3 Lessons Every Blues Guitarist Can Learn from Texas Flood

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:01][music] Stevie Ray Vaughn's iconic Texas Flood.

[00:00:21]one of just those incredible slow blues songs that we all know and love and that we can learn so much from. Whether you want to jam over this track, play over backing tracks, go to a local jam night, whatever it is, or whether you just want to develop a Stevie Rayvon inspired slow blues approach, there is so much that we can learn from Texas Flood. I don't think we need any more introductions.

[00:00:47]We're [snorts] going to dive in and we're going to look at three things or three reasons I think that it's worth learning this track and, you know, kind of key ideas that we can take away from it. So, let's dive straight in. Now, the first reason I recommend Texas Flood as a song, you know, for guitar players to learn, it's a bit of a cheeky one really because, and you'll see why in a moment, in the real track, you know, the album version of Texas Flood, it's a trio. So you've got Tommy Shannon on the bass and he's kind of really holding down the rhythm part and suggesting, you know, the the chord movements and then Steven Ray Vaughn is occasionally kind of adding little double stops and, you [music] know, chords on top of things, but a lot of what he's doing is just the lead playing. However, the structure of Texas Flood, I think, makes it an awesome track to learn, especially if you are kind of just getting up and running with like, you know, your dominant bar chord shapes, okay? Because there are more changes in this progression than in a standard blues.

[00:01:55]Let me show you as I grab the Happy Blues Man whiteboard complete with a little happy Stevie Rayon with a cowboy hat in the corner. There we go. So, in a standard 12 bar blues, you'd have sort of, you know, you'd hold the one chord for four bars, then you go to the four chord for two bars, then back to the one chord, and then 5 4 1 5. Okay? You might have a quick change where in bar two you're going to go to the four chord to kind of keep things moving, but that's, you know, typically what you're going to be working over. However, there's more going on in Texas flood. So, in the in the kind of iconic intro section that I played there at the beginning of the lesson, we've got this this movement from the one chord to the four chord, then the one chord for half a bar to the five chord, and then the one chord to the four chord. if I'm reading that properly. This whiteboard is absolutely huge and I can't really see what's happening over on that side, but I think I've got it. Then when we actually get into the 12 bar progression again, we have more changes. In the beginning, we have a quick change. So goes to the one to the four chord. And then in the turnound, there's more changes that are happening more quickly again. So instead of just going five, four, one, five, those last two bars are broken up. So we go to the one chord for half a bar, then the four chord, then we go to the one chord, and then the five chord. Okay?

[00:03:23]And it gives that whole section a more sort of dynamic feel. And if you're just So it sounds really cool. So, kind of I just show you what that turnaround looks like instead of just being simply.

[00:03:45][music] Okay, we have much more going on. So, we go from that five down to the four. [music] And then here is where it kind of gets interesting.

[00:04:01]Switch, switch, [music] switch back to the top of the progression. So if you are kind of, you know, getting into that world of being able to track the 12 bar blues, being able to tw play these bar chords, then tracking that whole 12 bars and getting those changes is a really, really great way of building up your ability to move between those chords. Now, this is not what Stevia Ray Vaughn does in the actual track. I'm also playing in standard tuning, so I'm sure I'm breaking many of the rules for the kind of SRV purists out there, but it's just, you know, again, we can use these iconic songs as tools. Sticking in standard tuning and playing a sort of more complete rhythm part as a guitarist can be a really, really great tool for learning this track and then maybe tune down to E flat like Stevie did. Um, but then also, you know, applying this over other or or or just building your rhythm skill set so that you can move through chord changes a little bit more quickly.

[00:05:02]That's the first big thing that we can take from Texas Flood.

[00:05:09][music] [music] The second big thing that we can take from Texas Flood is Stevie Ray Vaughn's soloing approach. Now, this is enough.

[00:05:24]There's enough to talk about here. I mean, like literally hours and hours and hours of content because there's so much cool stuff that he's doing. But we can sort of lock into the essence of it with this minor and major mix specifically focusing on the Albert King box and the first shape of the minor pentatonic scale where Stevie is basing pretty much all of what he's doing here. Okay, so Albert Kingbox, let's have a look at this first in the key of G. I mean, he's tuned down to E to to E flat. So, technically it's F sharp, but we're playing in the positions of G, and I'm in standard tuning. The Albert King box would be middle finger, seventh fret of the G string, 68 on the B string with the first finger, and then on the on the E string, 68. Again, if we add that's a that's a minor pentatonic box. Okay?

[00:06:18]>> [music] >> purely minor. However, if we add that middle finger in on the seventh fret of the E string, that is the major third interval from the major pentatonic. So just by targeting that one note by through bending with the first finger and kind of moving up to it or actually jumping onto that note and then bending that note up a semmit tone to the um to the eighth fret.

[00:06:56]You can really in a very kind of smooth and fluid way bring that major and minor pentatonic mix, but crucially you can do that in an SRV style way. Okay? Because you're taking that Albert King box as your main focus point and then you're just peppering in that major third. It's not like say the BB King box. If we if we shift it up two frets, [music] that's also a minor major mix. But you can hear that that is immediately creating BB King vibes, not Albert King, not Stevie Rayornne vibes. So sticking in that Albert King box and targeting that major third and then stacking those bends together [music] and not being afraid to just hang out there and kind of add all those little notes together is going to immediately bring the SRV vibe. And you can do a similar sort of thing in that first p minor pentatonic box here. [music] And what Stevie really does is he kind of adds in two notes. One, the major third, which would be the fourth fret on the G string. Okay, that's really bringing a very strong major flavor [music] because it's the strongest kind of major note that that's in the scale. And then [music] he also adds in that major second or the ninth on the fifth fret of the high E string. [music] But because those notes are just added in and sort of peppered in as part of a broader phrase which is largely minor pentatonic, you get these extra flavors coming through without losing any of the aggression. What we don't want in this context is that [music] we don't want that like very warm BB King sound. We want that [music] and it makes all the difference. So focus on that minor pentatonic shape one with just that major third edition [music] and that kind of uh that ninth on the high E string and then add the Albert King box.

[00:09:29]Move between the two shapes [music] and woohoo, you are going to be bringing the Stevie magic in no time.

[00:09:46]The third thing that I think we can take from Texas Flood, and this list could be a hundred. I'm just kind of cherry-picking a few things that I think are really interesting, is Steve Rayvaugh's use of double stops. Okay.

[00:09:59]Now, there's two moments, double stops and sort of targeting cordal tone ideas through his lead plane. Now, there's two moments where this really, really stands out to me very, very strongly. The first one is the intro, [music] that little double stop idea that he takes. So, he's kind of he's taking his first finger and putting it on the second fret of the B string, putting his middle finger on the third fret of the G string, playing those two notes together.

[00:10:28]and sliding up [music] one fret. And when he then targets the tonic note, he has literally formed a major triad. So he's pulling out the note of this major sounding chord.

[00:10:41][music] Okay? And it's a one that's a wonderful tool. Oh, and then by the way, he does the exact same thing on the four chord.

[00:10:52]Okay?

[00:10:55]>> [music] >> like and he's just there's not really a stronger way to outline that major sound than than what he's just done there. And then he does the same thing on the four chord. And that's a a beautiful technique to use when you are playing in a major blues. And you can use the major pentatonic to outline the one chord the one chord. So in this in this key, you know, the chord of G7.

[00:11:17]If you take that idea, it's just, you know, it's, hey guys, this is major, this is sweet, and it's just a beautiful little thing that we're doing and it sounds wonderful. And it's again, these are ideas that you can apply all over the place. I've used that lick in like, you know, like like sweet melodic context because it's just so so good as a way of outlining what is happening in the harmony. Okay, that's the first sort of double stop idea that I love and I think you can pull into your lead plane when you're taking a solo. The second thing is this kind of very Stevie Ray Vaughn specific turnaround idea.

[00:12:01][music] Okay. So, it's that kind of last little bit here. Now, I say Steve, when I think of this turnaround, I think of Stevie Ray Vaughn, but I'm sure there's a lot of other guys who do it. Maybe Stevie Ray Vaughn wasn't the first, but it's it's him that I'm thinking of when this is going on. And, you know, you've got your lick. That's not really, you know, and that could have been cut up in a hundred different ways. The sort of important bit for me is this little walk up. Okay. [music] and then landing on those two notes at the end of the turnaround to pull you back to the beginning. Why does this matter? Because number one, the walk up is kind of imitating what's happening in the baseline, which is kind of cool. Bit of chromaticism as well. That's nice. And then these two notes are taken, those two notes are from the D7 chord, the full D7 chord.

[00:12:58]Okay? So the F sharp, that's the major third of the D7 chord.

[00:13:04]And then the um so that's at the fourth fret of the D string. And then the fifth fret of the G string, the note of C, that is our flat 7 from the chord. So we have this little kind of trionee thing here. [music] It's kind of tense, but it's spelling out this D7 chord sound.

[00:13:24]Okay. So, as a lead player, you can then throw in a tasty lick over that turn around, [music] [music] land on that that little double stop idea, and then boom, you're straight into, you know, into the into the first bar again. You've you've successfully nailed the turnaround, and you've created this connection between what is going on in the lead playing and what is going on in the rhythm playing. And as if you do that as a guitar player when you whether you're playing in Texas Flood or you know you're doing this in some totally different context, your playing will sound more coherent. It'll sound more intentional. It'll sound more effective. And it's these sorts of things that often go under the radar, but give a sense to you and to people listening to you of like, yeah, that was cool. That that that that it landed exactly where it needed to land. and uh CB Ray Vaughn doing that with that kind of major double stop and then also with that sort of final end over the turnaround is doing exactly that. So there we have it just three of the possible 300 things that we could talk about in this song, but three which I think if you apply them over this track, if you apply them in other slow blues or even in broader blues context, you're going to have a lot of fun.

[00:14:45]You're going to learn a lot and you are going to become a better blues player who is equipped to kind of add a bit of that Stevie Ray Vaughn magic and also make it your own. Have fun. Good luck.

[00:14:56]I'll see you next time.