Chords for John Mayer Guitar Technique in 5 Minutes

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ [Dm] _ _ [Am] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F#m] _ _ _ _ [B] _ _
_ Ok then guys, so let's walk through this little lick and [D] yep, this is all about John Mayer
and first things first, we're using the fingers with the right hand.
So I'm using my thumb
and my first finger and I'm going to use a typical John Mayer style technique which is
just literally using those two during the lead play.
Ok, so this isn't the kind of finger
style we're playing with all three or four, however many fingers.
It's just those two.
So as we go through this solo, I just want you to pay attention to that right hand as
well because that's a really big part of this sound.
So I'm up in C [E] sharp minor, _ _ [C#] _
pentatonic
shape 1 [E] _ _ [Am] and you could call it E major as well but really I'm thinking C sharp minor at the
moment and I start like this _
_ _ _ _ [G#m] with this kind of classic blues lick and what we're doing
is I'm actually going to use my first finger on the 9th fret of the B string and then I'm
[B] going to drag my third finger onto the 12th [G#m] and that's going to be with my thumb and my
thumb on the right hand.
Ok, _ _ [C#m] then 9th fret again but this time this is on the high E
string and I'm using my first finger this time to pluck up at that.
[E] _ Giving it a nice
twang.
That's the lead up and then I'm going to [F] grab the 12th fret and I'm going to give
it a little quarter bend [C#m] back to the 9 and then 9 on the B string.
_ _ _ _ So notice I'm not
quite flattening it here.
I can do or you can kind of slightly roll over.
_ _ Whatever you
prefer really.
The flattening thing does work well as long as you [G#m] don't kind of keep it
so flat that you don't let the note kind of recover after you do the [B] bend over here.
Ok?
So notice also with the right hand I'm doing finger, [C#m] finger, thumb.
_ _ _ _ Ok?
And I do do that
twice exactly like that.
Sorry, three times.
_ [B] No, it is twice and then I'm going to jump
up to the 12 and then bend that a full [F#] tone. _
[B] Ok?
Now you've got to really dig in to not
grab the strings above and make it sound [C#] like this.
You know where you hit the other [D] notes.
You've got to dig in [C#] and really give it some to get the full bend.
Again I'm using my first
finger on the right hand and then coming down to the 12.
So that first bit is this.
[C#m] _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ Ok?
So [F#] you don't hear the bend drop down.
Now then you're going to go to this which is a
really subtly hard lick.
Ok?
So [C#] what I'm doing is I'm hitting the 9, pulling off from
the 12 to the [G#m] 9 on the B string.
Again first finger right hand then thumb.
_ _ Then I'm going
to come back to the G string [D#m] and with the thumb on the right hand I'm going to pluck
that and bend it up a half tone.
_ [E] _ Back to the 9th [F#] fret and then back to the 11th fret.
_ [Bm] All
with the thumb. _
_ _ [F#] _ And then I'm just going to [E] simply [F#]
just literally kind of do what you
could call a hammer on from nowhere.
[B] So I'm here at the moment and [E] then I'm going to pull
off to the 9th fret and then [C#m] just throw my 3rd finger down.
Ok?
Just literally throw
it down.
[G#] Nothing's happening at all with the right hand.
Ok?
Like this.
_ _ [F#] _ _
_ _ [C] Ok so notice the
right hand didn't do anything there.
And that's all part of that kind of ghost note effect
which is kind of [F#] very very quick short notes.
_ _ _ [E] Ok?
And that together so far is this. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _
[F#] Ok?
And then what we're going to do just to finish it off is this. _
Ok?
Now this is a cool little
lick.
I'm just going [E] to simply grab that 9th fret G string and [C#m] then I'm going to pluck
the D string 11th fret, [Bm] pull off [G#] and then hammer on from [E] nowhere so I'm not touching
with my right hand to the 11th fret A string.
_ And you're literally just going to go through
as fast as you possibly can.
So literally how quick can those fingers move?
As soon
as you get to this one you stop it dead so you release the pressure as soon as you get
to it. _
_ _ _ Ok?
Right.
Let's try and piece that together.
_ _ [C#m] _ _ _ [F#] _ _
_ _ [F#] _ _ _ [E] _ _
And there we have it.
So as far
as getting the John Mayer sound together it's very much based in blues using kind of pentatonic
scales and everything else.
But really the gist of it all comes from the right hand technique
and the kind of groove that you can create just with the thumb and the finger.
Because
you'll see a lot of this from John Mayer. _ _
You know all that Jimi Hendrix stuff.
[G#] _ _ _ [C#] _
And
you see it [B] in the lead playing as well a lot of the time.
So you know the first thing I
would do is start to just get confident with your right hand and just kind of picking with
your thumb and first finger.
Do this lick as practice of that and then just you know
when you're doing some jamming and playing along with stuff just put the plectrum down
and just try and develop this right hand and that's going to go a long long way to sounding
like John Mayer. _ _ _