So this weekend I started building a new playlist called, “Watching Leaves Fall Off Trees.” I had the urge to lay down in a hammock and I started imagining the leaves changing colors which ultimately led to this inspiration. The playlist Is currently a work in progress and at the moment is largely one artist who happens to be a large guitar inspiration to myself. That artist is none other than my first ever concert, John Mayer.

Where the heck do I start with this guy? I don’t know whether or not to start with his INSANE Talent or how many albums he likes to casually pop in on. Let’s start with the good. John Mayer was a lil coastie from Bridgeport, Connecticut. Mayer’s story of how he began playing guitar is kinda fun. Ever see the movie Back to the Future? Michael J Fox (Plays Marty McFly) has an insane guitar solo at one point throughout the movie to one of my favorite Chuck Berry songs, Johnny B. Goode. Well this clip apparently completely fascinated Mayer. After seeing this clip his dad rented him a guitar and John Mayer became the guitar prodigy he is today. Mayer started to take lessons and apparently never stopped. His parents actually took him to see a psychiatrist because they were so concerned at how he was so focused in on this singular thing. He eventually attended Berklee School of Music in Boston and said nah after a year and dropped out to start a band with a friend and then later went solo after taste differentials in the band.

I don’t have time to list out what’s so beautiful about every one of Mayer’s albums, because I genuinely love them all. He first broke out with Room For Squares featuring insane hits such as Why Georgia, Your Body is a Wonderland, and what is commonly known as one of the hardest guitar licks to play, Neon. AND THIS WAS ON HIS FIRST ALBUM. Few years later he produced Continuum, which has a bunch of other bangers that I know you probably have heard before. The man’s music is just genuinely bliss, and it’s perfect chill music.

The recommendation today isn’t going to be from either of these two albums actually. I’m going to make this a little throwback to my very first concert, his Battle Studies tour. Battle Studies was the album Mayer released following Continuum. Now after making a multi-platinum album, it’s really hard to follow-up and Mayer has talked about that. He initially said he struggled writing it but ultimately stated, “I think it got a lot easier when I realized that no matter what I do, it’s not going to be Continuum, good or bad.” I got to see the Battle Studies tour in September of 2009 which sparked my love for him. There’s some bangers on the album and I’d recommend listening to the full thing. I’m sure you’ve heard of some songs such as, “Who Says,” and “Heartbreak Warfare,” but did you know even TSwizzle was featured on the album? It was released while they were dating and she has some fun female lines in “Half of My Heart”

Song Recommendation

Edge of Desire – John Mayer

Man I don’t know where to start with this song. The song is a little ballad about love. To me, this song is all about love, fear, and pride. He wants to be with this person more than anything else in the world but time has created separation and they now have their own lives. He has this beautiful muted guitar lick underneath such powerful lyrics. The song is perfect for just kicking back in a dimly lit room and thinking to yourself. I genuinely love this song. It is probably the most tattoo’d Mayer song with the line going, “Don’t’ say a word just come over and lie here with me, because I’m about to set fire to everything I see.” Now if you ever see a tattoo with that phrase, you know where it’s from!

Enjoy the Mayer, embrace the chill.

Link to the Vinyl/CD if interested: Vinyl

-Jon Barker