John Mayer studied at the Berklee College of Music, but like many other successful musicians that attended the school, he dropped out and moved to Atlanta. He played local clubs, refining his act and building a following. He played SXSW in 2001 and was signed to Aware Records, and shortly after Columbia Records. Two of his early albums - Room for Squares and Heavier Things - both achieved multi-platinum status. His early music was mostly acoustic, and a few years later in 2005 he shifted into rock and blues genres that had initially influenced his playing. He formed the John Mayer Trio, a group we all love, covering many of the blues classics and playing bluesy originals. John continued to record his own albums, releasing Continuum in 2006 and Battle Studies in 2009. John also has toured with Dead & Company - I saw them play at the Forum in Los Angeles in January 2020 and they were incredible! I hope you enjoy these John Mayer licks!
Lick #1: John Mayer I Guess I Just Feel Like Transcription
John Mayer plays this solo in a YouTube video where he shows his in studio process for recording the solo on his song I Guess I Just Feel Like. You can watch the original video by clicking here. Dial in a nice, creamy distortion with lots of sustain for this one!
John mainly sticks to the B blues scale for this solo. After learning the notes, I recommend playing along with the video to nail the feel and articulations John uses.
There are a few bends in measures 4 and 5. Pay close attention to the articulations as some of these are quarter or half-bends, and some are bends and releases.
At the end of measure 6, you can either play the F# on the 11th fret with your ring finger and tap the 14th fret, which is what John does and I think is the easier method to use, or you can play the 11th with your first finger and use your pinky for the 14th. I recommend going for the tap!
Nail those high bends in measure 16! The first couple bends are nice and slow, but are full-step bends. John then plays a couple bends and releases that you’ll want to quickly release for articulation.
Click here to listen to this lick on Soundslice.
