I tried going back to my original budget gear before getting rid of it and I immediately sounded like a worse player. It works, but it’s like listening to a demo instead of the final mastered song.
My theory is that these rig is turn to the setting that really required a well practiced hand to make sound the way people recognize. As with Eddie's and Vai's rig look at many people who get to play those rig giving interviews.
What’s funny is this was the EVH paradox 40 years ago. I’ve heard it multiple ways. One story was that Ted Nugent asked to play EVH’s rig. After play for a bit Ted said to Eddie, it doesn’t sound like when you play it. To which EVH replied. “No shit.”
Yep, all they r doing is rippping off the EVH ‘tone is in the fingers’ famous guitarist go Eddie came over he used my guitar it was plugged into all my gear n presets, but for some reason it sounded exactly like EVH, not a thing like me, that’s when I realised ‘tone is in the fingers’ I actually cant believe they r trying to resell this without realising any dedicated guitarist is guna know this tale from EVH
He's using it properly. "a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true."
@@Leo-sd3jt What he's saying is that, despite the equipment, he's always John Mayer, because in fact he is John Mayer. Where is the paradox? What does his statement contradicts itself? I think the term paradox is being used in a subjective way, not by it factual objective meaning of paradox. It's my opinion, anyway.
@@JorgeLourenco000 the contradictory part is that John Meyer uses complicated expensive equipment and then uses simple affordable equipment and yet sounds the same. That's the paradox. The explanation for the paradox (what makes the paradox true) is that the style and sound depends more on the guitar player than the equipment
@@JorgeLourenco000he's not saying he's John Mayer the person. He's talking about the sound. He uses this vast expensive equipment to get the music he makes, to sound like him. But yet he can also somehow not use any of it and still somehow sound the same. How can someone both need that equipment and yet not need that equipment to sound like John Mayer? How can something need to meet certain parameters to exist and yet not need to meet them to exist. Thats the paradoxical thing they're talking about
Nah that's pretty false. All of Pink Floyd's gear was bought for them. They had brand new stratocasters and P bases, and organs right from the start. Oh and a PA system
@@anterich3752kraftwerk literally had to design and build half of their equipment themselves because the instruments they were using didn't exist as commercial products.
One thing I've noticed with my own playing is that I improved a lot when my wife gave me a $4000.00 Gibson Les Paul Custom for my birthday. It wasn't really the guitar that made me better, but the fact that I now felt like I needed to practice and learn more to justify having it. But most of the time, I'll grab my 800.00 SG or my 1500.00 Strat.
I had a similar experience, but no enviable wife or custom shop guitar. I bought myself a Gibson trad pro LP to kind of prove a point to myself and friends that expensive gear doesn't make you sound better, and the price is unjustifiable compared to "just as good" budget options. The result was that the guitar made me want to play more, which in turn made me a better player. TLDR: if it feels, looks, and sounds great, you'll be drawn to pick it up more often, therefore will get better at playing.
The only difference I’ve found in more expensive guitars is how they play. You can make cheaper guitars sound like more expensive guitars. They just take more effort in your fingers. The outbound tones will be different depending on material of body construction and pickups. But at a real basic level what makes a song sing. You can make those notes basically the same. The bends, slides, the pressure, the nuisances. Just takes slight adjustments in your fingers. That’s awesome though. Better gear does make for a better experience. Because of the effort.
That's not what a paradox is. The actual John Mayer paradox is that John Mayer is one of the greatest living musicians in the world and yet somehow he has the most milquetoast catalog I've ever heard in my life.
I thought the John Mayer paradox was him being considered "One of the greatest guitar players who's ever lived" despite never playing an innovative guitar solo and mostly playing Blues licks that were already stale before John Mayer was born.
Sounds exactly how Billy Gibbons explained EVH, and how he was so disappointed to finally get to play through Eddies live rig when they played a gig together, and he said "i didnt sound like Eddie at all. I still sounded like me, and when Eddie played my gretch through my amp, he still sounded like Eddie".
Jonny Marr admitted he has no idea what setup he used to record 'How soon is now?'. He just started a process and kept adding to it until he got the sound he wanted. Afterwards he realised he could have got the same sound in a much simpler way. That's the creative process, i suppose.
@@Leo-sd3jtit's not a paradox. It's like saying you driving two cars going 60 mph cannot be going the same speed because one is a Toyota and the other is a Ferrari. They're both going 60mph, and you're still driving them. The only difference is the equipment
@@Leo-sd3jt no, you are not understanding dynamics at play. "sound different" refers to TALENT only ...specifically not the equipment. he is talented regardless of equipment. which is a "no shit sherlock" type of statement. it is only a "paradox" to gear junkies chasing gear dragons. (that's a heroin reference btw)
This man doesn't know who John Meyer is, yet is marketing his Chinese pedals while pretending to know John Meyer personally. John Meyer is both dead and alive until someone buys one of each of these pedals and his fate is determined.
I think when people say he’s one of the best guitar players is how he uses the guitar in the songwriting. Which is definitely, with all his “flaws”, exceeding other guitarists in that specific department.
When I was a teenager, and starting out in the 80s, I couldn't understand why when I played a Jackson Soloist through a JCM 800 half-stack at Sam Ash, I didn't sound much different than I did at home on my Charvel through a 20W Peavey Audition Chorus. 😐 Same ineptitude, just a lot louder. 😁 Then I read about Eddie Van Halen and Ted Nugent playing each other's rigs, guitars and all. They were both amazed that they didn't sound anything like the other. Eddie figured out no matter what he played through, he still sounded like himself, so it's all in the hands. So all the characteristics and enhancements I seek in my gear; wood, pickups, pots, strings, bridge, etc, etc... The changes are MOSTLY pretty subtle. And it's all broadcasting where, when, and how I hit the strings as I do. Styles can be copied, and tones can be chased down. (Ben Eller seems particularly good at this) But after the nuances have been copied, your own style starts coming through. Listen to your favorite bands playing covers of songs you know well. Is it a faithful recreation, or did they do their own thing with it? Usually it's a little of both.
The biggest example of “sounding like himself” in my opinion is Eddie Van Halen. Eddie was just was about him tinkering and f-ing up a guitar to taste, and messing up a transformer so his amp would be slightly underpowered yet so specifically his. That. And the massive talent that was able to come up with music so intricately his, that you can kinda imagine what collabs could’ve come out of it if he were still alive today. The confirmation of this is seeing his son Wolfie be able to replicate so much of EVH while still able to kickstart his own career with his own sound and style - across multiple instruments! It’s all in the ear, and EVH seems to have passed much of it to Wolfie.
That’s one of the things I love about Richie Kotzen. Besides the fact that he’s an incredible songwriter, guitarist, vocalist. His live set up is basically, a wah pedal, and his Fly Rig pedal. That’s it.
I’d say the John Mayer Paradox is how someone so good can put out exclusively “pop rock” office party safe music. Where The Light Is was a formative memory for me in terms of music
It is. But the final sound experience is more in the fingers. That's why beginners with great gear still sound bad. But why would a pro deliberately go for bad tone...?
It's true though. The gear creates the tone, but the player creates the feel and controls the tone. Give a bedroom shredder a les paul and large marshal stack with distortion pedals and they'll not be able to handle, maintain or control the noise and feedback, but others can manipulate those characteristics to their advantage.
One guitar. One amp. The ability to work your tone and volume controls. It's literally all you need. Everything else is smoke and mirrors, and Emperor's new clothes. Good of JHS to admit it.
You couldn't be farther from the truth if you tried. Different effects provide a different type of sound. Nobody is telling you that you have to use anything else, but there's nothing "false" about using a chorus, phaser, delay, wah, or anything else if you want to.
I correlate this song to the feeling of finally wanting to open up to the girl you love but being to scared to do so, mainly out of fear of being rejected
I’m a Mayer fan, a guitarist and fan of a lot of legends throughout time - he’s right on both accounts tone is in the fingers, nice gear helps, I prefer my core PRS 594 to my daughters Squier, but I’m still me either way. I get crap from other players who haven’t paid attention to him a wrote him off as a pop singer back in the early 2000s, but he is an amazing player, and also a great songwriter.
I've spent less than $3000 dollars on equipment over 20 years. But I've spent 20 years with what I have. I support the pedal folx but as angry as I was when the guy at the shop told my dad to buy me an acoustic guitar, they were right. Learning how to get different tones out of an acoustic guitar made everything so much more intimate and I no longer know where I'm going with this.
"I'm not gonna demo all of them, because well, I'll leave that up to you" really doing a good job reviewing this guitar for your audience Robert. Hope you made good money off that Sweetwater sponsorship.
I understand the message. It’s relevant. It’s also relevant that gear, and the ignorance of how to wield it, can also limit expression. I seem to remember some younger JHS lads in a little store in Grandview helping me figure that out.
The best comment I’ve ever gotten related to this is from a musician family friend. He is a guitarist and I just like to collect guitars and I’m not that good at playing whole songs. He said “you are the guy musicians hate because you have this naturally smooth flow when you play and can take a cheap guitar and still make it sound amazing yet you don’t sit down and practice to become great. So many guys work and work to have that flow and some just have it.” John Mayer is one of those guys.
John Mayer is a poster boy with a soft singing voice who happens to be relatively good at guitar that soccer mums can feel all gooey about after they have had a couple glasses of red.
Moral of the story: LEARN YOUR INSTRUMENT!! I see so many people expensive Custom Shop Strats, Two Rock’s, and so forth, and either they aren’t that proficient at their instrument, or can play seemingly really well yet have no idea WHAT it is they are playing and why. With that said, there are a tremendous amount of incredible players with amazing gear out there who have put in the time to really learn their instrument and it’s always riveting to watch!
The massive amount of gear just gives more possibilities... When he's on the club, playing low-key blues, there's no need for flexibility, one great tone and bam! And it's easy to get with a couple of pedals and an Amplifier.
I've been playing cheap gear since high school. Even now when I could buy a Fender, I still stick to my trusted Squier. I like the feel of it, it lets me express myself musically, and it's not a hassle to bring to any gig. That's enough for me as a musician
This is why the older and more experienced I get as a musician, the less I care about gear and instruments. It’s about the player. Also, for what it’s worth, Mayer’s ego is so huge it puts me off him in a big way. Once upon a time in a guitar player magazine, he compared himself to Jimi Hendrix. Come on.
As a kid when his first acoustic album came out inside wants out I had been playing guitar for a few years. But when I heard that album I literally became obsessed and locked myself in my house for an entire summer and forced myself to learn every single song perfectly. This exercise increased my ability with guitar further than any other time in my life. I went from a crappy guitar player to playing neon. As a freaking kid.
Nuno Bettincort tells a story about being at a Van Halen sound check. Ed was just playing through Ed's rig and he calls Nuno over, hands him the guitar and says "Nuno, play through my rig." Nuno is trying to maintain his cool, but inside he's exploding because he's finally going to sound like Van Halen. Nuno starts playing Ed's guitar and immediately sounds like Nuno.
Same goes for John Scofield. If he wants to sound like himself, he can make that sound on virtually any guitar. And if he wants to sound like f.e. Robert Johnson he can do that too! I heard him do that at the end of à soundcheck when I was testing the intermission-music for his concert at our venue…. 😁😄
So if I spend a boatload of money on gear… I’ll still suck, just expensively?
Worth the experiment at least 😂
I tried going back to my original budget gear before getting rid of it and I immediately sounded like a worse player. It works, but it’s like listening to a demo instead of the final mastered song.
I see the guitar pedal community and the synthesizer community have a lot in common 😂
Yes
That’s the plan.
“You can either play the fu*king thing,or you can’t.”
- Dad
Dads always hit with hard truths.
I like your dad
me and kurt cobain are on the same level then :3
My theory is that these rig is turn to the setting that really required a well practiced hand to make sound the way people recognize.
As with Eddie's and Vai's rig look at many people who get to play those rig giving interviews.
Beautiful quote
So you’re telling me that everything I need to sound like John Mayer is already inside me?
John Mayer was inside me all along.
He’s been inside a lot of people.
How often do you change your g string?
He gets around
That's what my wife said as she served me divorce papers.😭
What’s funny is this was the EVH paradox 40 years ago. I’ve heard it multiple ways. One story was that Ted Nugent asked to play EVH’s rig. After play for a bit Ted said to Eddie, it doesn’t sound like when you play it. To which EVH replied. “No shit.”
My favorite thing in these situations with Eddie was people being like “where tf is your distortion pedal?”
I thought the same thing. I've never heard it in reference to anyone other than Eddie.
Exhibit 24523 of Nugent being a moron lol.
Lets not forget ted nugent is an over rated lunatic.
Yep, all they r doing is rippping off the EVH ‘tone is in the fingers’ famous guitarist go Eddie came over he used my guitar it was plugged into all my gear n presets, but for some reason it sounded exactly like EVH, not a thing like me, that’s when I realised ‘tone is in the fingers’ I actually cant believe they r trying to resell this without realising any dedicated guitarist is guna know this tale from EVH
Wait til this guy finds out what the word paradox means
I was thinking the same.
He's using it properly.
"a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true."
@@Leo-sd3jt What he's saying is that, despite the equipment, he's always John Mayer, because in fact he is John Mayer. Where is the paradox? What does his statement contradicts itself? I think the term paradox is being used in a subjective way, not by it factual objective meaning of paradox. It's my opinion, anyway.
@@JorgeLourenco000 the contradictory part is that John Meyer uses complicated expensive equipment and then uses simple affordable equipment and yet sounds the same. That's the paradox. The explanation for the paradox (what makes the paradox true) is that the style and sound depends more on the guitar player than the equipment
@@JorgeLourenco000he's not saying he's John Mayer the person. He's talking about the sound. He uses this vast expensive equipment to get the music he makes, to sound like him. But yet he can also somehow not use any of it and still somehow sound the same. How can someone both need that equipment and yet not need that equipment to sound like John Mayer? How can something need to meet certain parameters to exist and yet not need to meet them to exist. Thats the paradoxical thing they're talking about
I can't think of many guitarists, or musicians in general, who had the gear they wanted before their own talents made it possible to afford.
Kraftwerk
Nah that's pretty false. All of Pink Floyd's gear was bought for them. They had brand new stratocasters and P bases, and organs right from the start. Oh and a PA system
Tbh in today’s day it is more common to see people with crazy expensive equipment and experience that hasn’t caught up to their wallet just yet
@@anterich3752kraftwerk literally had to design and build half of their equipment themselves because the instruments they were using didn't exist as commercial products.
@@casanovafunkenstein5090 Yes, but they had enough money to build these before they became famous.
The truth we needed but didn’t want to hear.
It's been out for years but everybody forgets it as soon as a new pedal comes out.
One thing I've noticed with my own playing is that I improved a lot when my wife gave me a $4000.00 Gibson Les Paul Custom for my birthday. It wasn't really the guitar that made me better, but the fact that I now felt like I needed to practice and learn more to justify having it.
But most of the time, I'll grab my 800.00 SG or my 1500.00 Strat.
You, sir, have an amazing wife. Well chosen.
let me know if you ever get divorced.
I had a similar experience, but no enviable wife or custom shop guitar. I bought myself a Gibson trad pro LP to kind of prove a point to myself and friends that expensive gear doesn't make you sound better, and the price is unjustifiable compared to "just as good" budget options. The result was that the guitar made me want to play more, which in turn made me a better player. TLDR: if it feels, looks, and sounds great, you'll be drawn to pick it up more often, therefore will get better at playing.
You're right! My partner bought me my dream camera and the same thing happened. I beat my guitars up too much to ever buy a super nice one though.
The only difference I’ve found in more expensive guitars is how they play. You can make cheaper guitars sound like more expensive guitars. They just take more effort in your fingers. The outbound tones will be different depending on material of body construction and pickups. But at a real basic level what makes a song sing. You can make those notes basically the same. The bends, slides, the pressure, the nuisances. Just takes slight adjustments in your fingers.
That’s awesome though. Better gear does make for a better experience. Because of the effort.
That's not what a paradox is. The actual John Mayer paradox is that John Mayer is one of the greatest living musicians in the world and yet somehow he has the most milquetoast catalog I've ever heard in my life.
Exactly
haha word of the day
YES
Nailed it
I thought the John Mayer paradox was him being considered "One of the greatest guitar players who's ever lived" despite never playing an innovative guitar solo and mostly playing Blues licks that were already stale before John Mayer was born.
Sounds exactly how Billy Gibbons explained EVH, and how he was so disappointed to finally get to play through Eddies live rig when they played a gig together, and he said "i didnt sound like Eddie at all. I still sounded like me, and when Eddie played my gretch through my amp, he still sounded like Eddie".
Jonny Marr admitted he has no idea what setup he used to record 'How soon is now?'.
He just started a process and kept adding to it until he got the sound he wanted.
Afterwards he realised he could have got the same sound in a much simpler way.
That's the creative process, i suppose.
So, you don't understand what a paradox is.
I love how that is all you will ever take away from this.
That's the paradox
What were you expecting from the guy that just takes existing circuit designs and then repackages them at a $250 markup with “little tweaks”
So, YOU don't understand what a paradox is.
Not a paradox but a good point.
“These are my tools. They’re crappy student model tools and i play better than you” -Jack Stratton
Yeah, but fallacy isn't as sexy
It's a paradox. You'd think he'd sound different when using different equipment but he sounds the same despite the contradictory conditions
@@Leo-sd3jtit's not a paradox. It's like saying you driving two cars going 60 mph cannot be going the same speed because one is a Toyota and the other is a Ferrari. They're both going 60mph, and you're still driving them. The only difference is the equipment
@@TheDerrogative Sounds like a paradox.
@@Leo-sd3jt no, you are not understanding dynamics at play. "sound different" refers to TALENT only ...specifically not the equipment. he is talented regardless of equipment. which is a "no shit sherlock" type of statement. it is only a "paradox" to gear junkies chasing gear dragons. (that's a heroin reference btw)
One of the greatest guitarists that ever lived?
How far down the list are we talking?
He's definitely up there.
No more than 5 or 6
Greatest 500 maybe?
That's not what a paradox is :(
Maybe they meant to say he sounds better with the smaller board? That would make it a paradox, i think lol
You're right, I think the John Mayer constant would have been more appropriate
Hear, hear !!!
@@identifiesas65.wheresmyche95 that would classify as a irony (a negative result that's opposite than the one expected)
This man doesn't know who John Meyer is, yet is marketing his Chinese pedals while pretending to know John Meyer personally. John Meyer is both dead and alive until someone buys one of each of these pedals and his fate is determined.
"One of the greatest guitar players who ever lived."
Agree to disagree.
Really a great player, and artist. Big fan here. But, them are big words.
Totally agree. He's obviously good and has talent, but one of the "greatest"? Not even close.
I think when people say he’s one of the best guitar players is how he uses the guitar in the songwriting. Which is definitely, with all his “flaws”, exceeding other guitarists in that specific department.
Of course, he's "one of the greatest..."
He's just not anywhere near the top.
So, just become John Mayer? Got it!
You only can be good if you can play with 100 pedals or only an amplifier and still sounding as you
You had me before you said “or”.
Instructions unclear, bought more pedals.
As John himself says "it's not the notes you play....it's the notes **I** play"
It’s not a paradox,there’s a very logical answer to John sounding like himself you just explained it.
“Some people says oh it’s the guitarist not the guitar, bullshit it’s the guitar” - Adam Jones
That's not a paradox
All guitar and bass tone is in the right hand
When I was a teenager, and starting out in the 80s, I couldn't understand why when I played a Jackson Soloist through a JCM 800 half-stack at Sam Ash, I didn't sound much different than I did at home on my Charvel through a 20W Peavey Audition Chorus. 😐 Same ineptitude, just a lot louder. 😁
Then I read about Eddie Van Halen and Ted Nugent playing each other's rigs, guitars and all. They were both amazed that they didn't sound anything like the other. Eddie figured out no matter what he played through, he still sounded like himself, so it's all in the hands.
So all the characteristics and enhancements I seek in my gear; wood, pickups, pots, strings, bridge, etc, etc... The changes are MOSTLY pretty subtle. And it's all broadcasting where, when, and how I hit the strings as I do. Styles can be copied, and tones can be chased down. (Ben Eller seems particularly good at this) But after the nuances have been copied, your own style starts coming through. Listen to your favorite bands playing covers of songs you know well. Is it a faithful recreation, or did they do their own thing with it? Usually it's a little of both.
I love this explanation. I think there is definitely a real life lesson her to be learned.
Just have to say it… this is not an example of a paradox
My guitar playing sounds like a burning room....I try 😂
underrated comment lol
The biggest example of “sounding like himself” in my opinion is Eddie Van Halen. Eddie was just was about him tinkering and f-ing up a guitar to taste, and messing up a transformer so his amp would be slightly underpowered yet so specifically his.
That. And the massive talent that was able to come up with music so intricately his, that you can kinda imagine what collabs could’ve come out of it if he were still alive today. The confirmation of this is seeing his son Wolfie be able to replicate so much of EVH while still able to kickstart his own career with his own sound and style - across multiple instruments! It’s all in the ear, and EVH seems to have passed much of it to Wolfie.
maybe john mayer was the friends we made along the way
“One of the greatest guitar player that ever lived” seems hyperbolic.
Everyone who has the gear says its not the gear
toan is in the fingers brah
yet they still want the gear
that’s not a paradox it’s just you explaining how pedals don’t give tone (the absolutely do)
Josh need to explain about Josh why that he's so influencle and loveable.
And hated by the hivemind at the same time.
He’s the most unpretentious guitar-guy on the CZcams.
Josh is honest, and that's why we love him!
@@kurtweiand7086 I'm so obsessed with him and The JHS Show.
don't ask him about devi ever or about what the Foot Fuzz is based on.
his videos are cool but that doesn't make him an honest guy
That’s one of the things I love about Richie Kotzen. Besides the fact that he’s an incredible songwriter, guitarist, vocalist. His live set up is basically, a wah pedal, and his Fly Rig pedal. That’s it.
I’d say the John Mayer Paradox is how someone so good can put out exclusively “pop rock” office party safe music.
Where The Light Is was a formative memory for me in terms of music
This was very interesting. I’ve never heard of John Mayer so I’ll check him out.
The funny thing is, John himself has said "the tone is in the gear."
It is. But the final sound experience is more in the fingers. That's why beginners with great gear still sound bad. But why would a pro deliberately go for bad tone...?
It is. Technique and musicality arent.
It's true though. The gear creates the tone, but the player creates the feel and controls the tone. Give a bedroom shredder a les paul and large marshal stack with distortion pedals and they'll not be able to handle, maintain or control the noise and feedback, but others can manipulate those characteristics to their advantage.
I have my own paradox: whichever guitar I’m playing, I always seem to sound like me.
That’s not a paradox. It’s simple: he’s a great player who knows how to play for small rooms and stadiums alike
More of an explanation than a paradox.
It’s all about the fingers. Learnt this the hard way over many years.
So the sound is in the John Mayer 🤯
That’s not a paradox, that’s a waste of money
Wow! So I've been doing it right, err, lefty, this entire time. Righteous 🎉❤
"No you can't say that the tone can't be in the fingers!!!"
there is a video somewhere of john playing with a high school band next to a pool with a les paul special and a dinky amp. he sounds JUST LIKE john
“ It’s not the plane it’s the pilot “ - Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell
One guitar. One amp. The ability to work your tone and volume controls. It's literally all you need. Everything else is smoke and mirrors, and Emperor's new clothes. Good of JHS to admit it.
You couldn't be farther from the truth if you tried. Different effects provide a different type of sound. Nobody is telling you that you have to use anything else, but there's nothing "false" about using a chorus, phaser, delay, wah, or anything else if you want to.
I correlate this song to the feeling of finally wanting to open up to the girl you love but being to scared to do so, mainly out of fear of being rejected
I’m a Mayer fan, a guitarist and fan of a lot of legends throughout time - he’s right on both accounts tone is in the fingers, nice gear helps, I prefer my core PRS 594 to my daughters Squier, but I’m still me either way.
I get crap from other players who haven’t paid attention to him a wrote him off as a pop singer back in the early 2000s, but he is an amazing player, and also a great songwriter.
"Worlds best guitar player"
Me: sure buddy
Its all in these 🙌 puppies and a little 🧠 paired with 👂
TONE 👏 IS 👏 IN 👏 THE 👏 HANDS
Why in the world is that a “paradox”? I’m very confused.
This is true for ANY creative endeavor.
Always been true in music. The instrument barely matters when you're a great player
And he’s got an AdrenaLinn! Hell yeah, greatest guitar effect ever.
I've spent less than $3000 dollars on equipment over 20 years. But I've spent 20 years with what I have. I support the pedal folx but as angry as I was when the guy at the shop told my dad to buy me an acoustic guitar, they were right. Learning how to get different tones out of an acoustic guitar made everything so much more intimate and I no longer know where I'm going with this.
It's all in the fingers.
It's all in the hands
Fascinating
The other paradox is that he’s handsome, tall, funny, a good dude, and super talented.
In the UK we call this "all the kit, no clue"
So true! You can tone-hunt all day long, but if you never get good at the guitar itself, it doesn't matter.
What I wonder about John Mayer is, does he have the box?
He's had lots of hot box.
"I'm not gonna demo all of them, because well, I'll leave that up to you" really doing a good job reviewing this guitar for your audience Robert. Hope you made good money off that Sweetwater sponsorship.
huh?
Not a paradox, just a life lesson
I understand the message. It’s relevant. It’s also relevant that gear, and the ignorance of how to wield it, can also limit expression. I seem to remember some younger JHS lads in a little store in Grandview helping me figure that out.
The tone of Theseus
I thought this was the golfers paradox
“Josh, can you explain the thing that people have been saying about guitar players for forever now?”
It’s all about the player. Want to sound like them, then learn to play like them to get close. Great tip
I just want that Mayer-Garcia tone
The best comment I’ve ever gotten related to this is from a musician family friend. He is a guitarist and I just like to collect guitars and I’m not that good at playing whole songs. He said “you are the guy musicians hate because you have this naturally smooth flow when you play and can take a cheap guitar and still make it sound amazing yet you don’t sit down and practice to become great. So many guys work and work to have that flow and some just have it.” John Mayer is one of those guys.
John Mayer is a poster boy with a soft singing voice who happens to be relatively good at guitar that soccer mums can feel all gooey about after they have had a couple glasses of red.
Moral of the story: LEARN YOUR INSTRUMENT!!
I see so many people expensive Custom Shop Strats, Two Rock’s, and so forth, and either they aren’t that proficient at their instrument, or can play seemingly really well yet have no idea WHAT it is they are playing and why.
With that said, there are a tremendous amount of incredible players with amazing gear out there who have put in the time to really learn their instrument and it’s always riveting to watch!
JUST TELL ME WHATS ON HIS BOARD, JOSH! 😤😏
"It's the Driver, NOT the car."
JoBo
Brian Setzer played through SRV's rig at Mud Island when Stray Cats opened. Said he sounded like Brian Setzer.
The massive amount of gear just gives more possibilities... When he's on the club, playing low-key blues, there's no need for flexibility, one great tone and bam! And it's easy to get with a couple of pedals and an Amplifier.
It's not about the pedals you buy but about the music you make along the way.
that he is a world class guitar player but makes music for teenie boppers
Doesn’t matter what pencil or computer Stephen King writes his novels in
I've been playing cheap gear since high school. Even now when I could buy a Fender, I still stick to my trusted Squier. I like the feel of it, it lets me express myself musically, and it's not a hassle to bring to any gig. That's enough for me as a musician
Sound chasers in shambles hearing Josh speak the truth
True words
i had zero clue he did all that with his gigging rigs!
One of the greatest guitar players who ever lived? Um, ookay man
This is why the older and more experienced I get as a musician, the less I care about gear and instruments. It’s about the player. Also, for what it’s worth, Mayer’s ego is so huge it puts me off him in a big way. Once upon a time in a guitar player magazine, he compared himself to Jimi Hendrix. Come on.
Going from a cheap guitar to a nice guitar genuinely improved my playing. But I also practiced a lot.
As a kid when his first acoustic album came out inside wants out I had been playing guitar for a few years. But when I heard that album I literally became obsessed and locked myself in my house for an entire summer and forced myself to learn every single song perfectly. This exercise increased my ability with guitar further than any other time in my life. I went from a crappy guitar player to playing neon. As a freaking kid.
I heard once that the tone is literally in your fingers. That's always stuck with me when I'm buying stuff.
"Tone is in the fingers" at length, basically.
Nuno Bettincort tells a story about being at a Van Halen sound check. Ed was just playing through Ed's rig and he calls Nuno over, hands him the guitar and says "Nuno, play through my rig."
Nuno is trying to maintain his cool, but inside he's exploding because he's finally going to sound like Van Halen. Nuno starts playing Ed's guitar and immediately sounds like Nuno.
Nooooooo!!! Its the GEAR!!! I run screaming with my hands over my ears.
See My Jumper Hanging on the Line
that's high praise
John Mayeradox
Same goes for John Scofield. If he wants to sound like himself, he can make that sound on virtually any guitar. And if he wants to sound like f.e. Robert Johnson he can do that too! I heard him do that at the end of à soundcheck when I was testing the intermission-music for his concert at our venue…. 😁😄