#164286  by Jon S.
 
I don't know if this has already been posted here - my search a few minutes ago didn't find it - but in my view this video is well worth the 27:12.

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 #164314  by Jon S.
 
When threads in this forum have a low "reply to view ratio" it can be hard to gauge whether others are finding the info. useful or not. I hope the folks here are giving Mayer's video a chance as it's indeed cool and helpful musically.
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 #164315  by handyandy
 
Jon S. wrote:When threads in this forum have a low "reply to view ratio" it can be hard to gauge whether others are finding the info. useful or not. I hope the folks here are giving Mayer's video a chance as it's indeed cool and helpful musically.
I saw this on Instagram a couple hours after he did it. I found it very interesting and cool to see the lead player of Dead & Co to share his thought process. I'm just a rukind junkie and wanna read what others have to say about it.
 #164317  by old man down
 
Well, I watched it. Haven't really followed his career, so I learned a few things.

  • He plays lefty.
    • I'm left handed but I play righty.
  • He doesn't use a pick.
    • When I learned to play, neither did I.
      I let my thumbnail grow really long and used that.
      Years later I had to learn how to play with a pick.
      • Took forever.
        I drop my pick incessantly due to dry hands.
  • He makes a lot of mistakes, but noodles out of them.
  • He doesn't really "get" modes, doesn't think that way.
    • Neither do I.
      • I feel a lot better, now.
 #164320  by Jon S.
 
He's a righty (reverse camera on the Instagram video).

Image

Making mistakes and playing through them - that's human. 8)
 #164344  by mgbills
 
I loved this. JM shows his devotion, humility & a lot of Love and admiration for the FatMan.

I continuously am amazed that a guy with such a mammoth pop career would even care. Doesn't seem like he's doing it for the money.

It's also vindication in a way. I have two non-Head coworkers who I've tried to bring into the fold (a fools errand ...I know). One was a former international touring southern rock musician. One is a metal meathead. Nope. Nada. But here's the thing. JM really has them scratching their heads...

Everyone who plays guitar and once listened to Fire loves the line..."anybody can noodle in B Mixo." I'd like ...just one time...to not internally lose my shit over that one liner.
Last edited by mgbills on Sat Jan 19, 2019 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #164345  by lovetoboogie
 
For full disclosure this could be construed as a negative post. My apologies...

John Mayer is a fantastically talented cat so I am admittedly not sure why I still haven't taken to him with Dead and Company. I clearly get that this is NOT THE GRATEFUL DEAD. Lord knows I have tried...I have gone to several shows, I bought a sleeveless sweatshirt, and got myself a PRS and Deluxe Reverb. I must be blocking him mentally because I couldn't sit through him explaining identifying chords on multiple parts of the fretboard. When I learned this stuff I was still bangin' out KISS tunes in my bedroom as a teen. Ace Frehley taught me more! And I believe I learned more from this little backstage snippet that anything John Mayer is trying to explain.

*As an aside, I tried to get excited about Dead and Co in Mexico so I watched the opener. Shakedown Street, and once again it really sounded weird. Slow, plodding, Mayer with wicked bad guitar tone. I stuck with it and made it to the end of one song. So for fun I put on a Shakedown from 84' where Garcia sounds horrible vocally but man he shreds the jam to pieces like his life depends on it. So this fairly open-minded, generous and hardcore Deadhead just can't get with the John Mayer thing. I will try harder I suppose...I would like to like it!

**I just went back and read what I wrote. I sound like a !@#$ I feel awkward pointing out what I don't like when this was clearly placed in the right topic, and could help someone looking for tips. So for the new cats coming on board I welcome you, and yes this has some begrudgingly good tips for opening up the fretboard.

*** I admittedly enjoy how humble and genuine he comes across...just watched it to the end!



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 #164346  by old man down
 
I remember the first time I saw this clip. It still affects me the same way.

The knock on the door, "Five minutes."

Jerry looks up to the greeter, politely nods an 'understood,' barely missing a beat.

Then he looks at the camera, and smiles with indescribable warmth.

Thanks for posting and adding context to this thread.
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 #164347  by mkaufman
 
mgbills wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 8:35 pm Everyone who plays guitar and once listened to Fire loves the line..."anybody can noodle in A Mixo." I'd like ...just one time...to not internally lose my shit over that one liner.
Yes, but can they noodle in B Mixo?? There's the real talent! :lol: :lol:

ace
 #164348  by Jon S.
 
Indeed, context is key.

The context of Mayer's video is it's on a basic level for a general guitarist audience.

"Comparison is the thief of joy." Theodore Roosevelt

My personal experience is that accepting and enjoying the present in no way means negating or disrespecting the past, and doing less comparing to what's gone and more enjoying of what is increases my joy.
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 #164350  by lovetoboogie
 
Jon S. wrote: Fri Jan 18, 2019 6:51 am ...

"Comparison is the thief of joy." Theodore Roosevelt
Well put, yes,...but,


"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. "

-William Arthur Ward

Do you feel inspired by the teachings of John Mayer? That might clarify my position somewhat.
 #164351  by tcsned
 
I think Jon makes a good point, this isn’t intended as a master class it’s a fun little video for general guitar playing audience. Most of the people on this forum won’t learn much other than as noted a mega-popstar demonstrating humility and joy with Dead music.

lovetoboogie, while I agree this video is not a pedagogical masterpiece he does do something very pedagogically sound, he gives a glimpse into what’s going on in his head while he’s playing. Modeling expert thinking is a great technique. I have worked in higher ed teaching and learning for a long time and it’s one of the things that I work with our faculty at doing.
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 #164352  by lovetoboogie
 
tcsned wrote: Fri Jan 18, 2019 12:12 pm I think Jon makes a good point, this isn’t intended as a master class it’s a fun little video for general guitar playing audience. Most of the people on this forum won’t learn much other than as noted a mega-popstar demonstrating humility and joy with Dead music.

lovetoboogie, while I agree this video is not a pedagogical masterpiece he does do something very pedagogically sound, he gives a glimpse into what’s going on in his head while he’s playing. Modeling expert thinking is a great technique. I have worked in higher ed teaching and learning for a long time and it’s one of the things that I work with our faculty at doing.
I agree...I was actually humbled after watching it through. I can eat a hat every now and then. ;)
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 #164354  by MikeMcA
 
I dug this. Thanks for sharing.

The modes thing surprised me. Jerry described himself as a "modal player" and I've always taken that to heart when working on his style. I find modes can help with the "suggest the chord without playing it" goal because when you have a sequence of modally related chords you can play melodic lines out of the mode which emphasize the chord tones as they go by rather than just switching abruptly from arpeggio to arpeggio.

One thing I've never done which JM clearly does is think in terms of pentatonics. To me a pentatonic scale is just a subset of a mode. I wonder if that's holding me back somehow?
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