Cant believe this guy passed me by for so long, but i have only just heard my first bit of John Mayers playing, and i liked it!

Was watching the footage of Clapton’s crossroads festival on tv the other day, which pretty much forced my girlfriend into the other room as she cant stand all the `constant soloing` Anyway, i must admit I was starting to agree with her and found a fair amount of it fairly lacklustre, until a 3 piece came on, singer/guitarist with some funky glasses on and tattoo’s down his arms, bass player coming across like some experienced jazz player who can really improvise, and a drummer with so much energy it made me sit up instantly. Guitars sounded fairly SRV and the whole thing rocked! Only problem was the name didn’t come up on the screen to say who it was, and embarrassingly enough it took me ages to work out who this band was, turned out to be the john mayer trio with `who did you think I was`, man, one of the best things ive heard in a while.

Anybody got any recommendations of albums or live DVDs I should try out, I need to hear more of this guy or this band! Bit embarrassing really, don’t worry, ive heard of Hendrix and Clapton before anybody starts seeing who else ive never heard of

Cheers
Olly
!

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`I prefer not to listen to music that I can't rip off or improve on` - Ian Dury

I normally don't comment on threads about John Mayer. They are typically flamewars between the devotees and the haters. I think either position is fatuous - however, if you've never seen the guy play, you need more input to make up your mind. Since you haven't properly made your mind up yet, perhaps this will help.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Mayer-Wher ... 358&sr=8-2

And always remember:



Cheers

Nutter

Hi Olly: Mayer didn't so much leave me cold as pass me by, far as the pop star side of his output is concerned, anyhow. But a couple of years ago I saw him "doing his blues thang" supporting Clapton at a big outdoor show (the annual festival in Hyde Park, for those as know). He was all but a stranger to me so I had to take his playing on its merits - and it sounded fine, far as I could say.



(He's somewhere to be found down on that big stage, I'm sure.)

Later, at the end of Clapton's set (he ro-o-o-ocked!) Mayer came back on and they did a number together, trading solos. Mayer absolutely did not blow Clapton off the stage (as some over-excitable fans reported) but he held his own and altogether it was bonny entertainment.

I must admit, it didn't inspire me to go buy a bunch of Mayer albums, so I have nothing to recommend. But before this thread fills up with Mayer haters (which it surely will ) I think there's room to be at least interested in his playing skills, which are not earth shattering but quite nice, to my ears.

...Mind you, before we become too generous to Mr Mayer, let's just recall the terrifying mankini incident:



Eeeesh! There should be a law against that! Jennifer Aniston, what were you thinking of, girl?

Cheers - C

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sheesh! That was a picture i didnt need to see

Pop output?!? Jennifer Aniston?!? this is not what i wanted to hear. Well.... I may try an album or live dvd, but only coz i liked that one song saw!! I feel like John Mayers tricked into buying something that could be very very bad........ Why cant it all have been mentions of his `flamenco output` and comments about what the hell was `helena bonham carter` thinking eh?!? God i dont half pick em. Pop? Jennifer Aniston? good grief.

Incidently Ceri, you just reminded me mentioning hyde park. I think im going to have to get tickets to the paul simon show after all, totally cant afford it but the little voice at the back of my mind just wont give it a rest. Dagnamnit. This is why i never have any spare money.

Regards

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`I prefer not to listen to music that I can't rip off or improve on` - Ian Dury

From the admittedly little I've seen of John Mayer he divides his time between his teeny-screamy-girl-fan pop side, and his "serious" guitaristic blues side. Stick to the blues stuff and you might find some interesting things.



Personally, I got no problem with his taste in Jennifer Aniston. It's her taste in him that bothers me, far as that mankini pic is concerned. I hazily seem to recall she might have been just out of shot: they certainly had a "thing" for a while around that time.



If you do, gissa shout. Got a bunch of nice people going along, including a Forum user or two, and we are certain to have good food and drink with us. As you see from the photo above, in the past we've made the mistake of not arriving early enough and so finding ourselves a bit far back (though it's not a stupidly huge festival, so that's not the end of the world). This time we plan to arrive promptly and so will have with us the means of amusing ourselves comfortably during the time before the music begins.

I still haven't found out who the support is, by the way. So far, we've done very well in that department. We've had the likes of Jeff Beck, KT Tunstall and Sheryl Crow in the past. Hyde Park has all the upsides of a major festival, with the advantage of going home to sleep in your own bed at the end of the evening.

I believe Springsteen is headlining the next day, but we're not doing that one this year...

Cheers - C

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I'm not a big Mayer fan at all. I don't find his style or tone original. It's all teenie bopper stuff to me. Even his blues stuff hits me as pretty commercial. Lots of people like him and that's cool. We all have different tastes. I think he needs to smoke a little less weed and think about what comes out of his mouth in interviews. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate him, I just don't like him.

Mayer threads never really end well on any guitar forum.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

Overall, I like his bluesy stuff and tolerate (barely) his pop stuff.

I like that "Waiting On The World To Change" tune...

I don't like watching him sing. He looks like someone put a crawdad down the back of his britches...and he likes it.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

I'll give credit where credit is due - the guy can execute many tasty blues licks flawlessly.

Is it the next forthcoming of a revolutionary guitar god? Absolutely not.

But I can see where there is a niche in the new generation that needs a new batch of blues players.

I find this a completely reasonable and fair-minded post. You have it in a nutshell, Toronado.

...So far this ain't going the way of the average John Mayer thread on the Forum. How odd!

Cheers - C

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For me, John Mayer is a great inspiration for his humbleness and skills. Many people say they don't like him because of what he says on interviews, but no one gets his sense of humour. If you start watching some of his videos on YouTube, you'll find him crying live on stage talking to the audience about how selfish he was when he begun playing and how he loves the guys he's playing with and admires them. Also, he is the only musician I've seen so far in my life that has invited a fan from the audience to play a song with him after being asked. I don't know anyone that has ever done that. Personally, I like him as both a musician and human being.

Musically wise, I enjoy all his music. I honestly find his pop tunes very original and creative (in the guitar area - his song "Belief" is a great exemple of that). It might be a bit commercial and attractive to women, but that's the area he got into. We can only like it or dislike it accordingly to our taste in music.

His blues stuff is also very good. In my honest opinion, he's one heck of a guitar player that doesn't only use the strings and picking, but also the whole guitar and its features.
I seriously enjoy listening to his collaborations with Buddy Guy. They play great together and I must say I got some pretty nice licks out of those collabs. :p

If you want to check his stuff out, you HAVE to check his Try! - John Mayer Trio album. You'll hear a lot of tasty blues playing.

Cheers, peeps!

Hope I helped!

Rod

I agree with The_Nutter that the "where the light is" live CD from LA would be one you'd probably like most. You could always listen to some of it on Youtube before you buy.

You should also be able to find vids of him playing with artists like Buddy Guy, Clapton, BB King, etc.

Get the "Trio" album.

Steve Jordan and Pino Paladino are fantastic and really help Mayer step it up. As far as studio albums go, Continuum is his best and has some tasty playing on it and the most tolerable songs. Actually, all his albums generally have good playing in a subtle way, I'm just not crazy about the songs or the singing. His playing style and tone aren't my favorite either (I just don't think there's enough "rock and roll - in that classic esoteric, hard-to-define sense - to him), but the guy can definitely play and I respect his chops.

But yeah, again, if you're just after killer guitar playing, check out the trio album for sure.

The acoustic version of "Neon" is godlike. I've tried to play it, and I can't even come close.

I suggest watching the "Trio" portion of the DVD "Where the Light Is" to see Mayer playing Blues with Steve Jordon and Pino Paladino.
Very fine work.

His other stuff, not so much.

He has backed Clapton up in the studio for a couple of albums as well. I like his blues playing.

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield