John Mayer? Any thoughts?

Saw Mayer do an acoustic set and he was real good. Don’t know about his blues band or with the GDead.

 

I have no issues with his guitar playing. Mayer is not on my list of top 10 guitarists, but he has been impressive with Dead & Co. He channels Jerry very nicely. Most guitarists will be impressed. But he is the kind of guitarist that needs to sing to make his guitar sound better and he can hit all the notes. I am one of those guitarists. Oh BTW Hendrix didn't need to sing.

But when he is placed next to one of my top 10 guitarists of all time (GOAT), who doesn't sing, he is lacking. The most annoying thing is not his singing but the bobbing he does, while singing. He looks like a marionette, controlled by strings!

 

Mayer, in my opinion , is the heir apparent to Eric Clapton. He can do blues..write a great pop song, and play in bands like Dead and Co. and completely adapt and fit in. Not many players can do that.

 

I gues he's great but who wants to listen to him for any length of time?

 

To me he is one of many, many, many players who I can respect for their chops and considerable talents but get no pleasure out of listening to their work. Others include Eddie Van Halen, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Carlos Santana and more. I respect what they do and am thankful for what they add to the continuum of music but would far rather spend my precious time listening to music that speaks to me.

 

2006 wasn't that long ago, should be very easy to prove. Buddy of mine had something like that happen with a C list artist. A 15 second terrible quality recorded clip was all it took. Every DAW stamps meta data even on WAV and MP3 bounces. A lawyer will represent you for no money up front just gets a percentage of your suit. To be honest, if he stole it from you, the second he sees your name on a lawsuit he'll settle immediately. That's not an obsolete song so it was worth a good chunk of change to him, there is no way in hell his representation wouldn't offer you at least half of the 10% royalty song writers get on first settlement offer. It would take you a couple hours on the phone to find a good lawyer. A couple hours with the lawyer to provide any documentation or proof and the lawyer does the rest. Even if you didn't want to fight it out you'd get $50-75k for about five hours work. Surprised you haven't already done it.

 

I agree, he is talented but waaaay over rated !!! There are a lot of players out there more talented. Derek Trucks is just one of them.

 

Now see? THIS is what I was talking about! Didn't see this comment before I posted my reply.

 

He is so over-rated! God, I wish I could play like him!

 

You can disagree with me, but I find Derek Trucks extremely boring after about 15 minutes, and I've seen him live and up close. The fundamental problem for me is that slide guitar is best served in very small portions. My ears quickly tire from his incessant playing of the same tropes. Similar to blues harp-- a very little goes a long way.

 

I like how his playing and style has progressed ... Really good player.
For those who don't know him yet judge, I like this clip. Always better to listen in the first person rather than read a paper/magazine report.
He's a geek, I love this NGD:

 

Yep, your absolutely right. I do disagree with you. Derek Trucks is a genius!

 

I think what Chris is trying to say is that Derek, being an instrumentalist, needs to be set up. John, being a singer-songwriter type sets himself up. Derek is absolutely brilliant at what he does but that's all he does whereas John does many things well...real well. And there's nothing wrong. I'm glad I live in a world with both of 'em in it.

Derek...brilliant!



John at the 5 minute mark...great!



And look at the respect John has for Derek...he waits till Derek nods...twice, before starting his solo.

 

JM is one of those kind of guys who was star destined. Lots of players can do what he does on guitar, but he's got the package. Star appeal across a wide range. He worked a little too hard at trying to design a "bad boy' image, and it fell flat. He also wandered around different styles and genres trying to find a home more mature than the teen/twenties girl fans to which he owes his career. But that's his real home; sellable pop songs, delivered with quality.

Not blues. The difference between Mayer and Trucks is pretty obvious in the video. Mayer does a great aping of BB's style, while Trucks brings himself to the table. Someone above said he channels Jerry very nicely. Yeah, that's what he does. He channels other players. Mayer is a musical chameleon, and he does it well, but thousands of players in clubs across the world do that just as well. But they can't write songs that millions of fans buy and love, and they don't look like him. He shouldn't abandon the fan base who appreciates his real talent in a fruitless effort to become more "musically legit" in his own eyes.

 

I haven't listened to the radio and new music much in decades. The only thing I knew of Mayer was hearing "Your Body is a Wonderland". Then after about a ten year-hiatus not playing guitar, I come back and he's somehow the hot blues guy. I still haven't listened to much of his music. He's as much of the genuine article that a mainstream guy is going to be nowadays I reckon.

 

John's facial mannerisms remind me of the guitar player in this band.....

Maybe we can make fun of him too!

 

"Your body is a wonderland" is the only song of his I've heard. I know very little about him but I think as a society, we make celebs out to be much more important than they really are...

Laura

 

It’s really weird to me, how people associate JM with “wonderland”, even though that was more than 10 years ago.

Funnily enough, the one song I always cover is “No Such Thing”, which if anything is such a well-written pop song, also from the same album. He knows what he’s doing.

I agree from a comment above that JM is a musical chameleon and apes other guitar players like BB King, Hendrix and SRV really well, and I’d point the finger right back at myself for attempting to do the exact same thing, only because those are my idols as well.

I guess my only suggestion for those who have not heard anything post-Continuum, just have a listen to his latest album. I don’t like all of it, I genuinely think a good half of it is fluff I will never get or bother trying to get; but for songs like “Helpless”, “Still Feel Like Your Man”, and “Rosie”, it’s like... wow I wish I could write stuff like that.

 

This is my favorite song on his latest album. For personal reasons this song hit me hard and drove me to tears....