John Mayer? I don't get it.

RandallFlagg

John Mayer seems to be revered, Lee Anderton is self confessed ‘gay for Mayer’ but I don't get it.

He gets some great Strat tones, has some really nice gear and plays some softish bluesy stuff but his songs and singing don't seem to be particularly exciting and I don't see much fire, grit or passion.

Am I missing something? I have his Continuum album but the songs seem pretty middle of the road and tame.

 

octatonic

Try playing any of his tunes, video the results and post them here.

guitarfishbay

RandallFlagg

octatonic said:

Try playing any of his tunes, video the results and post them here.

Why on earth would I want to do that?

randella

octatonic said:

Try playing any of his tunes, video the results and post them here.

I'm not sure that's a fair point - I never 'got' Yngwie Malmsteen.  That's not to say I didn't appreciate the complexity of what he was doing, he just bored me witless whereas I could listen to Paul Gilbert fretwank on for hours.

The chances of me being able to copy either are fairly slim.

FWIW I don't much care for John Mayer - no negativity towards the man, I just can't get into his stuff.  Maybe I need to try again.

guitarfishbay

If you're after fire, grit, and passion, are you sure you're listening to the right genre?  The Continuum album is a pop album with guitars.  I like it personally, but it's not full of fire and grit...

octatonic

randella said:

octatonic said:

Try playing any of his tunes, video the results and post them here.

I'm not sure that's a fair point - I never 'got' Yngwie Malmsteen.  That's not to say I didn't appreciate the complexity of what he was doing, he just bored me witless whereas I could listen to Paul Gilbert fretwank on for hours.

The chances of me being able to copy either are fairly slim.

FWIW I don't much care for John Mayer - no negativity towards the man, I just can't get into his stuff.  Maybe I need to try again.

I’m not really trying to be fair....

randella

guitarfishbay said:

If you're after fire, grit, and passion, are you sure you're listening to the right genre?  The Continuum album is a pop album with guitars.  I like it personally, but it's not full of fire and grit...

Is that a bit of rhyming slang at the end?

Seriously though, I think that sums it up for me.  Wrong genre.

It took me years to work out why I no longer liked Radio 1 - the station didn't change, I got older

Axe_meister

The John Mayer Trio does show a bit of grit and why he is considered a great player.
He is guitar pop and American girls get wet for him. The production and musicians on his albums are top draw.
He's a bit like Clapton/Chris Rea/Dire Staights/Phil Collins in the 80s. Modern pop you mum can listen to.

Philly_Q

RandallFlagg said:

Am I missing something? I have his Continuum album but the songs seem pretty middle of the road and tame.
 

I agree with you.  He's obviously talented, a fair number of people like what he does but that doesn't mean you're missing anything if it's not for you.

I can't play any of his tunes either.  Obviously.

stonevibe

RandallFlagg said:

John Mayer seems to be revered, Lee Anderton is self confessed ‘gay for Mayer’ but I don't get it.

He gets some great Strat tones, has some really nice gear and plays some softish bluesy stuff but his songs and singing don't seem to be particularly exciting and I don't see much fire, grit or passion.

Am I missing something? I have his Continuum album but the songs seem pretty middle of the road and tame.

 

You need a vagina to appreciate his music.

RandallFlagg

octatonic said:

randella said:

octatonic said:

Try playing any of his tunes, video the results and post them here.

I'm not sure that's a fair point - I never 'got' Yngwie Malmsteen.  That's not to say I didn't appreciate the complexity of what he was doing, he just bored me witless whereas I could listen to Paul Gilbert fretwank on for hours.

The chances of me being able to copy either are fairly slim.

FWIW I don't much care for John Mayer - no negativity towards the man, I just can't get into his stuff.  Maybe I need to try again.

I’m not really trying to be fair....

Dare we assume you like John Mayer then?

octatonic

RandallFlagg said:

octatonic said:

randella said:

octatonic said:

Try playing any of his tunes, video the results and post them here.

I'm not sure that's a fair point - I never 'got' Yngwie Malmsteen.  That's not to say I didn't appreciate the complexity of what he was doing, he just bored me witless whereas I could listen to Paul Gilbert fretwank on for hours.

The chances of me being able to copy either are fairly slim.

FWIW I don't much care for John Mayer - no negativity towards the man, I just can't get into his stuff.  Maybe I need to try again.

I’m not really trying to be fair....

Dare we assume you like John Mayer then?

Not especially actually.
I can appreciate his ability but I don’t regularly listen to him.
I only have Continuum.

I’m more interested in guys like Landau and Robbin Ford.

octatonic

That should be Robben Ford- predictive text.

chrishill901

I think I'm with @RandallFlagg on this - I never listened to Mayer but from the hype he seems to get from EVERYWHERE I just assumed that he was some sort of mindblowing modern day SRV - I just don't get it. Sure it's great pop music but I don't get the Mayer hype and I don't listen to pop. There are great pop music guitarists everywhere - Mark Pellizzer of Magic is a sensational guitar player, but its not the type of music that produces guitar heroes... I suppose the question is how has Mayer done it? Nobody is doubting his talent but it is hidden behind the mainstream, hidden in plain sight.

octatonic

Initially he appealed mostly to a female audience- he bolted the guitar nerd stuff on later.

EricTheWeary

chrishill901 said:

I think I'm with @RandallFlagg on this - I never listened to Mayer but from the hype he seems to get from EVERYWHERE I just assumed that he was some sort of mindblowing modern day SRV - I just don't get it. Sure it's great pop music but I don't get the Mayer hype and I don't listen to pop. There are great pop music guitarists everywhere - Mark Pellizzer of Magic is a sensational guitar player, but its not the type of music that produces guitar heroes... I suppose the question is how has Mayer done it? Nobody is doubting his talent but it is hidden behind the mainstream, hidden in plain sight.

We get intermittent John Mayer Discussions on here so ya da ya da ya da but that may be the first mention of Mark Pellizzer I've ever seen on here. I really like Magic and his playing, I was quite shocked when I discovered a band I liked had a massive international hit. 

Majorscale

If we all liked the same things, life would be boring....

I like Mayer, particularly his “Where the light is” live album. That is quality and more raw than  his admittedly (over?) produced studio albums.

chrishill901

EricTheWeary said:

chrishill901 said:

I think I'm with @RandallFlagg on this - I never listened to Mayer but from the hype he seems to get from EVERYWHERE I just assumed that he was some sort of mindblowing modern day SRV - I just don't get it. Sure it's great pop music but I don't get the Mayer hype and I don't listen to pop. There are great pop music guitarists everywhere - Mark Pellizzer of Magic is a sensational guitar player, but its not the type of music that produces guitar heroes... I suppose the question is how has Mayer done it? Nobody is doubting his talent but it is hidden behind the mainstream, hidden in plain sight.

We get intermittent John Mayer Discussions on here so ya da ya da ya da but that may be the first mention of Mark Pellizzer I've ever seen on here. I really like Magic and his playing, I was quite shocked when I discovered a band I liked had a massive international hit. 

I got dragged to see Maroon 5 by an ex and Magic supported them - I was blown away by Pellizzer and said to my ex that if we were in the 80s this guy would be huge...

Maroon 5 were also awesome though, so I ate a large helping of humble pie that day and both bands are two of the best I've seen live to date.

dindude

He's a phenomenal player - and the rare type that doesn't seem to need to show it at every available opportunity, so an album of his might only have a few perceived magic guitar moments but he has a restraint and subtlety running throughout that is a rare commodity. I do agree that sometimes I wish he'd just cut loose a little and his song writing has got worse, not better, over the last few albums IMO, but he is of the upper tier of players who just "gets it" IMO, along with the likes of Ford and Landau as octatonic mentions.

not_the_dj

I like a lot of his stuff, and I have no desire for him to put his willy anywhere near me.

Continuum is a really good guitar based commercial album, the live stuff with the Trio is brilliant, in fact the "Where the light is" CD/DVD is by far my favorite release of this (apart from the talkie but in the Hendrix cover which is laughable).

I like the couple of albums after that where he went more acoustic/singer songwritter/americana....and "Walt Grace Submarine Test" is a brilliant song.

I've not got the latest stuff, and he can appear incredibly smug via his online personna....and I don't care for the PRS Strat...but I'm not going to get annoyed about it.