I got to go to Antone's last night and see Jimmie Vaughan! Carolyn Wonderland was opening for him to we had to go. Carolyn's a great guitar player/singer from here in Houston and if you haven't heard of her check her out on youtube, she's great. I play with a lot of the people she played with here before she moved to Austin, which is really cool.

We were first in line at the door (two hours early lol) so we got right up close to the stage. Second row, so I could see everything. I was about two feet from the stage, five feet from Jimmie and ten feet from his amps (two Fender Bassmans), so I could see and hear. The people in front of me were complaining about their ears buzzing. My ears are fine, maybe I'm used to it. I wish I had brought my guitar with me in the car so that I could be figuring licks out on the way back, but that's what I'm going to be doing today.

Once the roadies started tearing down we asked one of them for Jimmie's set list, and then we went to say hi to him. He was really nice as always and answered a couple of questions for me. The cool thing about the set list is that is has the key of every song written down, which will make things a little easier for me to figure out. He played D/FW and I'm very proud of myself now, because I got all the notes right when I learned it.

We drove back to Houston right after the show. We got here at about four in the morning, but wait! We have to spring forward today so it was really five. I've gotta give credit to my Dad. He plays bass and he had a gig Friday night, another one at six in the morning Saturday, and another one Saturday afternoon. He had to cut out before the last set Saturday to come pick me up, drive me to Austin, stand up for six hours and drive me strait back. So even though he really enjoyed the show too (you should have his eyes bug out when he saw the double bass, he loves those), he didn't have to do all that.

I may have some pictures later on today, my Dad took some on his phone. Unlike me he's tall enough to have gotten some pretty good shots.

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What a cool venue that must have been. Glad you got to go. I know how much the blues mean to you. I know you know it, but you've got quite a wonderful father. My baby girl(23) is always telling me that............. Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

Sounds like you had a great time. It is awesome that you and your dad get to spend all of that quality time together. You're both lucky to have that kind of relationship, and it is very cool that you get to enjoy things together.

Also just want to throw in a word of caution about protecting you ears. Damage can build up cumulatively over time so if you're in a real loud environment or real close to the amps you should consider earplugs. Protect your hearing now and you will sure appreciate it later.

Two of my friends have terrible tinnitis (constant ringing in the ears) and hearing loss from working in very loud environments for a long time without hearing protection. Things like jackhammers, loud machines and loud music can bring this on - So be careful!

Glad you had a great time!

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texasguitarslinger, Jimmie Vaughan, and, Carolyn Wonderland great show I'm guessing, your Dad is really great too, thanks for the update Texas
"his amps (two Fender Bassmans)" that is a rig to think about

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Where did you eat in Austin?

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

This is all part of your guitar journey Tex, glad you had a blast at the gig. Looking forward to seeing some pix, rock on young lady

I envy you TGS!! I love Jimmy Vaughan.

I firmly believe that seeing great performers live can help improve your playing. Seeing and hearing how they do things provides information, as well as inspiration.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

You should have brought your guitar not only to play but for Jimmy to autograph.If he ever comes to our neck of the woods that's what I'll be doing,since he's already played mine in a music store.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Glad you had fun this weekend. Looking forward to the pics.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

i am really hapy for you but a bit envious to.

antones is a great venue and i love jimmie vaughan...i have seen him several times and he always puts on a great show.

was he plugged straight into the bassmans or did he use some pedals?

Yeah, I do try to be careful most of the time. To be honest when I'm playing on a small stage with a hard hitting drummer it's a lot louder than the show last night. I was sort of snickering at those people who were complaining, since it really wasn't that bad. But I've talked to my Dad about it and when he gets a job again we're both going to get some good quality earplugs, the kind that does muffle the sound. Because I have a feeling I'm probably going to be around loud music for a long time to come.



We didn't. We've been sticking to a much tighter budget in the past six months or so and we don't eat out as much anymore. My Mom packed us some subs and snacks, and we brought a cooler full of red bulls to help keep us awake. Plus there were CDs to buy, so that's where the money went. All in all the trip cost only about $100 total for tickets and gas and merch, it would have been a lot more if we ate out and stayed the night. I'm so glad the tickets were reasonably priced. I'll probably never get to see Eric Clapton or B.B. King if they don't take their ticket prices back down to earth.



I already did when I got to meet him last July. He signed my Fender, right on the back of the headstock like on the signature model. As you can imagine, that guitar really means a lot to me. And to be honest I don't let most people touch my guitar, and Jimmie is likely one of only a few people in the world that I would let mark on it too. I'll get a picture of that up as well. My Dad hasn't loaded the pictures onto the computer yet, so it'll probably be tomorrow when he does.

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He had something that looked very similar to this,

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Voodoo-Lab-Pedal-Switcher-Guitar-Footswitch?sku=150459

And he had this guitar and amps all plugged into it.

He also had a Boss Tremolo pedal that he used on one song.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Boss-TR2-Tremolo-Pedal?sku=151381

At first I thought it was a weird colored Ibanez Tube Screamer, but when I took a closer look and stood on my toes (I'm short) I realized that it said Tremolo on it, and that it was a Boss pedal. I've been gassing for a Tremolo pedal for a while, and I think it just got worse.

He also had some rack mount gear, but I couldn't see what it was other than the fact that a couple of things said Sony on it and that he adjusted some knobs on it once during the show. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that he went wireless, but I don't know that much about wireless systems.

I also paid attention to the settings on his guitar throughout the show. As you can tell just by listening, he mostly uses the bridge or middle pickups. But I was surprised by how often he switched to the neck pickup, mainly for rhythm. His tone knobs were turned up nearly all the way most of the time.
His volume knob was down much lower than I would have thought, he mostly kept it around 5-7 unless he was soloing. Sometimes on bends he'll roll up on the volume giving a mini volume swell which sounds really, really cool and sort of underlines the bend. He only did that a couple of times, but it's definately something I'm going to experiment with. It's very cool when you're close enough to read the little numbers on the knobs without difficulty.

I also noticed that while he still used the capo fairly often (about 40% of the time), he was using a pick a lot more than I thought he would. In fact, he used a pick on nearly every song. He holds the pick normally, not upside down like Stevie. The size of the pick what somewhat smaller than a normal Fender pick, but larger than a jazz pick. You know you're a crazy guitar freak when you notice stuff like that.

I have tremendous respect for anyone in any style who can play clean with little to no effects. I rely very heavily on my TS-808 analog (an SBN Screamin' Eagle). You have to play differently clean, and I definately haven't mastered the style.

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sounds like you had a great time i haven't been to a gig in ages , the last one was sea sick steve about a year ago (i got dragged along by the wife and daughter) can't say i like him much , i prefer ry cooder

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Me too. I just started listening to him recently, and I like it.



And finally, the moment of truth! Pictures!

http://s984.photobucket.com/home/texasguitarslinger777/index

There's also one on there of the headstock of my Fender which he signed last summer.

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Cool pictures. Looks like you had a great time.
Is that Luann Barton I see on stage with him?
She's been a fixture at Antones for a long time.