John Mayer? I don't get it.

Bucket

Inspired by this thread, I put two of his albums on in the car last night - Room For Squares and Continuum.

I can see where the criticism comes from - yes, it's a bit middle-of-the-road and not exactly fiery or ballsy, but it's not really meant to be either. What he does have is the ability to write great pop songs with really nice chord progressions and melodies, combined with a good voice and some properly nice guitar playing - his tone is wonderful as well.

I really like him, to the point of having come to consider him quite an important influence on my own playing.



The solo from 2:45 here is awesome:

Teetonetal

english_bob said:

Teetonetal said:

 I went to youtube and listened to some tracks and wow. It's bland city. Reminded me of the worst of simply red.

This from a guy who started a thread about how much he liked Corinne Bailey Rae.

I guess we all have our favourite shade of beige.

Hmm, not quite. I started a thread about how good Corinne Bailey Rae was live and that it had been a surprise and exceeded my expectations. On strength of what I heard recorded I would never have dreamed of going to see her, but I got given free tickets.

So more or less a mirror of what I'm saying about Mayer. That live video is fab. the records are not.

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/109038/

I actually don't think you can really appreciate any artist fully until you have seen them play live.

Last night I went to see Joan as Police Woman. Again, on record not really my thing, but she was captivating live.

chrishill901

Teetonetal said:

I actually don't think you can really appreciate any artist fully until you have seen them play live.

Last night I went to see Joan as Police Woman. Again, on record not really my thing, but she was captivating live.

I think this is an important, and in this threat pertinent distinction. I have seen a lot of bands live that I wouldn't dream of ever buying an album of. When I saw Magic and was blown away by Mark Pellizzer I didn't go 'Oh I must buy everything he's done'... I didn't even buy the magic album. I went home, listened to Guns N' Roses and accepted it for what it was, a great show.

I've just finished listening to 'Continuum' off the back of this thread and it bored me. Does that mean I think Mayer is crap? Nope. The talent is there to hear, it just bored me. As people have rightly said, watch 'X' video of Mayer here... you can't appreciate someone until you see them in a live setting. Would I go to one of his shows if someone gave me a ticket? Of course! Mayer is bringing guitar playing to the masses and inspiring people to pick up the guitar. In that respect he is the modern day guitar hero (in every way that Ed Sheeran is too) - Doesn't mean I have to like it.

joeyowen

For me his songwriting sets him aside. He has the perfect balance of songwriting and guitar ability.

I know better guitarists that bore me after a few songs, and better songwriters which are nice to listen to but I don't connect with musically  

He just balances the two to be a great listen, and great guitar player 

My humble opinion of course 

stickyfiddle

FWIW I love the guy. I love that he's unapologetic about the PRS thing.  I love that he's about the biggest nerd out there when it comes to pedals and watches and doesn't pretend he isn't (to the extent that his signature Martin OM has an IWC triangle+dots symbol at the 12th fret) And I love that he's super-aware of people's image of him and makes jokes about it. 

I don't love all the music. The last record is pap, and I can take or leave the Grateful Dead stuff, but Continuum is absolutely amazing and every other record has at least *something* on it that's world-class, and he's admitted himself that while he'd be capable of trying to make "Continuum 2", even if it was brilliant it, would inevitably be labelled as an inferior re-hash, and as an artist he wants to try and push so that people can at least complain that they don't like "the new thing" rather than tarnish the old thing by trying to make it twice.

PC_Dave

And regardless of what you think of him, this is still a 3 page debate about what people think of him.....

Doubt I'd get 3 comments, let alone 3 pages

Bucket

I still can't fucking play "Neon".

The fact he can do that riff with ease while singing astounds me.

BRISTOL86

For those who aren’t familiar with him and who want quite a diverse ‘showcase’ of his stuff, I’d suggest the following playlist. Covers multiple styles and albums

Anything with a * indicates the version from the ‘Where The Light Is’ live album rather than the studio version. 

Helpless
Who Did You Think I Was*
Born & Raised
Waitin’ On The Day
Moving On and Getting Over
Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey
Perfectly Lonely
In The Blood
Wildfire
I’m Gonna Find Another You*
In Your Atmosphere*
Changing
Who Says
Edge of Desire
Waiting On The World To Change*
Badge and Gun
Rosie
Neon*
Come When I Call*
Slow Dancing In A Burning Room*

RandallFlagg

BRISTOL86 said:

For those who aren’t familiar with him and who want quite a diverse ‘showcase’ of his stuff, I’d suggest the following playlist. Covers multiple styles and albums

Anything with a * indicates the version from the ‘Where The Light Is’ live album rather than the studio version. 

Helpless
Who Did You Think I Was*
Born & Raised
Waitin’ On The Day
Moving On and Getting Over
Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey
Perfectly Lonely
In The Blood
Wildfire
I’m Gonna Find Another You*
In Your Atmosphere*
Changing
Who Says
Edge of Desire
Waiting On The World To Change*
Badge and Gun
Rosie
Neon*
Come When I Call*
Slow Dancing In A Burning Room*

Here's my Mayer playlist:

1. .....
2. .....
3. .....
4. ZZzzzzzzzzzz

AlexC

Tbh I’d never even heard of him til I started frequenting a certain guitar forum. At first I thought it was a typo for John Mayall. I don’t get his music either, but then he just isn’t my thing. Feel the same about Karl Urban. Their music is very, very retro and very, very American.

richardhomer

AlexC said:

Feel the same about Karl Urban. Their music is very, very retro and very, very American.

Keith Urban’s pretty good though.

AlexC

richardhomer said:

AlexC said:

Feel the same about Karl Urban. Their music is very, very retro and very, very American.

Keith Urban’s pretty good though.

Him, yeah. Not the actor. And I’m aware he’s not American - but his music is.

impmann

I don't 'get' his music - it doesn't connect with me. I can see he clearly can play and I admire *ANY* player who can sit down and shut up, letting another musician play... and those facial expressions of "wow" sitting with Trucks etc cannot be faked. So he's got integrity too. I even like some of the guitar sounds... I just haven't heard anything that moves me.

Sorry.

joneve

Bucket said:

I still can't fucking play "Neon".

The fact he can do that riff with ease while singing astounds me.

Almost certain it's some kind of witchcraft. 

Philly_Q

impmann said:

I don't 'get' his music - it doesn't connect with me. I can see he clearly can play and I admire *ANY* player who can sit down and shut up, letting another musician play... and those facial expressions of "wow" sitting with Trucks etc cannot be faked. So he's got integrity too. I even like some of the guitar sounds... I just haven't heard anything that moves me.

Sorry.

I thought his reactions to Trucks actually seemed a little stagey, but I'm probably just being mean-spirited....

The comparison with Derek Trucks is an interesting one, though.  I don't particularly like Trucks' music any more than I like Mayer's - and of course it's completely different - but I definitely feel a "wow"/"not worthy" factor with Trucks which I simply don't with Mayer.

mandosteve

Dunno if anyone said this on pages 2&3 but what I've always thought he is truly world-class at is guitar 'parts'. He has written so many interesting and unique guitar parts that compliment his (or occasionally other peoples) songs. Especially on the first three studio albums he did. Loads of tasteful leads, unusual chords and techniques and overdub ideas. You almost miss them sometimes because it can sound quite 'pop' but it's really creative stuff (and occasionally quite ground-breaking) in my not-that-humble opinion. I'm not sure many players in the last 10/15 years have changed how (younger perhaps) pop/rock guitarists sound more than him to be honest. I've never been that into his live playing (which can be a little bit SRV-lite sometimes for me - but that's just my taste) but on the records he's normally an absolute don.

Bucket

Philly_Q said:

I thought his reactions to Trucks actually seemed a little stagey, but I'm probably just being mean-spirited....

Have you seen his guitar faces? He definitely has form for exaggerated gurning, that's all I'll say.

BRISTOL86

mandosteve said:

Dunno if anyone said this on pages 2&3 but what I've always thought he is truly world-class at is guitar 'parts'. He has written so many interesting and unique guitar parts that compliment his (or occasionally other peoples) songs. Especially on the first three studio albums he did. Loads of tasteful leads, unusual chords and techniques and overdub ideas. You almost miss them sometimes because it can sound quite 'pop' but it's really creative stuff (and occasionally quite ground-breaking) in my not-that-humble opinion. I'm not sure many players in the last 10/15 years have changed how (younger perhaps) pop/rock guitarists sound more than him to be honest. I've never been that into his live playing (which can be a little bit SRV-lite sometimes for me - but that's just my taste) but on the records he's normally an absolute don.

Funny story, I heard a song about ten years ago called Streetcorner Symphony by Rob Thomas. This was years before I was into guitar and long before I’d ever heard of John Mayer, but I remembered thinking ‘that’s some tasty guitar playing in the background’

Fast forward to about a month ago when I found out it was Mayer, so I was a fan years before I even knew who he was! 

ToneControl

fandango said:

AlexHunter said:

Best John Mayer performance I’ve seen...
https://youtu.be/X1n6PgSC6IQ

sitting quietly, refusing to play a solo whilst Derek Trucks cuts loose.

Mayer is absolutely gobsmacked. He probably couldn’t play like DT even in his wildest dreams.

For that moment in time Mayer with his mouth open must have be thinking like us amateurs do..... “WTF”

whereas I didn't like DT's solo at all, although he's clearly way better than the other upright slide players I see around, who typically make a right out of tune mess out of it.

Having said that, I dislike most non-lap steel slide solos, they are usually very cheesy and samey

I don't think you can add the narrative that JM is gobsmacked and humbled, he looks to me like someone politely letting an expert do his thing.

How good can DT play non-slide solos btw?

Personally I'd get bored very quickly listening to that style of solo all night, although it's a great skill to have, I'd far rather listen to Jeff Beck

PC_Dave

ToneControl said:

How good can DT play non-slide solos btw?

Very good.... very good indeed!

I'd far rather listen to Jeff Beck

I'd much rather stick screwdrivers in my ears...