Why won't the myth that John Mayer is a good guitarist die? (singing, albums)
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I think the people who are calling him an amazing blues guitarist aren't blues guitarist (and often times, aren't guitarist at all), they're music fans. Rarely will an amazing blues guitarist be both an amazing guitarist and amazingly entertaining.
Example:
Roy Buchannan
AMAZING guitarist
Entertaining for people who aren't into guitars? no so much.
B.B. King isn't the best guitarist on the planet, but EVERYBODY knows him.
So what makes an amazing guitarist an amazing guitarist?
Fans.
Have you heard his playing on the live albums, e.g. "Where the Light Is?' I'm 56 years old and have played professionally since I was 12. I've done a lot of studio sessions. I think Mayer is one of the best blues players. On the Crossroads series, ironically I thought the two best players were both singer-songwriters, Mayer and Vince Gill.
Listen to Mayer's solo on "Why Don't You Call," which is on the Where the Light Is album featuring the John Mayer trio. He has unique timing phrases, licks and especially tone. The guy just keeps getting better. I would agree with you that he's not a great singer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by austinguy2009
People treat him as some amazing blues guitarist, while in reality there are thousands of people who play blues just as good if not better than he does. Just do a youtube search for "SRV cover" or "Blues Improv" (for instance I just randomly found this - YouTube - Electric Blues Guitar Improvisation That guy actually breaks from the stereotypical mold a little bit and threw in some different-feeling after the first couple minutes). As far as famous blues guitarists, somebody in his age group - Johnny Lang - utterly annihilates him in terms of ability and soul.
And in terms of technical ability, he'd be laughed out of a competition with real studio musicians or even a below average jazz guitarist. A typical R&B studio guitarist is far more talented. To my knowledge he has no rock guitar cred either - never seen him do any Satriani-style shredding or anything.
He is a decent song writer of pop tunes (his original blues is pretty awful), a terrible vocalist, and a mediocre copycat of SRV/Eric Clapton. All his licks are pretty banal and he doesn't have a great sense of melody. His improv is pretty weak and never surprising, and he frequently hits off notes.
I mean I just saw his performance at the MJ tribute - his technique blows. He was trying to do a pseudo-jazz interpretation of Human Nature, and he made several audible mistakes in the chord transitions. Pretty amateurish IMO.
Am I the only one who feels this way? Are my ears deceiving me? Is he really a guitar genius and I'm just missing it? I understand that technical ability isn't everything but he isn't even doing anything innovative, exciting, or new. He has no new style, no new technique, not even a new take on an existing style. It's just an annoying WASPY wannabe blues to my ears. I mean what's the deal?
Is it the 55+ pining for their youth? Is it an ageist reverse issue towards the up and coming youth compounding the problem? Tough call...
Remember when Blue jeans, hair over the collar, and a book of Indian lore in the back pocket, along with anti-war sentiment bugged the Goldwater types?
Get off my back!!! Attica!!!! Down with the Pig!!! Kent State!!!
Ive seen 55+ act the same against the younger crowds today, ...remember your history, lest the bong rips make you forget...
John Mayer, working musician. He makes no claims, just does what he likes, playing his music, and the occasional nod to the past. Would it make one feel better if he could not give a rats ass about playing Machine Gun???
I do not own or know much of him, but he seems to keep an American crowd from beating the snot out of each other...
John Mayer is to the blues what Pat Boone was to early rock and roll and R&B: a washed out hacky lightweight version with all the soul of a cardboard box.
Mayer can no doubt play pretty well. But you put him up against an Eric Johnson, a Danny Gatton, a Warren Haynes, a Roy Buchanan or a Billy Gibbons and people would laugh at him.
As for Clapton, from the time he was with John Mayall (some might want to include his stint with the Yardbirds, too) up through his Derek and the Dominoes albums, Eric put out some first rate and truly soulful stuff. But since going solo, he has been little more than a glorified MOR artist. Yet, I would rather be forced to sit through ten consecutive replays of jejune crap like 461 Ocean Boulevard than one John Mayer tune, such is the agonizing level of Mayer's douchebaggery.
People treat him as some amazing blues guitarist, while in reality there are thousands of people who play blues just as good if not better than he does. Just do a youtube search for "SRV cover" or "Blues Improv" (for instance I just randomly found this - Electric Blues Guitar Improvisation - YouTube That guy actually breaks from the stereotypical mold a little bit and threw in some different-feeling after the first couple minutes). As far as famous blues guitarists, somebody in his age group - Johnny Lang - utterly annihilates him in terms of ability and soul.
And in terms of technical ability, he'd be laughed out of a competition with real studio musicians or even a below average jazz guitarist. A typical R&B studio guitarist is far more talented. To my knowledge he has no rock guitar cred either - never seen him do any Satriani-style shredding or anything.
He is a decent song writer of pop tunes (his original blues is pretty awful), a terrible vocalist, and a mediocre copycat of SRV/Eric Clapton. All his licks are pretty banal and he doesn't have a great sense of melody. His improv is pretty weak and never surprising, and he frequently hits off notes.
I mean I just saw his performance at the MJ tribute - his technique blows. He was trying to do a pseudo-jazz interpretation of Human Nature, and he made several audible mistakes in the chord transitions. Pretty amateurish IMO.
Am I the only one who feels this way? Are my ears deceiving me? Is he really a guitar genius and I'm just missing it? I understand that technical ability isn't everything but he isn't even doing anything innovative, exciting, or new. He has no new style, no new technique, not even a new take on an existing style. It's just an annoying WASPY wannabe blues to my ears. I mean what's the deal?
Mayer is not one of the best guitarist the world has ever seen , but look at his Neon solo on Keep me where the light is . And I'm sorry this guy can sing and I don't understand what you mean when you say he doesn't have a great sense of melody and he frequently hits off notes ???? seriously i think you just a hater
I think JM gets a ton of flack as though he were Britney Spears or someone of that...type. I'm not in to JM at all, but I don't understand why people concentrate so much hate on him sometimes. He seems pretty innocuous. His music is just easy-rock/early morning stuff from what I recall so it's never bothered me at all.
And I think it's such a copout to rip on someone's guitar skills unless it's the focal point of their career. I think of that dude as a songwriter that uses a guitar more than I think of him as a blues guitarist strictly, so I don't understand that logic. Complicated isn't always the answer. In fact, most of the time it's cheesy and hard to listen to. As soon as someone brings up Vai, Satriani and all those guys, who to me come off as all speed and 'wow' and no practicality or real feeling and emotion, I know I'll never get the jist of the conversation.
So what? Just because there are better blues (ish) artists, it somehow makes him the worst of the worst? You could say that about any artist no matter how talented they are. I don't get why people feel so threatened by some guy that you fry bacon to eggs to at 8AM. Why not just go after a 12 year old with a guitar on Youtube because it isn't as good as Hendrix, then?
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Mayer not overrated
