Learning the Hardest John Mayer Riff

[@gabrielgoncalves8180]

The guy playing at 03:05 was playing the album version, which is played on electric guitar without the slap. The fact that he wasn’t slapping isn’t wrong.

[@silly7eraph]

True

[@gabrieljohansen8266]

Brøther

[@gabrieljohansen8266]

O_o

[@pedrocaetano751]

You're right but I guess that what Tyler was trying to say is that it feels wrong considering that we was learning the live version of the song. Nice comment though.

[@trendkill3333]

Pretty sure the album version is quite a bit easier to play. Getting right on acoustic is hard

[@ichabod1326]

MIW - takes 45 mins to learn the riff Me - *takes 4.5 hours to get the good evening part correct*

[@g2nelson15]

Me - takes 4.5 years to get the whole song perfectly.

[@anirudhrowjee1378]

Me - takes 45 years to learn how to sit properly

[@user-wm8cc5ym7y]

It's really not that hard

[@thatshuey]

͔ sure and i am teaching john mayer to play

[@antoniosloan5643]

it took me 7 hours to get the good evening part right

[@nkyryry]

John Mayer is one of the greatest ever at the lobster claw technique. He picks this riff with two fingers.

[@arthurtonkin15]

The way I learned was to keep lobster shape stiff and play as if strumming. If that makes any sense

[@probablychris]

no doubt. between neon, stop this train/heart of life/who says-he's just gotta be

[@TheBanderson22]

@Tesco home brand pork sausage elitist 1 finger and a thumb is the same thing as two fingers. Your thumb is a finger.

[@jdstearman]

@@TheBanderson22 anatomically speaking, the thumb is not a finger.

[@r9xas]

Like a bass player

[@joshwhite3180]

John Mayer only plays with his thumb and forefinger the entire song.

[@rhabdob3895]

John Mayer plays every song with only 2 fingers. No matter what.always.

[@zac3392]

Rhabdo B Nope... 7

[@anorangewithacapybaraunder2370]

He must use his toes to form chords

[@maxmeier532]

@@anorangewithacapybaraunder2370 obviously he referred to the picking hand.

[@bobaIina]

@@anorangewithacapybaraunder2370 you didn't understand what (s)he meant.

[@christianrae5179]

Took me like a whole weekend to find out where that bass line was coming from. I searched everywhere. In my cupboards, my garage, I called my mom, nothing. And then I realised he dropped the low E to a C. As one does. Also that thumb advantage isnt fair.

[@my_family_journal]

This cracked me up real hard.

[@AwesomeRandomVids]

Yeah this needs way more likes

[@Tk421Clone]

I’ve done that with a lot of songs only to realize I’m in the wrong tuning.

[@mrwitty4166]

"I've always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but the beginning seemed so slow and frustrating..."

[@SlipperyDad]

Mr Witty lol

[@johnathanwhite4878]

Everybody get the same ads 😭😂

[@alexandreselin1714]

who said that?

[@SlipperyDad]

Alexandre Selin it's a reference to the yousician ads, it's sort of a meme in the community

[@braedonrogers5534]

*throws guitar on ground*

[@GilangRamanda]

The hard part is SINGING while doing that crazy riff.

[@jotaguisc]

It's actually pretty easy when you learn the right hand movement, I swear. I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM

[@shaterproofblosm]

Anything you can learn in one day isnt hard hahaha check out Tommy Emmanuel if you want to see something actually interesting imo. All the best!

[@renobailey8516]

That why John Mayer is one the best

[@gabrielleiria2853]

Gilang Ramanda

[@ananth218Canada]

João Guilherme Castro dude...u r amazing!!!

[@abote]

And you still hear people saying John Mayer is not that good of a guitar player :__)

[@MrTechselect]

Parmenion he is a good player but I honestly don't get the hype. The way people hype him up you'd think he was the second coming of Michael Hedges or something.

[@thepretender9140]

MrTechselect dude are joking? He is fucking great. A fucking master, as Eric Clapton said.

[@kennethhwilliams6054]

They're lying John's a bad ass on all levels, guitar, writing and has a distinctive voice.

[@mokhan8832]

He’s a good player but I’m not into his music

[@willthomson6141]

I think people like to dismiss him because he likes to write pussy songs. Not songs by a pussy you understand, songs for a pussy. Or two

[@randypr97]

John Mayer just made a TikTok where he explains his picking technique and even THEN I’m still needing to see other peoples video to learn how to do it xD tricky stuff

[@RTFosmark]

That's what brought me here! You gotta see Paul Davids's lesson on it. I got it down after a solid 4 hours, though still slower than the live version. Make sure you watch the *new* Paul Davids video, because he has an old one that is not as thorough or correct.

[@lcandothat]

Use xd again.... see what happens

[@heiwa8697]

@@lcandothat xD uwu

[@superbeast4473]

That wasn’t a tutorial. I don’t know what that was to be honest, if he wanted to teach it he could have but he didn’t he just said “make it flow” or something cheesy like that. I feel like he was just tryna dig up some old clout on TikTok

[@thelegendkillersshittyduff1335]

@@superbeast4473 acting like a damn kid and he's what 48

[@brandtbaron7809]

It’s extremely motivating to see him get this so quickly and his talent. He started playing at 13 (I think) and I’m 14 so it really goes to show that you can achieve anything with practice. Thank you!

[@SupreetSinghsuppi]

Yes you can do it. No matter what happens just don't stop when you feel like quitting

[@legoalex1930]

Keep going

[@Matt_10203]

Keep working at it, and just remember everything is a process. It’s a lot of work and effort but you’ll get there, don’t forget that.

[@rtk90083]

You can do it buddy your still young, if you want it bad enough and put the work in you can get really good. Also it wouldn't hurt to learn some music theory at least how it pertains to the fretboard learn major and minor scale, learn intervals and how to put together chords. Learn the fretboard learn the fretboard learn the fretboard!! Did i mention learn the fretboard?? Lol you got it young man, youth is on your side!

[@brandtbaron7809]

I’ve been playing guitar for almost a year now and recently started trying out Neon and I’m super close to getting it down, thanks for all of the encouragement!!

[@RossCampbellGuitarist]

Haha! It's so weird to see myself in one of your videos Tyler. Watching your Udemy and KZbin channel grow last year was what inspired me to start teaching online, so thanks for that - it changed my life for the better. Just FYI - that picking pattern you highlighted in my video is just me looping the first four notes of the fingerpicking pattern that is applied to pretty much all of the chords (if my memory serves me well). I do mention to add the slap in after that part of the video :) All the best dude.

[@KyleNoelMusic]

thought of u the second i clicked the link

[@hesch-tag]

Ross Campbell You are both very inspiring!

[@ryanshearer9110]

I was gonna message you and let you know but looks like you already beat me to it. Hahaha.

[@michael350p6]

music is win is calling you out lol

[@mdeerocks6792]

Ross, you've nailed it. Your right hand technique is just right, including extended wrist (not slamming it into the guitar) which is pretty much mandatory to get this sort of flow going.

[@tnm1697]

One thing that people don’t account for with John Mayer is his absolutely massive hands. If you’ve ever met him in real life you can see just how massive they are

[@mattgilbert7347]

Yep. Biology matters.

[@holliswilliams8426]

Buckethead also has huge hands with very long fingers.

[@phatpat7629]

Does John play basketball?

[@jakobmorningstar]

It puts my mind at ease watching this and seeing someone, who I consider to be rather talented when it comes to guitar, go through the difficulties of learning a new song and having the “wobbly baby deer legs” on the fretboard... great video

[@jakobmorningstar]

Db Cooper he never said he already knew the riff for Neon, he said he already knows a lot of his riffs

[@ninjaturdle69]

the funny thing is that it took em 45 minutes to figure it out!!!

[@jakobmorningstar]

Danny Pineda yeah, meanwhile I’m 2 months deep on the same riff lmfao although it’s not one of the main things I practice so that could be why

[@dayshawna]

Jakob Morningstar i try not to learn things too hard so it usually takes me about a week to learn a whole song properly.

[@agerm2378]

It's good to remember we all do it

[@gamesandguitars3901]

Something that really helps with ear training is playing a song you know well enough to know how it should sound then play it in the dark and hear yourself mess up you will and if you don’t then you are probably too advanced for this but when you mess up guess how many frets you need to move up or down I did that yesterday and it helped immensely

[@famatu]

Thanks mate, love it when people in the community exchange thoughts on how to improve!

[@megadodd]

Definitely an essential part of this riff is using your thumb & index finger since you lose some of the voicing easily if using standard fingerpicking patterns

[@8DenverBass]

That's actually a bass technique, Mayer is simply double thumping

[@jesushentaichrist5729]

8DenverBass ikr,i also play the bass guitar,but when i started learning neon to play on accoustic guitar,it was so easy for me to get used to the thumb picking cuz i already know how to do it

[@castlehill6717]

Invoker I don’t even really play guitar, been playing just about straight up bass for 16 years with the occasional guitar thrown in just fucking around, but fortunately for me this technique comes reallly natural for me, specifically this riff.

[@elijahpathak6854]

Ye

[@mikeswarbrigg6304]

it’s very hard to do it his way though. he only plus with his thumb and index, it’s ridiculous

[@naev.3344]

Yeah, as a bassist i noticed this too. Popping, slapping and thumping with some flamenco picking. He's basically doing a Les Claypool lol

[@Backmannen1]

"The groove is heavy with this one" - Tyler on may 4th I see what you did

[@alves220]

jacob backman hahahahahahhaha

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

XD

[@joelmichotjr97]

I got a "Yousicion can teach you how to play the ukulele" add.

[@joeylai1653]

Joel Michotjr me too

[@liquor8396]

Grab your uke and play along

[@daanboon4118]

All the fucking time

[@adhokshajacharya99]

Guess what...I haven't seen that ad on any video since months..

[@judew.3624]

Same here!

[@sammillion272]

Man this breakdown of each component of John's playing really helped me understand how to fit the pieces together. Thank you for this video.

[@dannydillon997]

As a guitarist who learned this song ten years ago or more now, I had a great time watching your video, everytime I hear this song I can normally learn something new, I noticed John plays a lot in the key of C, I'm trying to learn slow dancing in a burning room on an acoustic right now and I'm struggling, each of his songs thins the line more and more between simple and intricate. I leave y'all with a quote, "Simplicity is man's greatest intricacy, aristotle."

[@NickParees]

I consider you to be one of today's greats. Watching you learn a song from scratch reminded me that 99% of the time spent on our instrument is a long grueling experimental process where it's all trial by error. It's easy to pick up the guitar, play what's comfortable, try something new, get frustrated, and put it down again. Watching someone I consider to be a pro who is leagues and leagues beyond, actually sit down and go slow on a song was really eye-opening. Thank you for the A+, down-to-earth content as always.

[@ishaansharma654]

Loved this video! Such an organic learning process is beneficial to viewers who envy the skill of guitarists like you. It shows us that it takes quite a bit of effort and practice to get this good.

[@shambhaviyamgar6811]

Epsilon's Dilemma yes

[@schmallson]

good honest performance and practice session

[@ryanhendrymusic]

He's 6'3", his hands are massive making it easier to stretch his thumb on that last chord

[@JAQVCS]

ryan hendry I was just gonna mention that!... He's about 6'3".... If you watch him play that strat... He's hold a baby strat!... Lol...

[@johnnyjudis9163]

I’m 5 11 I work with a guy that’s like 6 1 my hands are massive compared to his it’s just genetics 😂😂

[@rcbc1986]

John wrote on his own tabs the following comment about that weird thumb position: Having GIANT thumbs help.

[@alby7348]

where can i find john's tabs?

[@mcbill7352]

@@alby7348 look up "John Mayer neon tabs" on Google images. It's handwritten and has notes written on it. It's got all of the parts

[@TheRedOctoberProject]

@@alby7348 Where can I find John's thumbs?

[@halo123keano]

@@TheRedOctoberProject the dark Web

[@paradise_valley]

@@TheRedOctoberProject most pro bass player thumbs should do the trick

[@Kondratbl]

The one that this definitely helps with is to see that even high-level guitar players can make mistakes and play sloppy while learning a song. The hardest part of learning the guitar really does lie in frustration when you see people pull everything off perfectly, but we don't realise that they once too had the same problems that we do, they just overcame that and kept on trying.

[@mractamt123]

Back in my day we used to have to pause and rewind the ol cassette player. You youngsters have it all these days. Feeling old😩

[@nimrodfernando4729]

Old and new doesnt matter for me, we all strive to learn and play some smooth tune for the sake of music.

[@blakemurphy3918]

Thanks for the tips! I’m gonna use this and finally take on Smoke On The Water

[@Karmaleon666]

😳😳😳

[@favouriteworstnightmare-am9110]

Bruh, not even guitar gods like Eddie Van Halen could do that

[@seanv4735]

Yeah the thumb is the real talent. Mayer should thank it every morning.

[@calebprice9924]

I have long ass thumbs they are very unproportional, I can do the thing...

[@Yas_]

Where the light is… indeed the one of best performances!

[@elias9746]

6:59 me trying to guitar

[@chaseblauvelt7008]

3:40 me trying to guitar

[@krishpatel3244]

@@chaseblauvelt7008 lmfao

[@zockerhdgarantiert]

@@chaseblauvelt7008 hahaha perfect

[@Patrick96322]

@RayFX ™ But you don't try to snail !!!

[@evening4092]

It's so depressing to see how easily he transcribes Edit: hey this blew up. at the time i commented id only been playing a.few months. definetly gotta better grasp now of what hes doing but he is still has phenomenal ear.

[@foxredt2]

Why? Did you also study music at one of the best places to do so? If not, then you don' t need to be. He put a lot of work in his abbilies.

[@BarelloSmith]

Actually it didn't look easy to me... XD He is editing a lot of things out, otherwise the video would have been too long.

[@NigelGrab]

The true marvel of guitar transcription is Chris Zoupa. Easily the most talented KZbin guitarist and one of the best teachers on here hands down

[@afloppingtuna]

There’s no way he could possibly learn this by ear this quick. He either already knows the song or he took time to edit out himself learning as he goes

[@dare_he_is]

This more than likely took him a few hours. He chopped it down to a 13 minutes video. He just happens to put a shit ton of work into his musical ability

[@freedomflight.]

Me: *takes a week to learn this with nonstop practice MIW: *learns in 45 min

[@evap304]

Well he got some wrong

[@retro4454]

It doesn’t exactly just take a week. It takes years of practice.

[@evilfrenzy4888]

unique GT duhh in 45 minutes he manages to do better than most guitarist

[@benhart6438]

It took me about 2 hours, and I'm not particularly good, a lot of it depends on the way you learn. The video tutorials worked well for me, then repetitions until its buttery smooth.

[@richy3421]

Motionless in white

[@harrisonwhitman3329]

After knowing this song for a good 6-8 months, I can finally play it just like he can. With the thumb and hit that Bb bass note on the last chord in the main riff, and do the thumb and the index technique.... Again, 6-8 MONTHS after originally learning this song... Must say it was worth it.

[@Pbfoot7]

that "WTF" at 12:37 had me dying

[@angelm.garibaybarona668]

I really love the way you explained the importance of take tutorials away and get back to ear-practices. Actually you have encouraged me to follow trying to do it that way. I truly admire you sir!

[@jmckaskle]

Pro Tip for learning complex music by ear: separate the bass, melody, accompaniment parts, learn them individually, then fit them together. If you have an audio file, use a tool to slow the music down and loop difficul-to-comprehend sections until you have it down. Writing it out in some sort of notation to organize it, especially rhythmically, is hugely helpful. No need to shun reading and writing music. Not using those tools doesn’t make you a better musician.

[@lancepate]

Bloozdad riff lord would disagree, it's all about the feel man. Hendrix didn't know no stupid theory and he was the greatest guitarist and musician to ever live.

[@Varone26]

Ross Campbell has the best tutorial. He helped break it down terrifically.

[@ragilmalik]

A.S.V as long as it is only played with thumb and index finger, it is correct. 99% people who say it that any other mayer's song is harder, they don't play it exactly like john. every mayer's song is only interesting and challenging if one does it exactly like john

[@ShahriarHaqueStuff]

check justin guitar

[@maycoppi]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZeUaKKpqryHpKM

[@leokogut3235]

Look at Cifra Club Neon tutorial

[@ZOOSEtheGOOSE]

If you search up John mayer live in San Francisco at the masonic, around the 17 minute mark he literally teaches how to play neon right before playing it

[@steveboel12]

0:08 god I can smell the estrogen from over here

[@mucheq5386]

What

[@mcbill7352]

@@mucheq5386 girls in the crowd

[@_pewreat3199]

Maan imagine John Mayer playing tender surrender perfectly

[@fooooked]

high IQ comment

[@strmrbtw2499]

Loool

[@technosteed4644]

1. I've heard John himself talk about his weirdly long thumbs. 2. Even though it's not the exact same technique, John also uses his index nail to hit the string while doing the down motion. Just like using a pick. You can see this technique in "Stop this train" and "Heart of life". I suspect there's some of that here too. This technique adds this click sound which get combined with the slap.

[@charwell59]

And What about the thumb hitting E string up?

[@PrestonGarvey-i2]

I don't even play guitar or know anything about it I just love the process of progression in any sort of art form.

[@flazo9152]

a settlement needs your help bro

[@Curt15x]

Legend has it John Mayer has his thumb insured for $10,000,000.00

[@rodrigocirilo5309]

It’s sad that he didn’t watch the “Cifra Club” class about this song. That guy is a genius, he just plays and teaches it perfectly. And it’s the live show version!

[@LaLaLaLoganOliver]

The dude is 6’3” I can only image how huge his hands actually are. 😳

[@whale7056]

Damn boo what that thumb do? 👁️👄👁️

[@divyeshmalhotra7649]

Fuck I'm a whole ass foot smaller. Guess I'm at a genetic disadvantage for learning this riff

[@retro4454]

I can’t do techniques on the guitar but i can pick my nose professionally

[@chrisc7574]

I'm starting to try learn this song now. This is how I interpreted the picking pattern from watching his Live in LA video at .25x speed: John only uses his thumb and index finger. His hand moves in a constant 16th note down-up-down-up pattern, with each note plucking a string. First he plucks the low E with his thumb while his hand is moving down, then the D string with his index finger while his hand is moving up, then brings his thumb up and plucks the G string while moving down again, B with index while hand is moving up, then repeat, either slapping or playing the low E string again (depending on which part of the song you're at). Basically, this song is hard as fuck.

[@spaghettisauce445]

that last part was hilarious i hope you became a better musician in 4 years

[@Markus-ge9pt]

Zartimus is the GOAT for John Mayer live performance tutorials

[@Fuffuloo]

Markus Flores finally SOMEONE mentions Zartimus! Does really no one know about him?

[@duhj]

His tutorials are great, but he is a bit sloppy with playing the songs. it doesn't matter ofc because he still makes an incredibly accurate tutorial. The dude has a damn good ear for those little details.

[@brandonthemuso8238]

Preach man. I've used his tutorials to learn the entire live version

[@andthentherewasguitar]

Zartimus for the win

[@mariepereira1154]

Bruh just use youiscian app like all shredders out there

[@themetalmemeboi5429]

Learn Everything I ALWAYS WANTED TO LEAEB GUITAR! !!!

[@adamcummings20]

But the beginning was so slow and frustrating

[@federico___6557]

but now with yousician my learning seems fun and easy!

[@dontnukeluke]

Just grab your acoustic or electric

[@rafaelpaccelliserpa]

And play along

[@RespectEdits]

I’m glad someone finally made something about this. If you want to see the correct technique, type in “how to play neon the right way” it’s the first video. I went through months of learning this technique and it is way more complex than you can imagine. You alternate the bass and g string with your thumb while getting the slap sound. I still can’t play it perfect after all this time but trust me it sounds so much better when you learn the right way.

[@Ryan10865]

Him: “That’s weird I don’t have grammarly and I don’t need it.” Grammarly who was about to give him 1,000,000 dollars so that he could promote their website: “You’ll regret that.”

[@robert-d8g7u]

yeah but that was comedy gold, so... worth it.

[@claytoncarroll7414]

you have no idea how much inspiration came from this video. you, the best guitarist i know, took time like this to learn a song that i wouldve thought came easy to such a god. but for 2 years ive dreamt of being able to play that song. and to this day you still make my dreams feel less impossible man

[@claytoncarroll7414]

not the first time i’ve watched this video btw

[@Kostas1601]

I feel like most people play this riff wrong (or not exactly right to be precise). I think as you said, examining the artist playing it live is the best way to go

[@jotaguisc]

I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM

[@luaquinomar]

Cifra Club its just great to learn songs!

[@hyde7751]

Lucas Kenui o melhor meua migo

[@luaquinomar]

Com certeza! (Sou BR também hehe)

[@gabrielmusicas]

ih ala br aqui ahsuahs

[@danilor2d269]

Olha os br ai. Nao perdem um video do cara kkkkk ♡

[@jotaguisc]

o tutorial do Leo é o melhor com certeza, mas ele esqueceu do thumb slap marcando o tempo! No meu canal tem 2 vídeos explicando direitinho como é a técnica da mão direita: /watch?v=j5A1D-sTjqE&t=

[@tiamelancholyjeoncockity]

That riff is so SATISFYING to listen to 😩💗

[@richardervins]

I‘m from a pre KZbin - even pre CD - generation. We had to learn our stuff from memory after being at a concert, vinyl records or tape. Sheet music was no help, as it either wasn‘t available or it was over simplyfied. But this oversimplification was the actual trick, that probably still works today even with highly detailed lessons: Just work out a simple version, get into the groove and flow and consciously add the more delicate and harder to play parts with time and practice. Fun fact: When you get a chance to talk the original artist in person and ask him or her about a part you had a hard time learning, he or she will most of the time start off with a simpler version, sometimes just skipping the more delicate parts, but sounding right anyway. And many of them have developed a much easier way to play their difficult stuff that you may‘ve had such a hard time learning. 😄

[@panda93247]

This is one of the best how to practice videos on the internet. Thank you so much for this.

[@sanogamble7797]

Paul Davids explained it in his video and i think his version is almost 100% same to JM

[@lamefart]

Jamie Harrison Guitar has the best version..

[@coryCuc]

@@lamefart Definitely Paul Davids and Richard Smith.

[@lamefart]

@@coryCuc Jamie Harrison had that left thumb down to the tee that's why his sounded nearer to John's. I've watched the other's versions, bdw.

[@coryCuc]

@@lamefart For the same reasons you listed, are the same reasons I think Paul and Richard do a better job at explaining it and playing it.

[@lamefart]

@@coryCuc haven't seen Paul doing the whole thing including the intro and I A-B JM's and JHG's versions and not surprisingly, they matched with just a slight tempo difference 2 mins into the song.

[@matttin579]

I made it boys learned neon it costed me crying blood and sweat but made it and I’m proud

[@masterstepz9800]

It’s very humbling to see a pro like you trying to learn something in Guitar. Then the humbling stopped after seeing you learn it in under an hour.

[@kyleellis241]

Thanks for posting a video showing the real struggles of learning certain songs. Nice to see someone much better than myself struggle until they get it as well

[@samuelmccarty4527]

I learned how to play this riff in thirty minutes, yours is about ten times better. Keep up the great work!

[@s550danny]

He flick and slaps at the same time. That’s what gives him the “gun shape” hand

[@felixgould979]

Paul David's breakdown of this riff is very good.

[@kepler9014]

The thumb and forefinger pattern is actually the way that John Mayer plays.

[@BilzoToGo]

This was better than any tutorial. i learned how to play it in about 20 minutes since you did all the hard work.

[@PhatTrumpet2]

This was all at once interesting, surprisingly inspiring, and incredibly discouraging. I fucking loved it.

[@miloudezwaan7418]

Maybe you could try "yousicion" to learn. It's the fast, fun way to learn and master the guitar. Ok. Bye.

[@kristiangade978]

milou zwaana hahahaha

[@WesleyNilsen]

milou zwaana 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@masmax246]

milou zwaana I

[@ringbamlung]

🤣🤣🤣 nice suggestions

[@joshuasmith8316]

*yousician

[@YeatzeeGuitar]

Should have continued with Ross' video. He explains the slapping after he shows the picking pattern.

[@jotaguisc]

yeah but that's for the electric guitar studio version. I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM

[@vjkwaeguiv12]

John Mayer should be part of the top 100 guitarists selected in the rolling Stone magazine..

[@gregory7807]

Ryan no he is just a slowed down version of Jimi Hendrix and that neon riff is a faster version of Pete Townsend solo

[@famatu]

@@gregory7807 Being a slowed down version of Hendrix would surely put you in the top 100 of modern guitarists

[@klla2536]

this whole riff is a humbling experience

[@somesome5600]

Thanks for showing the process. Sometimes I just feel stupid when trying it by ear and not getting it. You gave me comfort that this is just a progress until you overcome.

[@StewartWhite]

"Oh, that's weird, I don't have Grammarly, and I... don't need it..." Loved that comment! That's how I feel every freakin' time that ad pops up.

[@nortynooh_7552]

That thumb doe. Great for giving MiW likes👍 🎸🎶

[@XricheeX]

the man the myth himself got sick of everybody getting stressed over this that he uploaded a tiktok tutorial himself hahah

[@michaelmondays4723]

Thank you for this, sir. I did not learn how to play neon, but I learned how one could learn a song by breaking it down into details. Thank you!

[@NigelGrab]

Nice Chris zoupa shout out dude. That man taught me guitar pre-youtube and he's the reason I'm so musically inspired today.

[@matthewb.1687]

That scene at 12:39 killed me. I could not stop laughing when he cut to John mayer with the WTF watermark.

[@dr.derplols8312]

WTF ONLY 45 MINUTES???? I’d take AT LEAST a week to get that good... Congrats man

[@riccardozamprogno5824]

One year to me lol

[@jaguardo10]

12:12 well... He's got the hands of a basketball player. That kinda helps.

[@thaigo972]

As a dude with tiny hands, sometimes I wish I learned to play drums instead. I'm just glad I don't play bass.

[@jaguardo10]

Mikael Hetfield I know your pain my friend

[@TheNomios]

It's not really a thing of hand size. For example I can hardly stretch from C to D# on piano without touching/playing other keys but could do those thumb shenanigans as soon as I learned to play normal thumb over chords. Must be a strange anatomy :)

[@nurimetinonal2043]

I have very small hands (same size as female hands) and I can play this riff.but you need to practise A LOT

[@ssoonnyymm]

...his hands aren't black...

[@bigboiGRIFF]

After years John himself taught us the technique on insta and tik tok

[@BarelloSmith]

It is comforting to see that even professional musicians go through the same struggle when it comes to learning new songs... 😅

[@mlc6413]

12:33 I laughed so hard because of this ahahahahahah

[@danielgo942]

Hahahah I was almost laying on the floor

[@flaviusrotarita6666]

I was searching for that comment🤣

[@albertsuckel]

Look at Cifraclub's version. It's great.

[@Joellondt]

Chris Zoupa is a fucking legend. The only man that can teach you to play Through the fire and flames reasonably well in under 10 hours at 0.05x normal speed.

[@NigelGrab]

That man taught me how to play guitar before he started KZbin. He is the reason I'm so musically inspired today and is one of the best humans I know.

[@Paunaldo]

Is so amazing how an amazing guitar player have to learn another person playing ♥️

[@atomicpirate875]

I really appreciate him showing the hiccups in finding the notes and showing the little mistakes, it proves that even playing consistently for what I assume is 10+ years he isn't completely a master at guitar and that's really awesome. I know this video is old but still, appreciated!

[@AlvinRamli]

**several metronome clicks later** **ad plays**

[@Drengur]

This happened to me as I was reading your comment. 😂

[@joselupechavez9203]

HOW DID I JIST READ YOUR COMMENT ABD GET AN AD

[@gcun1992]

Lol wtf, just read the comment and an ad appeared

[@Maxpire1999]

What i sometimes try to do is to play the song at 0.25x the speed, helps me out, if you get a good view of the musicians hand of course

[@jotaguisc]

I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM

[@Maxpire1999]

Thx dude

[@jotaguisc]

I'm Brazillian and I didn't want to risk speaking english in the video, so I wrote a few things for the description including the CORRECT tabs, but if you have any questions just comment there and I'll be happy to answer ;)

[@Maxpire1999]

thanks again dude, but your video is pretty neat anyway 👍

[@TimelapseExperimentals]

So its harder than the Smoke on the Water riff? XD

[@john-fo5xv]

Timelapse Experimentals no, i feel like smoke on water is near impossible and only true masters can play it, music is win hasn’t reached that level

[@LocalGoatStatus]

@@john-fo5xv no one has quite got it down right yet, and that day may never come

[@gintokisakata3073]

@@LocalGoatStatus watch paul davids! He got it and even explains it!

[@cidoet3360]

@@gintokisakata3073 _woooosh_ *the joke flies over your head*

[@JoseARosas-wl1fx]

Gintoki Sakata r/wooosh

[@arjun.1751]

After years of hard work, perseverance, determination and everything possible I'm finally able to play this legendary song smoke on the water

[@baileyking1311]

the hardest thing i found to nail whilst learning this was the strumming pattern. the chords are pretty straight forward and are easy to re note if you can’t wrap your thumbs around the neck. as soon as you get the strumming/picking/slapping you’re set

[@baileyking1311]

p.s which isn’t f***ing easy lmao

[@treesap4059]

that only took you 45 minutes??!! 🙏🙌👏

[@renatonteixeira]

There is a weird thing about this song, if you fight with it and force yourself to only use the thumb and 1st finger for the picking everything kind of falls into place.

[@Ameen2310]

There are certain nuances of this song that's really REALLY hard to catch if learning the song by ear. It's such exceptional cases in which I do look up a good lesson or at least a transcription. I agree that using tabs is a terrible idea for growing as a guitar player. But, taking some help from tabs and still using your own skills to learn the song is perfectly fine. You didn't get it 100% right, but awesome job.

[@denverperry9410]

Ameen Singh AMEN! Nothing wrong with cross checking with videos, lessons, and tabs to make sure you got it down 100%. He seemed too prideful to want to watch lessons and use tabs. But on a song like this it's the only way be accurate.

[@jotaguisc]

I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM

[@oh_no]

As someone a year into learning. This video is prefect. Thank you for the pov 'good guitar player learning guitar'

[@YagrumsCrafts]

Ya, I like how you mentioned at the end about John Mayer's thumb. He's one of my favorite artists and when I tried to learn one of his songs I realized the problem of my small hands and his hands are MASSIVE so he can do things like that. Just means I need to find work arounds like you did and take more time on it.

[@Kevin-nr9lj]

Justin guitar has an awesome lesson on this song.

[@semikruller]

As a "Camera guy" - you should turn off autofocus, use a higher F-stop and put it in manual focus.. it keeps shifting the focus point. Cheers!

[@TheAwesomePillow]

2:20 got that hotline bling vibe y'know

[@gordonbezanson4710]

Came back to an old video to see the progress. Ya came a long way.

[@yikes7607]

I was half expecting you to rage quit but you kept calm and carried on.