How To Do John Mayer-ish Stuff (licks, solos)

ngjingming

ngjingming

New member
How do you do John Mayer-ish stuff?
Any particular scale he likes to use or sth?

I like the solos in Slow Dancing In A Burning Room and Belief alot.... the more i listen to it the more i love them.

So i was wondering how do u play stuff that sounds something the same....
 
try the 'blues scale', which is a minor pentatonic with a diminished5th. check
http://www.ocmusic.com/blues.htm out. This is just to start you off! after you get used to one position of the scale, figure out the other positions on the fingerboard. Then play around with the notes and improvise. practice vibratos and picking dynamics, add alot of feeling and you'll be on your way! hope this helps.

oh but if you want the short cut method just go search for the tabs. haha. http://www3.sympatico.ca/g403z/ has a nice collection of jm tabs, but not everything is tabbed out. btw im just referring to the general vibe of jm's playing, not just slow dancing/belief.
 
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erm do u happen to know what pickups to get near john mayer's tone? the pickups on his sig strat are not sold separately -.-
 
The pickups/amp/pedals will not get you sounding the same as JM.

I would suggest listening to the music of SRV and Hendrix, two of JM's main influences.

In the meantime, getting gear that brings you closer to his guitar's tone will do no harm, of course, and could in fact inspire you to work harder on those bluesy licks. His strat pickups are generally mid-scooped, and installed in a rosewood/alder strat, and he uses a tubescreamer-type pedal to fill the mids instead, probably for greater tonal variation and flexibility. He also uses a dumble-clone amp..so these might get you a lil closer to your goal. Mastering SRV/Hendrix will do much better though. =)
 
OMG.. wth.

I typed a super long post. But i clicked post and it went back..........................

The big dippers are texas specials with scooped mids.

Its NOT just the pickups. Every part of the guit matters as well. Quite a fair bit too.

On his sig strat, its a polyutherane finish for the alder body. String tree further from the nut. In addition to this, his guit is strung up with gauge 10 strings. before i bore you with more details or hit you hard and make you wake up, its going to be hard to copy his tone.

You need his amps too.

Dumble overdrive special, two rock JM sig,etc etc.

Pedals? Woot.

RMC wah, keeley 808, Keeley katana, Pete cornish TES, Keeley BD2,Keeley Comp, etc, etc, etc...

OH ONE MORE THING. You need his fingers as well.

No, its not about the gear. JM will sound like himself playing your strat into your amp.

I will sound like myself if i ever play JM's rig too.

Its partially in the fingers, you need his finger techniques and etc as well.
 
haha but remember, you may not be able to play like him, but you can play what he plays if that gives you satisfaction. Just go with the blues and after awhile you'll understand what he's doing better. Don't try to copy his tone, just find your own and stick with it. but since all you wanted to know is how to do JM's stuff, practice lor, that's one thing you can't buy but's worth more than asspensive pedals or pickups or amps or guitars. Then again if you have the money...why not? haha. but i say practice first.

anyway J_M_S, any good sites on JM's gear? Kinda interested..haha.
 
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John Mayer's tone is shiok.......

His repertoire of licks not only includes bluesy stuff but in addition lots of syncopations, muted strings(triads and funky chords). Its pretty simple stuff actually. How he actually puts all of it together is, of course no one's guess.
 
ok cool... hmm quite informative. but any more suggestions for the pickups? mine is currently tex mex on an alder body strat. i know cant replicate his tone but i want something nearer to his tone, coz now my tone is nowhere near his.

hmmm my initials are NJM. ngjingming. hahaha

hmm does string gauge affect the tone alot? if it does then i might wanna change em to 10s (i currently have 9s)

oh yeah i saw that he uses a fender blues junior at the website that jms gave the link to. is that good? coz i was thinking of getting a tube amp....
 
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A search through some threads there would give you your result?

I cant remember, read it somewhere on the jm forum or tgp.
 
alright did some digging (actually, alot)
and found out its the fralins blues special set.

ok next up, blues junior?
 
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