About Me

My name is Anthony Stauffer. I’m just a guy who likes to play guitar. I am the lead guitarist and singer for a blues / rock band from State College, PA, Holy Smoke Blues. I am a computer programmer / user-interface designer / website designer for my profession. I have a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University, and I am married to a wonderful woman who has celebrated my music instead of simply tolerating it for nearly 5 years now.

Music was a big part of my family life. I grew up in the Mennonite Church which has a long tradition of singing 4 part harmony for their hymns. So I was fortunate to have such exposure to music and harmony at such an early age. I played piano for many years, but can’t remember much of that. I played drums for a bit, and can hold a somewhat steady rhythm if I have to these days.

I started playing guitar at the age of 18, the summer right before I left for Penn State University. My parents had purchased an old electric guitar and amp from a friend of mine as a graduation gift for me. My first guitar leanings were to solos by Slash, and Led Zeppelin, but once at school, I got turned onto the blues by listening to “From The Cradle” by Eric Clapton.

Shortly after I became completely enthralled by the music and playing style of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Learning his style consumed much of what could have been a decent social life in college. I started my first band after playing for about a year and a half. I was in and out of different bands, over the next 10 years, but have been with the same core group of people now since 2005.

I used to want a career as a big shot musician, but I now have learned to enjoy the simple life, without the rigors of constant traveling, and I very much enjoy my growing set of computer skills. However, I still love music, and these lessons are a way for me to share what I’ve learned with other people who may be entering this game for the first time.

About Stevie

The Stevie in StevieSnacks refers to the one and only Stevie Ray Vaughan.  I pretty much assumed that anyone who finds this site already knows that, but just in case, let me write my personal thoughts on who  he was.

Stevie’s Bio on Wikipedia

What Stevie Meant To Me

Stevie Ray Vaughan’s music rescued me from something I couldn’t identify because I didn’t know what it was.  That thing was depression.  Looking back now, I remember even as a teenager having severe bouts of depression when it felt like my world was caving in.  Times when I couldn’t sleep, didn’t feel like eating.  There was a pain inside that I thought was just the result of bad luck with girls.  But the way it affected me was on another level from simple teenage heartbreak.

Those feelings would come and go, but I knew there was something inside of me that I couldn’t explain.  Couldn’t put into words.  Didn’t know any music that could express it.  For that matter, I didn’t even know that it was something to be expressed.  All I knew is that it hurt, bad.  The pain of having no way to show how you really feel inside because you’re also desperate for people to like you.

I heard Stevie’s music right before my first year of college.  The album was "The Sky Is Cryin", and the song was the same.  I was working at Clair Brother’s Audio in Lititz, PA a the time, in the speaker department, building these huge speakers for some U2 tour or something.  We had a serious sound system there for testing the speakers, and the album was cranked.  I remember clear as day telling a co-worker: "Now THAT, is how I want to play guitar". 

Fast forward a few months.  I had already seen Stevie on SNL playing "Say What".  I had already been transfixed as I watched him destroy that stage with his guitar and wah-wah pedal.  I had already caught the bug.  But I still didn’t know why.

Then one day while visiting my parents on break from college, I rented "Live at El Mocambo".  I watched with some interest until he got to Texas Flood.  Again, I was glued to my seat.  I couldn’t move.  In the words of Neo from the Matrix, I felt "Something’s different".  As Stevie ripped into the solo, he starts off with his trademark bend, the Albert King influence coming through strong, and as he begins the response to the first bend, he starts bending that big fat 12 gauge string up, up, till you think your soul is going to start bleeding.  The camera looks down the neck at the guitar, he leans front turns his face to the camera and I saw something that changed my life.

At 29 minutes and 36 seconds into that DVD, my life made sense in a way I had never experienced before.

In that instant, Stevie looked exactly like how I felt. His guitar sounded like how I felt like screaming for reasons I didn’t even know. For the first time, I was watching someone do something that looked and sounded the way I felt inside . If you could paint a picture of what I felt all those times I was angry, frustrated, and felt like my world was caving in, it would like like Stevie in that moment, bending that string, giving it everything he had.

After that day, I still had plenty of times where I felt that dread, that anxiety, that depression.  But I knew that there was a way for me to let it out.

Some people learn to play like Stevie because they are amazed by his skill.  I learned because I had to.

 

 

About StevieSnacks

Lessons

StevieSnacks is primarily a guitar lesson website for people who want to learn how to play guitar in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan.  I record  lessons anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes and put them up on YouTube, and publish them on this site with extra details.  I also sell higher quality versions of the lessons which often include tablature, and sometimes extended length versions of the lessons.

Tone

There is also a great amount of discussion about Stevie’s legendary tone, and how he got it.  I post videos from time to time of me playing one of his songs, along with all the settings of the gear I use for the demo.  I do this so people can have some reference point for how another player gets a certain tone.

Competition?

This site is not designed to compete with anyone else, so you will not hear me talk negatively about any other guitar lesson sites.  This site is for me to share what I’ve learned, so that other people can experience the joy I’ve experienced by learning to express myself this way.

Discussion Policy

Many of my posts allow readers to add comments.  While these comments are not reviewed before being posted, I do moderate the comments strictly.  I have a zero tolerance policy for comments that are critical, hurtful, or argumentative.  If you choose to comment, please do it politely and respectfully or it will be deleted.

The rest of the internet may be polluted with people arguing, debating,  criticizing, and insulting each other, but that will not happen here, I won’t allow it.  This site is for people who want to learn, and who know how to contribute helpful, constructive criticism in a way that helps, and does not harm.

Legal

On the site StevieSnacks.com, I attempt to teach people how to play guitar in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan. What I have learned has been done without the help of instructional videos, tablature, or other published material. I learned what I know from many hours of close study of his music and performance videos while in college. Because of this, it may appear that I am some sort of expert on the subject, and this could potentially cause some people to think that I have some sort of official connection to the man, his band, or something like that. However, to clear that up, let me make a few legal disclosures.

• StevieSnacks is not endorsed by, or affiliated with the Stevie Ray Vaughan Estate.
• I am not endorsed by, or affiliated with Sony BMG Music Entertainment, or any other record label, music publisher that supported Stevie Ray Vaughan during his career.
• I have no inside knowledge of how Stevie Ray Vaughan got his legendary tone. Just the same information anyone else has available to them on the internet.
• I am not any kind of official source of information on Stevie Ray Vaughan.