John Mayer

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LeftyBlues
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Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:12 am

John Mayer

Post by LeftyBlues »

Is anyone really digging John Mayer right now? I used to absolutely hate John Mayer, especially his more mainstream pop stuff, but now I can't get enough! :icon_whoknows: My tone went from really distorted to this really glassy-clean Mayer tone within a day and I think I'll keep it (I still like that distortion so my clean is a bit more heavy and I use a lot of the Tube Screamer). Even some of his poppier stuff I'm liking, like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32GZ3suxRn4

But some of the stuff that really gets me is his spot on Hendrix playing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQSGa8nZs8g

What's your guy's opinion on Mayer?
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MikeJackal
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Re: John Mayer

Post by MikeJackal »

He used popular music as a format to getting noticed and getting a record deal, now he is going back to what he loves which is the blues. His album Continuum is really a great album and has some great songs such as Gravity, Bold As Love (which I prefer to Hendrix's original....I know please don't flame me) and my personal favourite Stop This Train, a great acoustic piece that I put in the topic "soundtrack to your life" because the lyrics are perfect to my main fear in life, getting older and your family passing on.
I had his concert of the John Mayer Trio live and he played some really bluesy songs and there's no doubt he's an incredible guitarist.
I didn't like his latest album though, went away from the blues again, but if he went back to it I would definitely buy his album again.
"You Only Live But Once, When Your Dead Your Done...So Let The Good Times Roll" - B.B. King
"I'm So Lonesome I Don't Even Have Me No Friend, I've Done So Much Crying Will I Ever Laugh Again" - Peter Green
LeftyBlues
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Re: John Mayer

Post by LeftyBlues »

MikeJackal wrote: I know please don't flame me) and my personal favourite Stop This Train
Hey man, you should be flaming me! I really like Half of My Heart with Taylor Swift lol. His newest album is ok, I completely dislike Crossroads though. It sounds like a midi machine farting that trys to pass off as guitar.
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MikeJackal
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Re: John Mayer

Post by MikeJackal »

Yeah when I saw Crossroads on the track list I though, whoa great another great rocking guitar version of crossroads....oh dear, how disappointing. Good analogy of what it sounds like.
"You Only Live But Once, When Your Dead Your Done...So Let The Good Times Roll" - B.B. King
"I'm So Lonesome I Don't Even Have Me No Friend, I've Done So Much Crying Will I Ever Laugh Again" - Peter Green
LeftyBlues
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Re: John Mayer

Post by LeftyBlues »

Yeah, i was pretty disappointed with Crossroads, but Mayer's still good.... not a good as Clapton though haha
tombstone
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Re: John Mayer

Post by tombstone »

He's good. I was at Crossroads last year, and he was one of the breakout highlights. He was blistering.
I used to be tombstoneblues.
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Blackhorse
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Re: John Mayer

Post by Blackhorse »

I wasn't aware of Mayer the "pop star" at all. I first saw him at one of the Crossroads festivals, I think it was the 2005 one (on DVD), and I just saw him as a very good bluesy guitar player. I was impressed. :clap:

I have since listened to a lot of his music, I really like the Trio album Try!, and I love Continuum and Where the Light Is, both album and DVD. His tone is beautiful, as a strat player myself his tone is something I have aspired to ever since. His solos, especially on the Iive albums where he stretches out a bit, are fantastic. I was a little disappointed with Battle Studies, it's a good album with some great songs, but I was expecting and hoping for something even better than everything he had done previously, instead it felt like a small step backwards. :wall:
Like you, I was expecting something better from Crossroads, having seen a Youtube vid of him playing the song with Clapton, which was really special. It has grown on me a bit, kinda like the later ZZ Top albums with a similarly harsh tone, but it's not one of my favourites.

I have tried listening to his other albums before the Trio album, Any Given Thursday, Room for Squares, Heavier Things, but I just can't. They're too lightweight and poppy. :icon_whoknows:

I think he has a really great album in him, waiting to come out. Let's hope the next one is it!
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12bar
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Re: John Mayer

Post by 12bar »

Our member jjbennett is a Mayer specialist, but he hasn't posted this year AFAIK. JJ - are you there? :wave:
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Strummer07
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Re: John Mayer

Post by Strummer07 »

I'll own up to being a bit of a John Mayer "supporter" ..but I wouldn't classify myself an 'fan' by any stretch of the imagination

I quite liked 'Heavier Things " and was really taken with "Contiuum" and the DVD , saw him live - supporting EC in the 2008 "Hard Rock Calling" in Hyde park .. and he was spot on .also in the Crossroads events .he's been top notch ..................But - But - But......... "Battle Studies" was a real big Disappointment.

and "Crossroads " was postively 'Yuk'

Agree with Black Horse .there is a belting album in there somewhere if he doesn't get too big for his boots or start believing his own press. He should get old T Bone Burnett to come along and produce him.

Real Talented Player ..........but a bit lost in terms of outputs
"Death is just a heartbeat away"
lyric from "Out in The Fields"
Gary Moore 1952-2011
tradrrr
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Re: John Mayer

Post by tradrrr »

I agree with the majority of the board, I started liking him at Continuum and Battle Studies has grown on me. He has a softness to his playing that I really dig.

People's opinion on Mayer has always fascinated me. He gets a lot of crap for his personal stuff, but it's hard to deny his great guitar playing. And as much as I wish he would continue down the Continuum path, you can't argue with his reasoning: i've read that he says he'll bounce back and forth between the poppy stuff and the bluesy stuff because he wants to continue to grow as an artist (plus the poppy stuff sells better). But you can't argue that bluesy cds don't sell very well to the masses. I guess what I'm saying is I don't blame him for balancing career success with taking his music to another level.

By the way, I really must commend the board for allowing good conversations to take place. I think the thing I like most about this board is it doesn't turn into a 'he's better than him' thing. Makes me proud to be a member.
Let me tell you what the blues is....
tradrrr
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Re: John Mayer

Post by tradrrr »

And as long as we're sharing, I like this one off his newest. I really like the 'mini-solo' starting at 3:30.

0B5tBJXT_c8
Let me tell you what the blues is....
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12bar
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Re: John Mayer

Post by 12bar »

I heard that John takes the opposite way of EC - starting with pop crap, then going to the Blues... :big_smile:
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VikingBlues
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Re: John Mayer

Post by VikingBlues »

Difficult balancing act - juggling the career and artistic "integrity". I can see how choices can become difficult when you need to put food on the table and earn and save enough to try to cover for those years when things may not go so well and popularity might wane. I recall Woody Allen used to alternate popular films the studio wanted with ones he wanted to do that were much less mainstream - one financed the other.

In the music field there's a recent example of commercial v artistic interests - Sandi Thom was very commercial "pop", then Joe Bonamassa's support and help meant she was able to play the blues she's wanted to but couldn't get a recording contract with. The executives and money men are obsessed with markets and figures - always have been. Many years back it was suggested to Alex Harvey that he lied about his age when the Sensational Alex Harvey Band were becoming popular - his reply was apparently (wonderfully) unprintable and I can imagine the scene very vividly - he was never one for BS.
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
LeftyBlues
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Re: John Mayer

Post by LeftyBlues »

12bar wrote:I heard that John takes the opposite way of EC - starting with pop crap, then going to the Blues... :big_smile:
Hahahahahaha, never looked at it that way. Atleast he'll get better as he gets older (I hope).

Another thing that I really like about him is even in his non-cover songs you can tell he draws major influences from SRV and Jimi. You can definitely hear the Albert King style bends and the oh so good Jimi double stops with the hammer-ons and pull offs. I would be pretty happy if he made an all blues album. I know he played on it a bit but maybe he could do an album Road To Escondito-esque with Clapton and JJ. That'd be awesome stuff.
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