Vaughan used both the major and minor pentatonic scales as the raw materials for his solo lines. His licks are often thought of as the ultimate culmination and evolution of the blues lead playing style. Great vibrato, tasty bends, smooth speed, Vaughan had it all and put it all together as well as any of his heroes or any blues player since!

This example has hyper speed double-stops with a jangly open high E string. It uses the Albert King pentatonic box position – one of Vaughan’s go to moves, as well as a slick way of connecting this box to the root position pentatonic scale pattern. Lightning speed position shifts from 12th position down to open position and back to 12th. The lick at bar 9 is a classic SRV move over the ‘V’ chord. Wraps up with a typical SRV turnaround phrase.