorioDS I might try those Elixirs!

              I can't say the tone will be upgraded, they do sound bright - almost artificially so. From feel, I can usually tell if a guitar is strung up with elixir's. They feel a bit stiffer than the same gauge D'addario/Ernie Ball. Not necessarily a good thing, but I've gotten used to it - plus they'll last waayyyyy longer than anything else I've tried.

              If you are put off by elixir's (price/feel) - I've heard a lot of peeps say good things about D'addario NYXL's. I've tried a few sets of bass strings and was not impressed, they cost more than elixir's and lasted about as long as a set of standard D'addario Prosteels.

              To be fair though, I should give them a try on electric guitar to make any conclusion.

                V8 Nice video you shared. Helped me a bit.

                Gotta admit, I struggle with Rocksmith. It's been great for learning bass but for fast guitar parts... I'm just not used to it. I find myself trying to remember what string "orange" is ?

                • V8 likes this.

                  You are both insane. I'm loving every second of it! Cannot contain my excitement. Would be awesome if you could somehow get together (in the same room) for the final showdown. ?
                  Boldly go Gents.

                  wern101 You are both insane.

                  I have to agree. Great idea on getting together in the same room and duking it out. But I'll lose. My headstock is far too friendly of a shape ?

                  So will this lead to @wern101 calling out @domhatch....I can envisage a acoustic singer/songwriter battle being a whole lot of entertainment (for us anyways ? )

                    V8 .I can envisage a acoustic singer/songwriter battle being a whole lot of entertainment

                    Come to think about it... may not be such a bad idea. I've wondered about @domhatch guitar sounds for a while now and, he is a writer by trade so, this may be very interesting.
                    When I mentioned this to my wife last night she said she'll help me write.... ? ❕

                      @domhatch @wern101 : Why not? It's all in fun and you an make up the 'rules' however you like (even as you go along ?)

                      Plus I've got lots of ? in anticipation of all the banter...

                        So I've started wading through the deep waters of playing speedy SRV...

                        Day 1 : 3x10min practice sessions. Watched a video & stared at some tab. Managed to get the notes of the rhythm lick & chords into my head, but they have zero feel. I just can't hear the feel of the lick at full speed. Even 1/2 speed isn't helping. Getting nervous...

                        Day 2 : 2x30m slogs. Literally chained myself to a chair and grinded out some practice. First I sat and watched/listened to the live SRV clip at 1/2 speed - reallly checking out his fretting hand and trying to get the lick into my head. A struggle! But SRV is a BOSS - watching him live at 1/2 speed shows so much of his stagecraft and how ludicrously tight drums and bass are behind him. Everyone is there on the one, perfectly, everytime!

                        Frustrated, I did 5mins of note division practice - as if I was back on bass. Reminded me of the feel the 1/4, 1/8, triplet and 16th's. Was almost fun. @NorioDS is gonna get stomped a real bad in the pointy side of the challenge... ?

                        Then I grabbed my old friend "slowmp3.jar" loaded up a mp3 of Scuttle Buttin, slowed it ALLLLL the way down (33%?) and used the handy transpose feature to bump the tuning from Eb to E standard. And then I sat and tried to jam along. Operative word being tried.

                        But, eventually - and it took at least 10mins - I started to get the feel of the lick at 1/3 speed. Can't jam it to drums yet though, dropping into the chordy bits ain't happening yet. I think that the lick starts on a 'and' leading into the 'one' - which I'm finding fiendishly tricky.

                        V8 Sounds like you're making good progress!

                        I got the lick under my fingers but nowhere near full speed. Rocksmith has been helpful in slowing down the song and I ended up just tuning down to Eb. (Rocksmith won't have it any other way so ? )

                        Every now and again, I accidentally get "most" of the lick at some decent speed. But there were some errors in how I played it at a slower tempo that don't translate well to the higher tempos.

                        It's a fun lick to play at like 25% speed ? Then I play back the song at 100% and just think, "What the hell have I signed up for?!" ?

                        • V8 replied to this.

                            NorioDS Then I play back the song at 100%

                            Whenever I went back to 100%...I just thought so that's what "cocaine" must be like. ?

                              V8 Whenever I went back to 100%...I just thought so that's what "cocaine" must be like. ?

                              BRILLIANT! There's no other explanation, is there? It's just not natural ?

                              Well, on the plus side, if either one of us gets this right, we'll have some serious "showing off" chops to annoy everyone with ?

                              • V8 likes this.
                              • V8 replied to this.

                                  NorioDS Well, on the plus side, if either one of us gets this right, we'll have some serious "showing off" chops to annoy everyone with

                                  I hope I can get it flowing seamlessly in 2 weeks - not at 160bpm though! Eventually....maybe. I do hang onto licks I like and keep running them until they feel natural. That tired ol' 10000 hours 'rule'.

                                    wern101 Well, I guess I'm game. I just need to get a pickup installed. At the moment domhatch's guitar sounds a little, well, unplugged. Proper-like. Time to get advice on a decent pickup... Gear thread, here I come...

                                    But be warned, I actually went through a whole bunch of my unused lyrics last night.

                                    Man. Do they suck!

                                      domhatch But be warned, I actually went through a whole bunch of my unused lyrics last night.

                                      You can do itttttt!

                                      ? ? ?

                                        ← Don't forget to practice the SRV face. Getting the face down is a prerequisite for nailing those licks at full speed.