doglooseFor someone who spent a mere seven and a half years as a heavy player on the world stage, Texas guitar-slinger Stevie Ray Vaughan left behind a wealth...

For someone who spent a mere seven and a half years as a heavy player on the world stage, Texas guitar-slinger Stevie Ray Vaughan left behind a wealth of recorded material—and one hell of a legacy.

In that blink of an eye between his incongruous appearance on David Bowie’s Let’s Dance in 1983 and his death in a freak helicopter crash in 1990, Vaughan unleashed four indispensable studio albums that hijacked the trajectory of modern blues guitar.

Without the aid of light shows, edgy haircuts and goofy rock-star posturing, he introduced the MTV generation to passion-fueled guitar music—not to mention the work and importance of Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, Buddy Guy and Howlin’ Wolf. He even had time to star in his own mini rock-star drama of drug and alcohol addiction, breakdown, recovery and triumphant return.

Today, Guitar World looks back at what we consider SRV's 10 greatest guitar moments. Our list digs deep into his six-string artistry, while taking historical importance and other factors into account. In terms of material, we’ve considered everything, including his DVDs and videos available on YouTube—pretty much everything and anything he recorded.

If you'd like to delve more deeply into this topic, be sure to check out Austin Power: Stevie Ray Vaughan's 30 Greatest Recordings.[1] Enjoy!


10. "Testify" (Texas Flood, 1983)

The idea of Stevie Ray covering a funky song by the great R&B band the Isley Brothers might seem bizarre until you consider that rhythm and blues was a big part of the Double Trouble playbook.

Besides, his choice of “Testify” makes perfect sense when you realize that the guitarist on the Isley’s original 1964 version was none other than his hero, Jimi Hendrix. More a tip of the hat than a cover, Stevie

Read more from our friends at Guitar World