The 10 Riffs That TAUGHT ME John Mayer

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[@reidharris8838]

Can we just all appreciate the quality of Mike's videos

[@JordanKyle]

The effort he puts in is ridiculous. Amazing stuff

[@judahunderwood8433]

We can

[@loganprice3291]

😅ttuu🎉🎉😊😊😊I u

[@russellives6069]

They keep getting better. I once commented that I didn’t really enjoy them, but for some reason kept watching them, so he was doing something inexplicably right. Now I truly enjoy them.

[@blindsleep]

Mike always makes me feel like I'm sitting there with him having a conversation. He has a wonderful presentation style.

[@JoshGUITARofolo]

John Mayer was a huge part of my development as a guitarist and musician too, man. Room For Squares, The Great Indoors and Continuum were my favorite albums. Love the content.

[@niekvanwensen]

The great indoors is a song on room for squares, you mean inside wants out? Or heavier things?

[@JoshGUITARofolo]

@@niekvanwensen you’re right. Heavier Things is a great album, I think that’s what I meant

[@jimmyclements6226]

John Mayer is the whole reason I started playing guitar. His creativity and passion shine through all his music.

[@NickJardine]

John Mayer is like a greatest hits of all my favourite guitarist. Hendrix, SRV, Clapton, Knopfler…. Cant get enough of his music and playing

[@blueshour]

Here are my choices: 1. Man on the side This song contains so much, it's like Mayer's Little Wing, with a Stevie Ray Vaughan intro and a tricky verse to get right. This one teaches a hell of a lot. Plus exotic chords. 2. Wild blue Deceptively simple with a lovely nod to Mark Knopfler and the dire straits. The riff is pure ear candy. 3. Slow dancing in a burning room Just a lush piece of music and teaches you how to leave space and create tension and release in your music. 4. Gravity This song is so well structured it just oozes music know-how. This was created with intent and learning it will teach you how to go about building the parts of a song.

[@judahunderwood8433]

Glad to see someone giving Wild Blue some love👏🏼👏🏼

[@LeoPerantoni]

3x5 is such a great song. Loved playing that on guitar

[@clintmiller23]

I'm 37 so Mayers first album dropped when I was probably 14-15 years old. I remember enjoying the album but moved on pretty quick as I wasn't a huge pop music guy. I wrote him off for YEARS because I only ever heard the pop stuff on the radio. Then when I was probably in my late 20s my brother in law made me watch Where the Light Is. That changed everything for me as I was already a massive fan of Hendrix, SRV, etc. It was like finding a treasure that had been buried for years and I got to enjoy discovering all this music that had been "hidden" from me for 10+ years. I've been a huge fan ever since

[@jjjvvv123]

Same, once I saw where the light is I was hooked

[@NutchanonC]

John became a huge inspiration to me somehow. Edge of Desire is one of the songs that taught me quite a lot. I love that it repeats itself but it teaches you to be consistent.

[@RobertBakerGuitar]

Mayer's music is soooo rich with musical nutrients.

[@I_am_nooh]

I see JOHN MAYER I click!

[@joewall8587]

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room taught me so many things, from solidifying my chords, to learning the riffs, to teaching me how to pick a real guitar solo. Lots of fun back when I learned it, and today too

[@22Marcovp]

Mike you’re a true guitar hero , it’s really joyful to see how good you are expressing this thoughts that we all have on our musician journey , looking forward to see your own projects in the future

[@LonnyEagletonMusic]

Great choices and excellent playing Mike! Love the commentary too.

[@garydunham335]

I love the stories youre throwing in man!

[@ian_strachs]

Queen of California is the first Mayer song where I thought "Damn. Maybe I got this guy wrong, I need to dig a bit deeper", and here I am on a video dissecting his songwriting 9 years later haha Great video as always Mike!

[@nddgcm]

Awesome vid man, I also discovered how great JM is in 2013- finished freshman year of college, was going through a lot, and I started to listen to Room for Squares the whole summer and had a blast discovering how great of a guitar player and songwriter he is through those songs. I dig the riffs you chose in this video, thanks for sharing your unique perspective!

[@AndyEdwards]

Thoroughly enjoyed that. Great job Mike!

[@Cinnamonster83]

I appreciate your videos and outlook on guitar playing, you sir have earned a sub today.

[@archiederham2103]

Mike always makes great vids, always has me coming back. Keep it up bro you're doing great stuff!

[@spennythespoo]

Hearing you talk about No Such Thing and how it "understands you" I 100% feel the same way about that song. Great video, Mike!

[@brendanfreely4626]

Awesome video, love this type of stuff! Would love to see Hendrix next

[@srvmotoman]

I do not have a 10-riffs list specifically for John Mayer. But the ones that I do have were on your list. Always enjoy your videos and would love to hear more about your guitar journey. Cheers!

[@lazvt8469]

I"m 61...playing guitar since age of 9. Got into Mayer via kids....his music got me back into guitar playing in a serious way at 55. Still love Boston, Rush, AC/DC, etc....but it's so much fun, and challenging to play Mayer stuff. Love his melodies and lyrics...genius?

[@flinx649]

yes

[@NickJardine]

Hell ya man, love this!!

[@tonyzuccaro2764]

Almost the same experience here. I’m 62. Been playing since 5th grade. Mayer is amazing. Seeing him for last 3 Dead and Co shows next week ( even though I love his acoustic playing even more). It only took me two months to learn Neon( badly- without singing) and I’m not a newbie. Just goes to show how amazing he is.

[@dragondrew]

your vids getting real good man gj

[@Grybenitez]

Nice running into you in Nashville last week! Again, love that you're diving into more Mayer! Knew I liked you!

[@deusexmachina211]

Edge of desire taught me to persevere. The first time I nAiled the whole riff while singing I felt like I leveled up or something. The song is a masterclass in creating complexity in a simple harmonic structure. Why Georgia taught me the importance of ergonomics and strong right hand technique. His crossroads ain’t no sunshine is a perfect cover and masterclass in playing with a trio. Still working on Neon, so right there with you Mike.

[@n_a3522]

This guy is cool, great stories man. Thank you

[@dionneyap4580]

Thank you for this. Another favourite favourite is covered in rain too ❤

[@bigtoysdt]

Outstanding lesson!!!

[@BennettMarks]

hearing those new pick ups in the strat with context sound really good compared to the old ones. When comparing them back to back. it was noticeable but now it really is .

[@isaachaynes6935]

Say was the first Mayer song I listened to as a kid and then Gravity. They never really moved me back then but when I started college, picked up a guitar, and listened to Still Feel Like Your Man and the Where The Light Is live album, I finally got it. Thank you John.

[@efp722]

My jaw is on the floor. I didn't think there was another one out there like me- a HUGE John Mayer fan and a huge Soccer Mommy fan. I couldn't believe it when you just dropped Soccer Mommy in there like that. I've seen a few of your vids and I was impressed- you seem super chill and cool and your clearly know your shit. I finally sub'd yesterday and this video (and that Soccer Mommy moment) solidified my decision. Haha. Awesome video man!

[@dfnymusic3396]

This video is pure gold This pretty follows my top 10 Mayer songs. It’s just missing something. ……”somethings missing”. 😊

[@sivandror6426]

Song #1 is a heavenly wonderland on it's own!! Go Miky awesome videos!

[@jomzb]

Love the shout to IDTM. Still my favourite song ever and was the reason I picked up a guitar.

[@JohnnyTurnerMusic]

I pretty much just listened to and played Greenday. Then i saw the video of Free Fallin live in LA followed by In Your Atmosphere and i was all in on John Mayer!

[@TheGuitarislove]

John Mayer is the reason I play guitar, the reason I sing, and the reason I write songs. He means everything to me

[@Stephanosdespoti]

I feel u

[@chuckyinges]

Where the Light Is is once in a lifetime live recording.

[@colbytaylor9805]

Good Love Is On the Way from Where the Light Is is a JM song I can replay endlessly

[@RameshKumar-ng3nf]

Completely new to you and your channel . What a Great content of music learning ! ❤️👌 Subscribed your channel 🙏

[@sked11]

i just started playing about a month ago and ive been working on jack johnson/john mayer stuff. god their songs are fkin difficult but so satisfying when you can even get a part of it down

[@tommyoriley4174]

Great video, Michael Kochael

[@Spedly]

Ghosts by Big Wreck and Red Light are songs that I think you would dig. Not only because theyre great, but the guitar and bass parts play off each other very well, especially Ghosts

[@theclash181]

LOVE this

[@christophers9095]

Epic video

[@drsmainemusic]

Where The Light Is... Need I say more? That concert film literally changed my life as a budding guitarist in high school.

[@chaos4316]

Slow Dancing was a definitive turning point in Mayer’s career, and what shifted my focus and attitude towards him. I started taking him seriously. Learning so many songs on that album taught me so much. But particularly time spent on this and Belief… it’s what made me as famous as I am today🤷‍♂️

[@chrismikan2631]

Saw John play Assassin acoustic when he came to Pittsburgh. It was amazing.

[@nickfunkhouser7096]

I was there too! It was awesome. I’d love to learn how to play that one day.

[@euan724]

Great video, and I love the same songs.. but with fingers as long as yours you'd better believe you've got it easy...😁

[@siggi8445]

Very entertaining and inspiring video. 😊 A similar one about John Fruciante would be awesome. 😁

[@lowelrobles507]

John Mayer inspired me to go push my guitar playing., from 4 chord guy singing with friends by the beach to doing solo and riffs.. crazy but it's a good thing to know a lot here feels the same! WOW...

[@cuteanimalsworld98]

I first saw John in 2019 while I was watching some random videos on KZbin then I saw John's Neon performance of Where the light is. right after watching his videos of playing acoustic songs that inspired me a lot to play guitar. John's probably the most inspirable guitarist and singer of this generation. He's so unique and original.

[@TobyKBTY]

No one can go wrong with any list of Mayer riffs. There’s so much to unpack in each one. His riffs that taught me gotta be: -Slow Dancing -Belief -Heart of Life -Who did you think I was -Comfortable -Edge of Desire -his cover of Don’t need no Doctor -City Love (hell yes this in your list too) - Daughters - Gravity - Why Georgia Yeah you can tell I pretty much worship the live “Light Is…” album 😂

[@riyazranjan9090]

Can't appreciate this gentleman enough !

[@giorassiccuriosity3179]

you had us at “What the heck is A john mayer”!! 😂😂

[@percypig3884]

hell yeah, the guitar Mike used on city love is the same guitar strap I have. I have it on my gretch semi hollow ;)

[@ArturBrzozowski444]

There's assassin live version? 😳 I love how you're nerding out and teaching at the same time While being interesting And showing stuff I want to learn someday somehow

[@vasantsarthi9625]

Edge of Desire live on the solo tour with his double neck AND while singing was absolutely majestic and masterful

[@TobyKBTY]

John taught me dynamics, control when all i wanted was to be obnoxiously flashy all the time. Dude is super important to me as a guitar player

[@dpduke69]

First trip to NYC to visit my uncle in 2002. I took a chance on a new artist's CD at The Virgin Megastore and that happend to be Room for Squares. That one got a lot of play in my Walkman on the way to 7th grade. Just a fun tale from early 2000's lol.. Crazy how his career has evolved since then.

[@pablocortes23]

I was not a big fan of John Mayer when i started playing (like 12 years ago)... but to be honest I never gave myself a chance to really listen to his music. It was until 2017 when I heard "The Search for Everything" and then really started fully understand why ge was such a great player... of course I listened to the Nokia Live album on repeat by months. On 2021 I finally decided to get a Silver Sky and I couldnt be happier with it. Still learning most of his songs and live solos.

[@tmmuscics2753]

Just learned stop this train, love to play it man

[@dierussmon]

Agreed with Assassin, very underrated track!!!

[@yashvardhangaur3107]

I remember I was out on a road trip once, and a John Mayer song played on my phone. I didn’t think much of it, just let it play, and move on to the next song. Two years later, when I started playing guitar, I came across John through my KZbin algorithm. For some reason, my mind vividly remembered that road trip memory from 2 years ago, so I gave him a chance again and started from ‘Slow Dancing’. It was at that moment that Mayer changed my life. Oh, and that song I’d heard years earlier? It was ‘I guess I just feel like’.

[@roadtorockstar7848]

1:33 Great Song! Great Song to start!

[@wateryTuba]

Good stuff… funny as usual

[@thrillslime4762]

I’m more of a bass player, just tryn to learn guitar now, and the vulture’s bass part so so fun with a band, it’s my fav song with the bass

[@lancelotdavis2309]

YO i started playing a year ago im gonna learn these songs Thanks!!!

[@BlueJayWaters]

It's funny, watching you go through your list reminded me of the time period I was learning guitar, and my brother was constantly saying I'd love John Mayer, and the first 5 songs you listed are why I didn't take him seriously at all. Super pop based, uninteresting guitar (for me, at the time), and not what I needed as an influence at the time. Then one day I watched VH1 Storytellers and heard his best at the time and newer work, and Heartbreak Warfare got my attention. Then Born & Raised came out and I went back and analyzed a lot of his playing, and Don't Trust, Vultures, and Slow Dancing were songs I absolutely missed out on at the time, because I was doing a lot of double stop experimenting. Even though I'm a big fan and he's a solid influence to my playing though, I still don't care for most of his work before Continuum, and even now I hear songs from his early days and feel oddly irritated at it, but appreciate the work at the same time because of how JM helped shape my sound.

[@misterknightowlandco]

I’m in the same boat… his work got a lot better after his run of being popular…

[@jeffmcintoshmusic]

I think his most underrated riff, and a song that gets looked over, is Paper Doll! I remember working at a summer camp when that came out and it was his first song in years. I loved it so much

[@RodgerDodger115]

Bro, I was thinking the same thing!!

[@jeffmcintoshmusic]

@@RodgerDodger115 I think because it was released as a single it got lost amongst the full album, but that sound is golden.

[@Toronja_Arenosa]

0:52 Love it, same thing happened with my and the Chillis (Frusciante), I stumbled across Mayer later on.

[@Cole.Elders]

GRAVITY, NEON where are they at? Love the vid btw

[@Tyler_Wilson]

I’m thankful to have discovered John from a friend of mine, Brad, in 2006. Continuum was released shortly after and we would listen to it together on repeat. What I’d give to experience that summer again. 🥲

[@BinarySk8]

Stop this train made me a significantly better musician. Learning it to the point where I could freely sing over the playing really changed me

[@tophm2634]

Mayer has inspired a generation of guitarists.

[@anonymhomoerectus7036]

Im going to my first jm concert next march. Im so excited

[@fatimamazhar2566]

Slow dancing in a burning room definitely taught me a lot about guitar playing its an amazing song

[@mrlephu2611]

John Mayer is my inspiration for life

[@vapa7065]

Good love is on the way is another one - an underrated JM song

[@stadiagamer9689]

Cool list and great guitar playing, but.. what about Neon?

[@jedi098765]

3x5's outro is still as magical today as it was back when I was in high school

[@GalAssaf]

I feel exactly like you !

[@nickjanineh3079]

Covered in rain is the perfect song to learn for development in my opinion

[@Stephanosdespoti]

John Mayer is the one made me continue and believing in my self !

[@CourtTV.]

I was just thinking about looking up a John Mauer lesson

[@EstiagoGaming]

My first ever john mayer song without even knowing it was his song was "Say" while watching The karate kid as a kid.

[@zia85]

FYI - assasin was an opener on his recent acoustic tour.

[@ZacLimon74]

Yo Mike, What are you using for the blue light in the background? Looks sick!

[@DamonBates]

John once said, many years ago, that he would look out in the audience periodically and look for the 40 year old guys....and if he saw them he knew he / his music was still cool. I was that 40 year old guy at his shows from the very beginning in about 2001. at 62 now, Im still there and it's funny to see a whole generation of Ed Sheeran fans (via KZbin) not really know his music when he opened for Ed here in Boston last week. Im so old John still feels like new music for me! As a rudimentary jazz player I was fascinated by how john could use jazz voice leading and harmony in a song like St Patricks day....SO many examples of his influence.

[@TylerJohnstonGuitar]

Everybody’s always talking about this John guy, but what city is he even the mayor of?

[@sarahince8231]

I don't play guitar, but just to throw it out there...the most Unique song I've ever heard John play was Human Nature at Michael Jackson's funeral. That's really when i actually figured out who he was (i knew several of his songs but had never put it together) and just felt it was the best way to perform at Jackson's funeral. Performing a song that was frankly different for Michael but made still his own. Can still be found on KZbin 👍🏼.

[@Renegade_raider12]

I got to see assassin live in Cleveland on the solo tour

[@DennyBob521]

I’m from an older generation of guitar players who started playing listening to Page, Hendrix, Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and then migrated backward to their influences - BB King, Muddy Waters, Lonnie Mack, Kenny Burrell. I love Mayer. I think he’s one of the guys keeping guitar music alive in this world of making a beat on a computer and auto tune. He’s an extremely talented man, there are others of the more contemporary as well I love - Ariel Posen, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jared James Nichols - oh and I had a second row seat right in front of two months ago - holy crap - Tosin Abasi. He’s unreal. And Mayer is an amazing songwriter.

[@jeffwoeber9590]

The wood grain on the neck of that Martin is absolutely gorgeous.

[@calls7338]

Totally didn't expect to hear you say you like soccer mommy. Great band!

[@boardlife27]

Edge of desire was the toughest song for me to nail the down strokes while singing

[@ikeyshuster9801]

Great

[@TheGuitarislove]

Also agreed, your body is a wonderland is objectively a well written and well produced pop song. It’s a hit for a reason

[@PeterZeeke]

1. No Such thing 2. 3x5 3. St Paticks Day 4. Bigger than my Body 5. My stupid Mouth 6. Daughters 7. Edge of Desire 8. Love soon 9. Queen of California 10. Neon Loads more, but those are the one I remember being obssessed with oh and Stop this train and Who says

[@lamtran4387]

3x5 is so hypnotize to ne somehow