Stevie Ray Vaughan (6,038 views)

[Baronessa]

Stevie Ray Vaughan (3 October 1954 - 27 August 1990)
Vocal Range: G2 - B♭4

SPOILER: Click to show

{Vocal Summary}Appearing in the right place at the right time, Stevie Ray Vaughan's unconventionally speedy licks and greasy baritone rasp took the blues world by storm when the genre was set to be in a slump. While not necessarily the most artistically innovative singer or songwriter, SRV's unabashedly over-the-top style was a shot in the arm the blues needed at the time; shedding the lethargic tendencies of '70s white blues and trading it for something respectful to the originals yet modernized in a way completely his own. Though his vocal performances were never the focal point of his emotional expression, SRV's understanding of the blues amplified the guilelessness of his message, which elevated his tone from a poor man's Albert King to a more distinctly Texan drawl. Despite his early and tragic passing, because of his positively outrageous combination we now live in a world where people can still claim Stevie Ray Vaughan as their favourite blues guitarist -- that must be a testament to his staying power in a genre where players with no vision are forgotten quickly.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Vocal Range Timeline}Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble:
Texas Flood (1983): B♭2 - A4
Couldn't Stand the Weather (1984): B2 - B♭4
Soul to Soul (1985): B2 - G♯4 - B♭4
In Step (1989): C3 - A4
The Sky Is Crying (1991): B2 - B♭4

The Vaughan Brothers:
Family Style (1990): E♭3 - B♭4

Significant High Notes:

B♭4 ("Boot Hill", "Look at Little Sister", "Telephone Song", "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)")
A4 ("Love Me Darlin'", "Tell Me", "Tick Tock", "Wall of Denial")
G♯4 ("Boot Hill", "Come On, Pt. III", "Couldn't Stand the Weather", "Empty Arms", "Honey Bee", "Long Way from Home", "Look at Little Sister", "Willie the Wimp" Live Alive, "Tightrope")
G4 ("Goin' Down" Solos, Sessions & Encores, "Hard to Be", "Leave My Girl Alone", "Let Me Love You Baby")
F♯4 ("Change It", "Come On, Pt. III", "Couldn't Stand the Weather", "Crossfire", "Dirty Pool", "Give Me Back My Wig", "I'm Cryin'", "Life by the Drop", "Life Without You", "Long Way from Home", "Love Me Darlin'", "Love Struck Baby", "May I Have a Talk With You", "Pride and Joy", "The Sky Is Crying", "Superstition", "Tell Me", "Texas Flood", "The Things (That) I Used to Do", "Tin Pan Alley (AKA the Roughest Place in Town)", "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", "Wall of Denial", "Willie the Wimp" Midffyns Festival, Denmark 1988, "You'll Be Mine")
F4 ("Ain't Gone 'n' Give Up on Love", "Close to You", "Hard to Be", "Honey Bee", "Life Without You", "Look at Little Sister", "Scratch-N-Sniff", "Telephone Song", "Tightrope", "You'll Be Mine")
E4 ("Change It", "Dirty Pool", "Empty Arms", "Good Texan", "Leave My Girl Alone", "Let Me Love You Baby", "Life by the Drop", "May I Have a Talk With You", "Texas Flood", "The Sky Is Crying", "Tick Tock", "Tin Pan Alley (AKA the Roughest Place in Town)")

Significant Low Notes:

E3 ("The House Is Rockin'", "Let Me Love You Baby", "Life by the Drop", "Love Me Darlin'", "May I Have a Talk With You", "The Sky Is Crying", "Texas Flood", "The Things (That) I Used to Do", "Tick Tock", "Willie the Wimp" Midffyns Festival, Denmark 1988)
E♭3 ("Ain't Gone 'n' Give Up on Love", "Boot Hill", "Come On, Pt. III", "Give Me Back My Wig", "I'm Cryin'", "Look at Little Sister", "Lookin' Out the Window", "Life Without You", "Love Struck Baby", "Pride and Joy", "Scratch-N-Sniff", "Superstition", "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", "Wall of Denial", "You'll Be Mine")
D3 ("Goin' Down" Solos, Sessions & Encores, "Leave My Girl Alone", "Let Me Love You Baby", "Tin Pan Alley (AKA the Roughest Place in Town)")
C♯3 ("Dirty Pool", "Empty Arms", "Love Me Darlin'", "The Sky Is Crying", "Texas Flood", "Tightrope")
C3 ("Ain't Gone 'n' Give Up on Love", "Leave My Girl Alone", "You'll Be Mine")
B2 ("Dirty Pool", "Empty Arms", "The Sky Is Crying", "Tin Pan Alley (AKA the Roughest Place in Town)")
B♭2 ("Mary Had a Little Lamb")
G2 ("Mary Had a Little Lamb")

SPOILER: Click to show

{Questionable Notes}G♯5 ("Look at Little Sister"^[1a])
E♭5 ("Willie the Wimp" Midffyns Festival, Denmark 1988^[2a])
E♭2 ("Mary Had a Little Lamb"^[2b])
..................................................
[1] Questionable quality.
a. Ambiguously pitched screams.

[2] Questionable representativeness.
a. Ambiguously pitched yelps.
b. Short, breathy slides.

Questionable notes are any notes with a questionable significance. In short, this spoiler acknowledges notes that I am aware exist, but do not want to contribute to the singer's range. These involve (but are not limited to) weak vocal fry, uncontrolled slides, very short notes, notes hit at an ambiguous pitch and notes where it is unclear who is singing.

..................................................
• Blue marks falsetto notes.
• Bold marks outstanding passages.
• Italics mark non-melodic notes.
• Underlines mark obscured notes.

[Zedd Squared]

Anybody else feel like SRV's singing sometimes sounds like Corey Glover's mid-range? Nice thread btw.

[RINGO]

About as close to a completely symmetrical thread as you're probably ever going to see. E3/E4 thresholds, B♭2/B♭4 extremities, and the distance between E and B♭ is precisely half an octave (e,g, the same going up as it is going down).

[Henny Macc]

Not to break dat perfect symmetry that this thread has going on, but...


I'm actually hearing a decently solid (at worst slightly quiet) melody G2 in "Mary Had a Little Lamb".

[Baronessa]

Oh good, I was wondering where I listed that from on my old version.

[Henny Macc]

Where was the questionable E♭2 in that song supposed to be though? I didn't hear anything lower than that, questionable or otherwise.

[Baronessa]

At 2:05, which I mean I'm pretty sure there's no E♭2 there but since it's been listed in previous iterations of this thread I thought I'd mention it.

[Henny Macc]

Oh, if I zoom in SUPER close on that I can hear a nanosecond E♭2, but yeah definitely only worth a questionable notes mention at best. I haven't bothered listing nanonotes in my threads full stop (regardless of whether previous incarnations of the threads mentioned them or not), so I'll leave that one up to you.

[Baronessa]

Side note, this is literally the most discussion this thread has ever gotten. Which I don't say to dissuade further discussion, but I find that kind of funny. :)

[Henny Macc]

I'm pretty surprised that his range turned out to be this small actually - judging by how strong his B♭4s are, I would've guessed he had something higher to be found. Is this really with his entire discography checked?

[Baronessa]

Yeah, his albums include a surplus of instrumentals, so combined with his pretty conservative range usage, the thread will look extra small because of that, as well. He has these semi-credible E♭5s, though.



Which I debated counting but decided they didn't have enough definition for me to be able to determine how intended they were. He does those throughout the performance, though, and presumably throughout other performances as well, so maybe there's a performance out there that has stronger E♭5s or something. (:))

[Henny Macc]

Yeah I wouldn't count those - they're noticeably more of just vocal affectations than actual parts of the melody or anything.

With that said, I found more F4s, F♯4s, and E♭3s in "Superstition":

Personally I wouldn't say notes below F♯4 or above D3 strike me as terribly significant for him, but I understand the necessity of listing them just because that would leave us with so few notes to actually list instead.

[Henny Macc]

Some pretty good G♯4s here