EPIC RIFFS: Stevie Ray Vaughan - The Hardest Blues Riff?!

Three things:
1. Scuttle Buttin means gossiping.
2. Thanks for breaking this down.
3. There is still something elusive, something magically mysterious happening with Stevie’s hands in this song that no lesson can capture. And that’s OK!

i saw srv play in memphis on the river ampitheater. it was an epic blues show sure, but ill never forget that in tbe middle of the show, he paused, this is what he said, and its worth repeating. "if you are struggling with addiction or know anyone who is, please go get some help. you dont have to do this alone. There are people out there who want to help " or something like that. i learned later that some of my friends happened to be in an aa meeting with him earlier that day. so he was speaking from his heart. He helped me that night, maybe i can help him help you too? help is available, you are worth it. pass it on. peace.

I’ve seen guitar teachers struggle to teach this riff for years. This man did it in less than 14 minutes. Legend.

I strung a strat with 13s six years ago trying to get that “stevie tone” . I played them for about an hour and i swear my fingers still hurt from that foolish, tragic day.

Paul, your approach to teaching far exceeds so many wanabe instructors.
I'm 72 years old so I won't have much time to even get close to this.
But I'm gonna give it one hell of a try....Great job Paul

Many years later, Stevie is still badass. There are plenty of guitarists who can "shred" but Stevie poured hot sauce and bacon grease all over it and then turned the volume up.

SRV passed away today 30 years ago. Let's take our hats off for a legend.

This is the first riff I learned how to play, by slowing it down and figuring it out. 20 years later I can still do it! …and still at half speed.

I saw Stevie play twice, was a huge fan. Was driving home from his concert when I heard his helo went down. Just when he hit it big, he died. So happy to see that he's not been forgotten. RIP SRV.

Stevie could play like everyone else but no one could play like Stevie

I’m a drummer but love the strings, I just love that srv was who he was

This is one of the best videos of Paul! There is huge production behind the scene, a lot of work and effort. 🙏

This is a masterclass in how editing makes things so watchable.

I get teary eyed every time I see him play. God loves the Blues and couldn't wait for Stevie, he was an incredible human being. First heard him play in the Austin area at one of the Blues club in the early '80's.

The most epic/ awesome/ terrifying thing I've ever seen is the SRV sound check video where you can tell they just woke him up and dragged him off the bus. He stumbles on stage, picks up his guitar, makes sure it's in tune, picks his nose, and fires full speed into this. The day I saw that was the day I realized I would never play close to that level.

Stevie Ray Vaughan was and still is the most influential guitarist in my life, he had a natural gift from God, that most of us mortals have to work extra hard to achieve. R. I. P. STEVIE.

Fantastic job! That live version also sounds like he has a leslie or univibe going also. Have to try that with the Kemper. So much depth to what SRV was doing and he always kept working at it. His earliest kinda demo stuff had something interesting in that his guitar skills weren’t as fully developed as more towards the first album, but the voice was always there and I think his singing was under-rated. Bravo!

Stevie Ray was inspired by his idol, Lonnie Mack. He played like that because he was paying tribute to Lonnie's song "Chickin' Pickin'. He also used a Leslie speaker to get the vibrato sound. That was Lonnie's signature tone. The exception is Lonnie played through a Magnatone amplifier with a stereo Vibrato channel. I have seen both Lonnie and Stevie play live.

I vividly remember the first time I heard Scuttle Buttin'. I was a teenager metalhead who only listened to death and thrash metal, but hearing that lick was the most in-your-face and unapologetic thing I ever heard on guitar, it had so much attitude that it just made all the metal music I was listening to lame in comparison. It blew my balls so high into the ceiling that I'm still scraping them off today. SRV is a legend.

I had the extraordinary pleasure of seeing him play this live at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on the Live Alive! tour. This was his opening number and he came on stage playing this from the sides. What blew everybody's mind was that he came on playing the whole thing one handed, waving at the audience and running down the front, touching hands.
To this day, I can't figure out how he played it, but I swear he did.
This was the second time I'd seen him play and I was going to see him a third time, but we all know what happened before that European tour.
Such a sad day, but what a glorious legacy of extraordinary playing.

I love this masterclass very much. Thanks Paul.

I saw SRV on tour for this album in Oklahoma City. As SRV and the band came on stage and tested all the sound connections, etc., SRV repeatedly played the scuttle buttin lick without any chords, just a pause in between, about a dozen times. I was coming through the ticket turnstile and I could hear them starting! so then my friends and I had to run down the grassy slope to the outdoor cement stage and watch my best blues concert ever, with SRV 10 feet away. The encore climax was a bunch of Hendrix songs and finally he lit his number one guitar on fire to reenact Hendrix at Monterey Pop!

Thanks for the detailed review. indeed, there are a lot of subtleties in the blues that SRV uses. And you showed us these nuances!

Il y a vraiment du boulot dans ses videos,il doit mettre un temps infernal à les preparer...génial en tous cas

This is hands down, the best, most educational, most fun to watch, intersting guitar channel on youtube. And the editing is fantastic, props to you Paul, fantastic work!

67 THOUSAND LIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥
You’re certainly onto something Paul!
Best always! ✌🏼

I don't see very many people get this right. There is a part coming down you're not doing right, but I'm surprised you left the G# out. Not very many people know that. Awesome lesson man! One of the most accurate I've seen.

Lovely playing and gorgeous tone, plus your videos really chill me out, love them, cheers 🤟🏼

still one of the hardest riffs to play. SRV was an amazing guitar player.

Paul Davids is the man, excellent quality video in all ways

Bending, not sliding, is how I was taught to play Scuttle Buttin' over 20 years ago. Glad to see my teacher was on the money.

Whoever disliked this video must really not appreciate skill lol. Keep up the great work Paul, love your music man. Truly a great in our time

Stevie knew what he wanted, had high aspirations, and he did the work. The world is witness to that. Few played better.

Je ne comprend pas correctement l'anglais mais cette leçon est extraordinaire ! toutes les subtilités du jeu sont là. Félicitation !!!! Grace à vous j'arrive à jouer cette partie. Un grand talent

I saw Stevie at DAR Constitution Hall in D.C. not too long after"Couldn't Stand the Weather" was released.
I've seen most of the great guitarists of my generation, Blackmore, Gilmour, Page, Malmsteen, Van Halen, Satriani, May, Iommi...the list goes on.
Stevie had a natural ability that none of the other greats seem to possess...it was like he had a connection to another realm or something. He just NEVER ran outta steam!!! So glad I got to see him!!!

So good, thanks for the break down! RIP SRV ...

A lot of the stuff Stevie played combined with the showmanship was not easy, but he just walked out on stage and did it like it was nothing. So amazing! Thirty years ago 8/27/2020.

By far a likable guy, very creative, great player, teacher, and a main reason to continue to use Clip-Share and view his channel

One of my favorite licks (riffs?) by my absolute favorite guitarist. Love SRV. What a beast he was.

Thanks for breaking... and slowing... this epic SRV riff down for all us average humans. Scuttle Buttin was the song my boss recommended when explaining why SRV was his favourite guitarist.

I'm a trumpet player, however, keep in mind that most jazz, blues, and rock musicians also have lightening improv skills. Many of these licks come from straightup improvising these melodies, and then composing the rest of the song building from that improv riff. Straight from the mind to their toy, whatever instrument they've mastered.

By far the best analysis of Scuttlebuttin' I've seen. Bravo! ...and thank you.

Just wanted to say Paul, your consistently great video editing and creative ways of teaching guitar does not go unnoticed. Thank you for putting so much thought and creativity into it your tutorials.

My feeling of this riff and alot of other blues riffs is that the imperfection of it is What makes it perfect. :D

Has anyone told you how amazing your video editing is apart from your playing?👌🏻🔥

How many years does it take to get as good as this guy...let alone SRV..damn... awesome video... I’ll never be able to play this...wow...

SRV was just a monster guitarist. Loved your analysis of sucha a difficult piece, I really appreciate all the effort and attention to details and nuances. It was also very funny, excellent video edit and, by the way, the visual quality of your videos is stunning. Thanks for such a high quality content on every way. Good job!

I already saw that video but watched it again. You nailed it man! Razor sharp riff for razor sharp players!

SRV is essentially a God at rhythm guitar. Pride and Joy I think very captivates that. Scuttle Butting is also such a guitar driven song, it's what made me fall in love with his guitar work!

Saw an interview with Stevie and his brother while I was in Texas it was a local tv show and they both talked about the pain they fought off through continued practice for hours. He was one of the great players of our time and his brother Jimmy isn't anything to sneeze at.

Did he knock on a curtain to tell himself something? What a Legend 🎸

Wow the slide vs bend discussion is alive and well. Learned it with bends, always heard the record was bends and live was slides. Not really sure why that one bend in that one song would release any tension-his live sets were always filled with incredibly strenuous bends. if I had to guess, he just decided he liked the sound of slides better when played live.

I learnt this long ago and the first challenge was the most difficult because of how close the bends were to the nut, which meant it needed a lot of force and finger strength to bend up one full tone, and keep it that way through the whole song.

Well done! One of my favs. You did a great job breaking down the picking scheme which many instructors completely disregard yet it’s so important because it’s literally half of what you’re doing. 👏🏼

Keep in mind that Stevie could strum and bend steel prison bars with his fingers.

Paul you've gotten so good at making videos that you can read my mind while the video is happening and give me a perfect explanation and then shred in my face. Thank you so much!

I saw Stevie in 1986 in Sydney Australia and he came out on stage playing that riff jumping and I'm saying jumping all over the stage best concert I've been to and ever will again apart from Jimmy Vaughan.

Increíble trabajo amigo!

Why would anybody give this a thumbs down? I want to see them play that riff exactly like SRV!

To pull off SRV you have to forget about any other notes you might play and truly believe that what you are doing is the most amazing thing anyone's ever heard. Playing with any tentativeness loses the vibe.

When I saw the title, I knew it was THAT riff. Here's why.... When I first started playing, I got a copy of Guitarist magazine which had a transcription for Scuttle Buttin, by some guy called Stevie Ray Vaughn, whoever he was. It took me DAYS to learn it note for note, but I got it down, and was very proud of being able to play it at 80bpm. Shortly afterwards, I was in the library and found a cassette of Couldn't Stand the Weather. I took it home, dropped it in my cassette player and pressed play. And waited... then I got hit by this barrage of notes, the likes of which I had never heard before. Of course, Stevie was playing it WAY faster than I had learned it, and I spent the entire track with my mouth wide open. I was in shock! But I've been hooked on his playing ever since. Thirty four years later, I still wrestle with the lick. It's a beast!

Your the man. I love your style. Thank you for making these videos.

Wow! What a great in-depth explanation of the Scuttle Buttin’ riff. This is probably the best tutorial video I’ve ever watched. Love the editing too!

Honestly dude, a million views, 2m subs, but i think you deserve more!
Your videos are really great because of the way you analyse riffs and playing styles and explain it all to the viewer in a language we can all comprehend, even if we will never be half as good as some of the greats, we can always improve!
Your explanations make a lot of sense, speaking as someone who is badly self taught and i lacked the discipline to refine my playing, bad habits stuck around, so it is really nice to learn new insights and have certain things explained, not just the "thing" but the "why"!
Great video as always dude!

Great Lesson, and wonderfully entertaining . Even Guitar Pilgrim is getting jealous - We love a friendly competition!

I feel like calling it a riff is an understatement

This song is such an underrated track of srv. You can find on Clip-Share his "soundcheck" video where he looks like he just woke up yawning playing this song during soundcheck with such ease. So effortless. It's intense, powerful and leaves you speechless. Same thing with dirty pool. Technique is difficult enough but to add stamina into that....mind....blown. If only i could have seen him live. One can wish. I'll have front row seats to him and hendrix forever tour one day.

This is so great how you break it down to the smallest unit..normally I dont like that because i am somehow advanced but with a hard piece like this where its importsnt to get the details right its great

A legend for the blues

the sliding approach also has a big element of showmanship in the live performance !

Appreciate this so much, this is great. If you take a look at the actual SRV video you reference at look at the 2:40 mark, you'll see he slides on the G string and uses down picking on the b-g-d at the end of the lick.

By watching this just makes me more impressed of srv, you have a lot of talent also.

Truth is, Stevie was never weak with either hand. While you're trying to figure out what he's doing with his fretting hand. The power of the song comes from his strumming hand. And while you're paying attention to his strumming hand... The power of the song it's coming from his fretting hand.
Houdini called this, misdirection. And Stevie, is a magician of the guitar.

Paul is so damn amazing.

When my kids were young, I would play this on my guitar, during their birthday parties, as they played musical chairs. Both of those kids ended up playing guitar.

This is a great video. You have really worked hard there Paul to entertain us mere mortals 👍
Its always strange discussing the greats as they are critical of themselves so no one gets it 100%. Think the difference is how inventive they are so learning from great musicians is essential but its important to find your own thang as Im sure SRV would say 🙂

Really great breakdown of one of the all time great blues songs/riffs. Time to practice!

So glad I found this channel! Thanks for what you do, Paul!

Paul, a very impressive presentation/lesson! Thanks for doing it. You do know, right, that SRV didn't write this tune - at least not alone. He learned it from Lonnie Mack, one of his guitar idols. That's where he got the super-fast T-Bone Walker lick that is the main riff in the tune. Stevie took that riff and made an entire tune from it. OK, now that you have done such a great job demystifying "Scuttlebuttin'," please do the rhythm-lead hybrid riff from "Pride and Joy," in which SRV mixes single notes with chord comps not unlike a boogie-woogie piano player. That's another tough one to get just right....

Thank you so very much for this Paul! I love your videos man!

A really entertaining and viewer friendly video, totally enjoyable and so well done. Bravo!!

Not enough "like" options for the great video. Excellent job Mr Davids!

I love this song! Thanks so much for breaking it down! You're an inspiration!

So powerful! So tight!! Killing it my man

Awesome... You're a legend sir...

I am very pleased with my progression. As usual I take small parts at a time slowly and let them become muscle memory. This took about a week 15 min every day. Then I put them together slowly. So I can play the whole riff very slow. This took about a week 15 min a day. Then I build speed. This took about 2 months , 5 min a day to get to a decent speed.
I find I get better results practicing and walking away in short periods, 5 to 20 minutes. If I over practice I do not gain the skill as quickly. Maybe 6 months to get to Stevie Speed....Also play clean and on an acoustic often. You will be forced to slow down or it sounds bad. Then when you pick up the electric, you will feel like you are flying. Thank you!

I'm back to say Happy New Year Paul. What a fantastic channel. You're a outstanding teacher, player and host. A big THANK YOU. AZ.

Thanks Paul for your excellent videos. I have been playing for many years and your videos really do what you proclaim: "Keeping guitar playing fresh". Your work and sharing your knowledge is greatly appreciated!

This just further entrenches SRV's genius to me. Great video

Gracias Paul! siempre es muy grato ver tus videos. Saludos 👍🏿🇲🇽

My friend was his guitar tech from '85 until the end. He once asked Stevie if he could show him how he played it, and show him slowly. Stevie tried, but he got so confused, he totally forgot how altogether. Once he stopped to think about it, it screwed him up.

I was playing it wrong for years haha. Love this track!

I just love the way you go really deep into music analysis, and thanks for creating such content ;)
By: new fan

Came for guitar riffs... stayed for cinematography... and guitar riffs.

Stevie played awhole lotta Chicago blues with that Texas/ southern influence, with more than a little touch of Jimi. But the way he bent those strings is one of a kind. I read somewhere he used 13 Guage on a (old) strat, that my friends is uncanny finger strength.

SRV was my fav guitar player, such passion and feel in his playing

Hey Paul,
The quality of this video is *MAGICAL* ;)
Edit : Actually all of your videos

Great stuff, Paul and nice job explaining! Thank you!

I can’t play even close to this but I’m glad I found your channel. So fun and informative. Maybe one day!

Shout out to how well he’s explaining the process of learning a song with ur ears as a guide.