Some people pick up an instrument and just know what to do with it. Stevie Ray Vaughan was one of those people. Born on October 3, 1954, in Dallas, Texas, Stevie got his first guitar at age seven. He learned by listening to blues records and copying what he heard. By his teens, he was playing in local clubs. Blues music grew out of work songs and spirituals sung in the South. Blues players express strong emotions through bending notes. Stevie's style was fierce. He played so hard that he wore through guitar strings regularly. His fingers would bleed from pressing the strings. He did not care. In 1983, his album *Texas Flood* made him famous. The title track was a tribute to a legendary blues song. Stevie's guitar playing was loud, fast, and full of feeling. He could play soft, delicate passages and then explode into wild solos. His version of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" became one of the most celebrated guitar performances in rock history. Sadly, Stevie died in a helicopter crash in 1990 at just 35 years old. In his short career, he brought blues guitar back into the spotlight and inspired a new generation of musicians.