Ok JM is legendary, but who's the intern who had to go back and chart out every single note he played for the animated tab? Hats off to them because that's sick!
That animation is a life changer. That did more for me in 5 minutes that in 35 years of self-study. This is what I've been missing my whole life. When it stopped I was just heartbroken. Where can I see more instructional videos with this type of animation? It was perfection. The best I've ever seen by miles
@@PowMusic i was just there and subscribed and hit the bell. I'm sharing this everywhere.. Do you do this for bass? My daughter plays and she is very new to it.
@@shanep5121 no, not for bass but check out this channel for bass - I helped create those videos with another teacher: ruclips.net/channel/UCOlWBkz7GW5gUCppyvX9Nzg
respectfully, if in 35 years you havent picked up enough of tools to play by ear, then my friend its time for you to stop resisting sheet music so you can get ur audiation skills up.
The John Mayer lessons are amazing. To have someone at his level breakdown how he looks at what he’s doing and how it makes sense in his mind is something you could’ve never been given for free twenty years ago.
Instructional vhs used to cost a fortune more than movies. Like $100. Now they are all free on RUclips. Even bootleg concerts with terrible quality were more than albums and you were at the liberty of some stranger to send it to you. And movies weren’t as cheap either! People would collect unofficial concert cd’s and tapes- sometimes the tapes were so bad. Some official vhs would be $50 new- especially if it won best picture etc. that was more like 35 years ago lol. I don’t think the nostalgia heads remember this was before best buy and circuit etc city started having price wars to keep all of this stuff affordable. 18 bucks for a cd at the mall..
"It's so much fun"...I love that he says that in the lesson. Everyone forgets that's what creating music about. Great job on the editing and animations.
Really ???? we all play guitar for hours a day because we forgot it’s fun 😂😂 You could have just typed “I perceive myself as superior to everyone else”
I love how not only music theory but more specifically the guitar is just this puzzle that we all and even John Mayer is still trying to figure out and we all share clues with each other in this journey to solve it. This video is brilliant. Thank you for making this. Liked and subbed. Oh yea and the animation is next level detail
@@punkywozza4330 it is facts, just not rules. i always find myself explaining that music predates music theory just like speaking predates dictionnaries and cooking predates recipes. (i do know the joke that you're making but it needed to be said!)
This animation is pretty sweet. It’s like seeing how a magic trick is done. After you see the animation, the patterns are revealed and with a little practice, the trick seems attainable and not as much a secret.
@@changzang8186 years of playing... it took me a long time before I actually started being able to play music & had a melodic & vocal style. Where as before I was just playing guitar & playing what I knew whether it be scales or triads & something that just sounds like what you’d hear in music student. John plays the guitar the way you’d listen to a full band with multiple instruments. & that’s something that very few guitar players can do. Also keen to note playing through a crazy clean headroom amp only adds to that. All the right hand attack & dynamics that follow his phrasing is something that’s going to be far far more prevalent with a hand wired amp that’s not going to show as well with A blues jr or katana
Wow. I've been playing Blues guitar for over 40 years and it NEVER occurred to me to riff on the Blues scale behind the Blues box. I just tried it now. As familiar as I am with all the notes on the fretboard, I found it more than a bit tricky landing on the I, IV, V notes and chord tones in the position below the "equator". Great lesson. I'll be practicing this, for sure. Thanks, kid. I guess you are the real deal after all.
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. How is it possible to play for 40 years and not realise there is more than one place to play the minor pentatonic.
HOLY SHIT. I'm not even 3 minutes into this and it's already the best pentatonic video I've ever seen. And I've watched dozens... It's the best explanation, the best graphics, the best everything. How come every YT guitar channel doesn't do it like this? I'm a new sub!
@@dorianpod77 It's not about what you have and haven't studied. We all have access to the same information, it's about what perspective / approach resonates with you most. Someone could study a concept for a long time but it just doesn't stick with them until the content is delivered a certain way, for John (Brasher), it's clearly John (Mayer)'s way lol, and there ain't nothing wrong with that ma friend 🤘🏼
Honestly it’s not really that helpful. The same notes are down the minor scale lol. It’s good for sliding down that’s about it. Can play a little more legato knowing these notes.
@ yeah I have listened to countless blues guitarists. Nobody really uses this. If it were ground breaking they would have- once you play it you will be disappointed it’s not as cool as it seems. It’s not a matter of studying theory it’s studying players. Nobody learns to play the blues with theory. You don’t need it for blues- not until you get into jazz. Kinda a dumb argument to make- you don’t study the blues to learn to you just play it. How long can you study pentatonic and 3 chords? It’s about feeling not thinking.
Here this is, in a ten minute video showing what took me YEARS to work out on my own. We all love the comfort of the pentatonic box but want to break out of it to add interest. The obvious thing is to go up the neck, but there is huge amounts of musical flavour to be found by going below that root line. I LOVE the visual concept of tracking the notes played with the pentaboxes highlighted to you can kind of see the musician's thinking. Hands down the best guitar instruction video I've ever found on RUclips.
@@PowMusic Often you see people say and then I do this etc ...and learners are saying what!!! slow down with the fret board showing you can follow and hear , one of the best tutorials above,
Amazing! Level up now engaged. 35 years of playing,.studying books ,live vhs,dvdsny entire life,5 min RUclips video blew that out of the water: from JM😢
I've always had this in my head when playing but to hear Mayer talk about it with this AMAZING animation...next level. Love the term pentatonic equator, that's so perfect!
Crazy that he never saw this until a few years ago. I've probably been playing as long as he has (although not day in day out) and it took me a while to think like this. It's just mad that he plays as well as he does and finds out new things, however simple. He's very humble to be fair.
Personally, I’ll admit to struggling with caged or pentatonic around the entire neck, but I do love that “minor bar” and will think in terms of 5th fret A bar, 7th fret B bar, 8th fret C bar, 10th fret D bar, 12th E and 15th G… and work out the rest as we go. Love it…. Thank you #JohnMayer
Great lesson! For those that want more, take a dive into the deep end of the CAGED system. That’s exactly what this is. Molly Miller has an excellent master class on this that I’d recommend!
I've been looking for transcribed John Mayer videos like this for a couple of years! You should do a whole series on these they really help more than you can believe
Yeah but can you play the major pentatonic scale? Can you play the major scale? Do you know how to go from the major to minor penta in the same tune? Do you know any modes, degrees of the scale and triads all over the neck- the names of each fret all over the fretboard? If not, you have some work to do.
@@MOAB-UT i get what you are saying and sure, you are right. The whole point I take away from this video is that you can spice your minor pentatonic up by mirroring another minor penta position to a major penta position. Hence he says ''underground'' playing. If you can master this, sure go learn more, but you can make a lot of nice music with it. Mayer never said to stop learning after this video
@@janjansen7983 What he was showing really did not have much to do with Major Penta. Most of his lesson was simply showing position 1 and position 2 of Minor Penta. Nothing more. Below the equator is technically position #1. IF the key is Major, you can start below the equator with your pinky on the root and play position #2 penta. 1-4, 1-3, 1-3, 1-3, 1-4, 1-4. It is really very simple stuff. Simply learn all 5 shapes. Also, be aware, when you are playing major penta, some of the places you find the root will change. The notes are the same (5 out of 7) but the location will change. Not e.g., the A of 5th fret (top and bottom string.) Even if you fret it with your pinky, and THAT location stays the same, other locations will change.
Man, those animations are friggin' hot! Probably a PITA to animate but its value is immense. Now that I know something like this exists, anything else is substandard.
Instead of Equator I have been teaching circle pentatonics for years. Same concept but when introducing the concept to a student I will show them how to go up the first down and then down the second box and then keep circling up and down until they are familiar with the notes. Then you choose the next two boxes and practice those. Eventually you learn the whole fretboard.
@@pihermoso11 Most people get lettered position forms mixed up, the best way to make sense of it is to replace the word E-form with the words (Position 1form Major) which he is playing = C Major pentatonic. Sorry yea, that word (E-form) confuses people. Instead of saying position form C, position form A, etc. etc. You can say Position form 1, position form 2, etc. etc.
I've been messing around with this concept for years, but I never thought of referring to it as the "pentatonic equator." That's such a perfect description!
So nice of John to have made these videos available to everyone, i know it's a lot to expect of him to have supported it with the diagram, thankfully you've made it easier to understand so his efforts don't go wasted, well done! 😊🙏🏽🤩
Mayer is always excellent. Your animated diagrams really lay it all out and beautifully compliment his more abstract, obtuse theoretical explanations. Both work together to help players like me reach higher levels of expression with the blues.
Just lately got INTO J. Mayer, (since 'body wonderful?") He is *One* of The *Greats*! It ain't Just pentas, pentas...it's Inspiration, it's Him, only, Totally *Instant Creativity*. SO, i Will return to *Forgetting about Guitar Solos* . i Have 'learned' all the pentas, 10x...i can't even remember That, after a month, it takes Borne 'Inspiration' 'Creativity', to EVER do even a Copy of J.M.! Back to *MY level, again*!!!
I actually started doing this on my own recently but it’s so satisfying to have JM reaffirm I’m learning something useful. I will be studying this and learning how to utilize it more
JM's tone has always been killer. His huge LH allows him to use the thumb over top for the low E string. He also uses the ring finger for most of his hammer/pulls, which has some extra power when compared to most players' pinkies. The micro bending, the (obviously) great instrument with a great setup through a great cabinet, and an effortless picking hand = everything he plays sounds great.
John Mayer is a frickin maniac on a guitar! This is a fucking masterclass in blues/Clapton/Hendrix. But he explores that Jerry touch. Jerry Garcia is a master
Even John played guitar for years on a high level and never thought of this approach. I don’t think I would call it “common knowledge”. I would just call it a helpful tip.
I’m nowhere close to Johns level but about a year ago I sat down and tabbed out every note that sounded correct to me and it’s actually exactly what he’s showing 😁
Besides the incredible visuals and editing, let's not ignore that JM is and has been incredibly prolific throughout his career. His most recent solo tours and what he's done the last few years with Dead & Co arguably armed him to be an even greater artist and musician. He's become a professor to us guitar players and, much like Paul Gilbert, is incredibly praiseworthy to provide us with these gems!
Shows that even the pros lack theoretical musical knowledge and are still always learning. The only difference is their writing great music with what they actually do know. So what you waiting for? Go write some songs with whatever knowledge you have, now!
Great lesson…and I love the synced animation. The same notion…that there’s an option ‘toward the bridge’ and another ‘toward the nut’ is, of course, true for all manner of intervals, scales, and riffs…so this lesson has many offshoots for fun discovery.
At around 3:27 where the 4 is on the B you can pull that up a step and hit the 1 on the E for a great diad then release the 4 and pulloff the b3 to the 1. It gets a lot of miles. Put both of those pentatonic modes together as one. Also try to incorporate some of the other pentatonic modes as well using the root as a starting point. Switching b/t them instead. You can add chord tones and passing tones. Especially the flatted third, fifth, and seventh. Try using triads from the chords all over the modes. Count in numbers from the root so you can relate intervals without letters. I doubt anyone will ever read this so I will give it it's only like. Humility, not conceit.
I don’t see the big deal? I figured this out years ago while drinking beer and smoking great weed at a friends house!! In my early 20’s. I was staring at a guitar poster on the wall in my buddies room, that had the pentatonic scale up and down the neck. In one crazy moment, it all made sense!! I was astonished at what I was seeing!!!! It all fit like a puzzle! I picked up my guitar after getting home a few hours later and checked out my epiphany, it was amazing and worked perfectly! After that, I was able to completely solo up and down the guitar neck and always know where I was at! Being able to blen minor and major anywhere I wanted to, It was absolute perfection!!!
And then you move the same shape down 4 frets and you've got...gasp!.. the MAJOR pentatonic scale. I tell my students, "I'll double the amount of scale notes you can play in the next five minutes." Always good for a lightbulb moment...
I was missing a few of these ways of thinking- I realized I have been utilizing the H&P available in each pattern and being in a different tuning like Albert would make me play another way- always great lessons from you
Watching this at half speed really helps you understand his fretboard movements a lot easier, and you’ll also envision what it’s like to get a lesson from JM after he drank a bottle of Jack.
I mean a lot of the greats from back in the day (60s/70s) made it a surprising amount of years before realizing what scales, chords they were even playing. Its mind boggling
Totally agree, sort of blew me away. Surely he wasnt locked into just that one shape with all the solos and rhythm parts he's written. I wonder how he would say he visualizes the board when improvising.
It’s crazy! I can’t comprehend how they managed it (mostly) without formal training. There must have been a lot of people just discovering shapes independently and sharing the knowledge with each other. I remember Paul McCartney joking that they would hop on the bus and travel across Liverpool to meet a guy who knew Bm. We are so lucky to have a wealth of information at the push of a button!
@@peternoble3691 when you pick up a guitar and you just play randomly up and down the neck you start to pick up each note and what’s sounds right and doesn’t then you start to learn by ear like most people do and when you realize all the pentatonic scales and shapes really are just one big Scale all-together divided into parts that’s when the magic happens. The more you play you’ll be able differentiate minor from major just by the way the notes sound and how you play them up and down the neck that’s how I learned and when I watch a video on Pentatonic scales and all the shapes it really blows my mind because I play the shapes and I really didn’t know they were part of the Pentatonic because I learned from just playing all day by ear
LOVE IT! Dive below the 'equator', you get a whole new set of licks, and who can't use that? I've gotten tons of use out of this trick: 1 with the fretting hand index finger, bar any three adjacent strings at the equator, 2 hammer and pull, 3 PROFIT. Park your ring finger in the same place, hammer and pull, mix minor and major and you'll find a BUNCH of Clapton licks.
Wow excellent. Been playing guitar over 30 yrs and I only discovered this pentatonic position maybe a year ago, accidentally. Just to add what I found; as well as the ergonomic hammer on and pull off changes which JM mentions, the bends are different too. You bend on the "equator" where you wouldn't usually bend in original position. Sounds cool, I found it to Claptonify my playing a bit.
I am really curious, and this is not meant in a condescending way at all, but how do you play guitar for 30 years and not know this position? It is literally the first thing I learned on guitar as soon as I started practicing lead and I'm curious as to what other methods people find, if not this, to know what to play on the guitar?
@@watjuhjo this is the first video I've ever seen talking about this position and I thought it worthy of comment as, like I said, I had only recently come across it myself. You know nothing about me or my musical path yet, in an absolutely condescending way, decide to undermine my enthusiasm for sharing my thoughts.
@@johnrose6230 Forgive my choice of words, I honestly didn’t mean to sound condescending. I’m sure you play loops around me, I’m not that great. I was truthfully curious about how you see the fretboard if not for these positions. Have you made your own positions? Do you play by ear? That’s the kind of thing I meant
@@watjuhjo no worries and apologies for my retort. I dunno man, it doesn't matter who knows what, it's a personal journey and everyone has the potential to discover new things this is the glory of music. I find jamming with other people and the synergy of that brings me the most joy. But to answer your original question I only really saw the standard pentatonic shape and followed it up the fretboard on the top 2 or 3 strings, it never really occurred to learn it across all of the fretboard. But indeed, it's always just shape recognition for me, and yes...the ears, definitely!
I owe John Mayer a beer. I’ve been using the minor pentatonic shape above the equator as basically a bridge with it just kind of being an awkward set of notes I’ve got no idea how to use well. This is super fun.
It astounds me how many know it all’s thinks john just realized the connection of pentatonic shapes …. Everyone interprets the guitar different and builds a bag of tricks on top of the basic music structure …. He is a true humble , real person in my opinion who now loves to inspire players
I find it amazing (even he says some people will say "duh, we already knew this).... but didn't he go to the Berklee School of Music? Do they not teach the CAGED system there? This is something you figure out within the first couple lessons of CAGED. Just shows, that at any level, there is more to learn or at least different ways to think about stuff.
I was thinking the same thing, like this guy is obviously a master, so where is he coming to this from? I wonder if he's trying to present it from where a lot of blues players might be coming from, as opposed to like... a more academic angle on the guitar? maybe it's the kind of thing he knew in his head, but didn't really bother thinking about incorporating into his playing
he went to berklee for like a semester I'm pretty sure but yeah, something that an experienced player thinks is advanced, a lesser experienced player could find easy. and vice versa. No ONE right way to learn music.
Not sure what the key takeaway is, maybe I'm missing the point. But I've been doing pattern 5 and pattern 1 since ever to extend the scale. Isn't this what he's doing here?
That’s really it - but also to see the overlay of major pentatonic pattern 1 with minor pentatonic pattern 5 in the same area. And then to just see some of the riffs he plays in all the shapes shown
@@PowMusic but those are not the same scales… c minor and c major are different. Playing c minor, one position behind the famous position, isn’t the same as playing c major there…
@@PowMusic So what is the point of this video? He wanted to show how cool it is to play major and minor while soloing. And then play c minor in two different positions?
Thank you, John Mayer, always so insightful and clear in your explanations you awesome guitarist. QUESTION: for anyone (I know he's super busy). Where, oh where, can I find that great software that shows what you're playing on a fretboard diagram? SO Handy! Thanks. And, happy holidays y'all! Joseph
I learned both the Major & Natural Minor scale patterns in pieces from octave to octave going both ways above and below the Equator as a beginner. Free flowing way of navigating the fretboard and doing it in Pentatonic sets you free to roam.
Ok JM is legendary, but who's the intern who had to go back and chart out every single note he played for the animated tab? Hats off to them because that's sick!
That would be done by this channel POW music not JM
@@kane6529 that’s what he said
pretty sure its software
lol... the intern's name is Algo short for 'Algorithm'
It's a program that converts from his amp to his laptop
That animation is a life changer. That did more for me in 5 minutes that in 35 years of self-study. This is what I've been missing my whole life. When it stopped I was just heartbroken. Where can I see more instructional videos with this type of animation? It was perfection. The best I've ever seen by miles
Awesome! Check out the rest of my channel and my courses!
@@PowMusic i was just there and subscribed and hit the bell. I'm sharing this everywhere.. Do you do this for bass? My daughter plays and she is very new to it.
@@shanep5121 no, not for bass but check out this channel for bass - I helped create those videos with another teacher: ruclips.net/channel/UCOlWBkz7GW5gUCppyvX9Nzg
@@PowMusic of course you did! You are an awesome human. Thanks again.
respectfully, if in 35 years you havent picked up enough of tools to play by ear, then my friend its time for you to stop resisting sheet music so you can get ur audiation skills up.
“I could play forever and I will.” I respect that.
My favorite thing anyone’s ever said 😂
The John Mayer lessons are amazing. To have someone at his level breakdown how he looks at what he’s doing and how it makes sense in his mind is something you could’ve never been given for free twenty years ago.
Instructional vhs used to cost a fortune more than movies. Like $100. Now they are all free on RUclips. Even bootleg concerts with terrible quality were more than albums and you were at the liberty of some stranger to send it to you. And movies weren’t as cheap either! People would collect unofficial concert cd’s and tapes- sometimes the tapes were so bad. Some official vhs would be $50 new- especially if it won best picture etc. that was more like 35 years ago lol. I don’t think the nostalgia heads remember this was before best buy and circuit etc city started having price wars to keep all of this stuff affordable. 18 bucks for a cd at the mall..
John's Guitar Teacher was Al Ferrante who was Edgar Winters guitar player. He still teacher in Fairfield CT.
I'm pretty sure his mother was a school teacher.
I was not surprised to learn John Mayer went to Berklee at age 19!
What did he breakdown? All II saw was him playing little riffs, and not showing were the frst note was. Thats 30 minutes I wont get back.
"It's so much fun"...I love that he says that in the lesson. Everyone forgets that's what creating music about. Great job on the editing and animations.
Really ???? we all play guitar for hours a day because we forgot it’s fun 😂😂 You could have just typed “I perceive myself as superior to everyone else”
I love how not only music theory but more specifically the guitar is just this puzzle that we all and even John Mayer is still trying to figure out and we all share clues with each other in this journey to solve it. This video is brilliant. Thank you for making this. Liked and subbed. Oh yea and the animation is next level detail
As EVH famously said "It's Music Theory, Not Music Fact"
@@punkywozza4330 it is facts, just not rules. i always find myself explaining that music predates music theory just like speaking predates dictionnaries and cooking predates recipes. (i do know the joke that you're making but it needed to be said!)
Aint the internet a beautiful thing =)
This animation is pretty sweet. It’s like seeing how a magic trick is done.
After you see the animation, the patterns are revealed and with a little practice, the trick seems attainable and not as much a secret.
That’s the goal! Thanks!
@@PowMusic you're the man kudos to you buddy 🤘
exactly. Easier than trying to imagine the patterns on the fretboard, repeating them over and over. Graphics help
@@PowMusic sir did you sit and transcribe every single note he played on the graphic of the neck????
I haven’t been playing for the last couple months but this has given me my motivation back!
If you play it at half speed it’s your drunk uncle giving you a banger unsolicited guitar lesson.
Holy shit 😂
Thought this was a dumb comment, but tried it anyways and holy s! 🤣😂
@@k.t.1641 I wouldn’t lie to you! 🤣
grade a comment... underrated. So true
Factss
They say everyone learns differently. Well, 25 years after picking up a guitar - FINALLY. THIS my friend. This is how my brain learns best.
"That's not a capo," classic Mayer humor and the kind of subtle stuff that I love in his lyrics.
His ability to make the minor pentatonic to sound like that always blows me away.
Yea how the hell does he do that
@@changzang8186 idk it’s crazy
YES IT DOES!
@@changzang8186 years of playing... it took me a long time before I actually started being able to play music & had a melodic & vocal style. Where as before I was just playing guitar & playing what I knew whether it be scales or triads & something that just sounds like what you’d hear in music student. John plays the guitar the way you’d listen to a full band with multiple instruments. & that’s something that very few guitar players can do. Also keen to note playing through a crazy clean headroom amp only adds to that. All the right hand attack & dynamics that follow his phrasing is something that’s going to be far far more prevalent with a hand wired amp that’s not going to show as well with A blues jr or katana
you get blown away by a standard way of playing…
The lesson itself is gold, but the animation is impossibly good. How the hell did they manage to pull it through? Extremely well done!
Whether you like his music or not (I do), John Mayer is a truly great teacher. Clear and precise.
I couldn't;t follow what he was trying to say.
@@Acujeremy maybe your not good enough yet lol
@@thepushfitzyify Or maybe I am beyond finger patterns.
@@Acujeremy If you were "beyond" finger patterns your understanding of them would be so solid that following what he was saying would be easy
@@thealaskapicker8628 What I mean is, I don't know the point of what he was trying to say. Why don't you tell me.
Wow. I've been playing Blues guitar for over 40 years and it NEVER occurred to me to riff on the Blues scale behind the Blues box. I just tried it now. As familiar as I am with all the notes on the fretboard, I found it more than a bit tricky landing on the I, IV, V notes and chord tones in the position below the "equator". Great lesson. I'll be practicing this, for sure. Thanks, kid. I guess you are the real deal after all.
John has been one of the greatest guitarists in the history of our planet for a good 10-15 years now.
Really???
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. How is it possible to play for 40 years and not realise there is more than one place to play the minor pentatonic.
HOLY SHIT. I'm not even 3 minutes into this and it's already the best pentatonic video I've ever seen. And I've watched dozens... It's the best explanation, the best graphics, the best everything. How come every YT guitar channel doesn't do it like this? I'm a new sub!
Well if u have studied some theory you should know this stuff already...
I recommend also Scott Paul Johnson videos.
@@dorianpod77 It's not about what you have and haven't studied. We all have access to the same information, it's about what perspective / approach resonates with you most. Someone could study a concept for a long time but it just doesn't stick with them until the content is delivered a certain way, for John (Brasher), it's clearly John (Mayer)'s way lol, and there ain't nothing wrong with that ma friend 🤘🏼
Honestly it’s not really that helpful. The same notes are down the minor scale lol. It’s good for sliding down that’s about it. Can play a little more legato knowing these notes.
@ yeah I have listened to countless blues guitarists. Nobody really uses this. If it were ground breaking they would have- once you play it you will be disappointed it’s not as cool as it seems. It’s not a matter of studying theory it’s studying players. Nobody learns to play the blues with theory. You don’t need it for blues- not until you get into jazz. Kinda a dumb argument to make- you don’t study the blues to learn to you just play it. How long can you study pentatonic and 3 chords? It’s about feeling not thinking.
Here this is, in a ten minute video showing what took me YEARS to work out on my own. We all love the comfort of the pentatonic box but want to break out of it to add interest. The obvious thing is to go up the neck, but there is huge amounts of musical flavour to be found by going below that root line.
I LOVE the visual concept of tracking the notes played with the pentaboxes highlighted to you can kind of see the musician's thinking. Hands down the best guitar instruction video I've ever found on RUclips.
I just got a guitar lesson from John Mayer. For free. Damn. This sounds sick. This channel is a treasure mine. So glad I found you guys. Keep it up.
My GOD watching this man play is so satisfying. He's a legend for a reason. One of the best guitarists of all time.
More is always better and don't stop teaching John we love hearing you play and love the videos 👍👍👍
This man is more of a legend for his willingness to teach and share than his iconic playing.
This is the hands down best guitar lesson I’ve ever seen. This has totally changed my soloing in 48 hours.
Sureee…….
That's awesome to hear. Thank you for sharing!
Once you realize you have the ENTIRE neck at your disposal no matter what key you’re in, you can start really working
U should get a guitar teacher!
@@PowMusic Often you see people say and then I do this etc ...and learners are saying what!!! slow down with the fret board showing you can follow and hear , one of the best tutorials above,
Amazing! Level up now engaged. 35 years of playing,.studying books ,live vhs,dvdsny entire life,5 min RUclips video blew that out of the water: from JM😢
I've always had this in my head when playing but to hear Mayer talk about it with this AMAZING animation...next level. Love the term pentatonic equator, that's so perfect!
Crazy that he never saw this until a few years ago. I've probably been playing as long as he has (although not day in day out) and it took me a while to think like this. It's just mad that he plays as well as he does and finds out new things, however simple. He's very humble to be fair.
I'm more amazed with the animation than the lesson itself haha! Thanks for doing this man!
Please transcribe another John Mayer lesson like this. This is one of the best videos on the internet!
Personally, I’ll admit to struggling with caged or pentatonic around the entire neck, but I do love that “minor bar” and will think in terms of 5th fret A bar, 7th fret B bar, 8th fret C bar, 10th fret D bar, 12th E and 15th G… and work out the rest as we go. Love it…. Thank you #JohnMayer
Great lesson! For those that want more, take a dive into the deep end of the CAGED system. That’s exactly what this is. Molly Miller has an excellent master class on this that I’d recommend!
I just want to thank you for putting and syncing the scale below that was a genius idea. Subbed
I've been looking for transcribed John Mayer videos like this for a couple of years! You should do a whole series on these they really help more than you can believe
That was a great way to highlight what he’s playing. Well done!!!!
Same. Great way to illustrate what is being played.
Minor pentatonics all day with this dude. He’s SO proficient in that style. Great lesson!
Yeah but can you play the major pentatonic scale? Can you play the major scale? Do you know how to go from the major to minor penta in the same tune? Do you know any modes, degrees of the scale and triads all over the neck- the names of each fret all over the fretboard? If not, you have some work to do.
Can you? And are you sure you can?
@@MOAB-UT i get what you are saying and sure, you are right. The whole point I take away from this video is that you can spice your minor pentatonic up by mirroring another minor penta position to a major penta position. Hence he says ''underground'' playing.
If you can master this, sure go learn more, but you can make a lot of nice music with it. Mayer never said to stop learning after this video
@@janjansen7983 What he was showing really did not have much to do with Major Penta. Most of his lesson was simply showing position 1 and position 2 of Minor Penta. Nothing more. Below the equator is technically position #1. IF the key is Major, you can start below the equator with your pinky on the root and play position #2 penta. 1-4, 1-3, 1-3, 1-3, 1-4, 1-4. It is really very simple stuff. Simply learn all 5 shapes. Also, be aware, when you are playing major penta, some of the places you find the root will change. The notes are the same (5 out of 7) but the location will change. Not e.g., the A of 5th fret (top and bottom string.) Even if you fret it with your pinky, and THAT location stays the same, other locations will change.
Man, those animations are friggin' hot! Probably a PITA to animate but its value is immense. Now that I know something like this exists, anything else is substandard.
You probably still cannot play well though.
To the animator who did the tabs, thank you so much. Even got the direction JM bends the string! Must've taken days
Instead of Equator I have been teaching circle pentatonics for years. Same concept but when introducing the concept to a student I will show them how to go up the first down and then down the second box and then keep circling up and down until they are familiar with the notes. Then you choose the next two boxes and practice those. Eventually you learn the whole fretboard.
I can't play a single a chord but I watched because I love watching JM play the guitar. Saw him last year in Chicago, such an amazing artist.
You can though!
This is amazing makes what he's talking about so much easier to get my head around, thank you so much!
If John's dishing out guitar wisdom, I'm listening. Dude's on another planet when it comes to guitar.
I’m very familiar with the pentatonic but this actually opened up a new path for me. I feel like I now understand it just a little bit better.
Skill on another level...amazing how nowadays you can get lesson for free from this kind of top musicians...
That guitar animation is incredible!
John is playing CAGED shaped system in C pentatonic minor
with added pentatonic major in E-Form.
Wouldn't it be the Eb major penta that is enharmonic with the C minor penta?
@@pihermoso11 Most people get lettered position forms mixed up, the best way to make sense of it is to
replace the word E-form with the words (Position 1form Major) which he is playing = C Major pentatonic.
Sorry yea, that word (E-form) confuses people. Instead of saying position form C, position form A, etc. etc.
You can say Position form 1, position form 2, etc. etc.
No he isnt. He told you what he was doing. "Key of C" major and minor.
I've been messing around with this concept for years, but I never thought of referring to it as the "pentatonic equator." That's such a perfect description!
So nice of John to have made these videos available to everyone, i know it's a lot to expect of him to have supported it with the diagram, thankfully you've made it easier to understand so his efforts don't go wasted, well done! 😊🙏🏽🤩
One way or the other, it was sponsored by PRS I am sure. Notice the guitar he is playing?
What a luxury being able to learn from masters like John Mayer, Snake Sabo and so many others via RUclips! who would've imagine this 30 years ago!
What a great presentation style with color coded notes and everything! Props man 🤙🏼
Took me learning guitar to appreciate John Mayer. Really loved the guitar frett animations. Massive help!
Mayer is always excellent. Your animated diagrams really lay it all out and beautifully compliment his more abstract, obtuse theoretical explanations. Both work together to help players like me reach higher levels of expression with the blues.
That's the most inovative way of looking at scales that I have seen in years. Definitely going to work on this. Thanks!
All the John Mayer lessons like this. Amazing. Thank you!
out of all the famous guitarist in the world brother John is one of the few who actually takes time to do a guitar lessons for his fans
Just lately got INTO J. Mayer, (since 'body wonderful?") He is *One* of The *Greats*! It ain't Just pentas, pentas...it's Inspiration, it's Him, only, Totally *Instant Creativity*. SO, i Will return to *Forgetting about Guitar Solos* . i Have 'learned' all the pentas, 10x...i can't even remember That, after a month, it takes Borne 'Inspiration' 'Creativity', to EVER do even a Copy of J.M.! Back to *MY level, again*!!!
This is the best and more clear pentatonic video from one of the five best guitar players in the world: practical, simple and joyful. I love him! ♥️
Never been a fan of his music, but he has a feel for the guitar, few musicians have.
Great guitarist but his music is shit
I actually started doing this on my own recently but it’s so satisfying to have JM reaffirm I’m learning something useful. I will be studying this and learning how to utilize it more
JM's tone has always been killer. His huge LH allows him to use the thumb over top for the low E string. He also uses the ring finger for most of his hammer/pulls, which has some extra power when compared to most players' pinkies. The micro bending, the (obviously) great instrument with a great setup through a great cabinet, and an effortless picking hand = everything he plays sounds great.
John Mayer is a frickin maniac on a guitar! This is a fucking masterclass in blues/Clapton/Hendrix. But he explores that Jerry touch. Jerry Garcia is a master
wow this is awesome, not just JM, but whoever made this video with the charts. Insane!
Thanks
The way this is presented visually while he is literally playing it ! Thank you for this
I love it how this is common knowledge and everyone uses this but when John Mayer says it everyone is like oh crap this has changed my life
Most don’t get as much out of it as JM does. He takes a basic pattern and makes it sing where most people just manage sound like everyone else.
Even John played guitar for years on a high level and never thought of this approach. I don’t think I would call it “common knowledge”. I would just call it a helpful tip.
Right? I honestly thought everyone did this ~ and the other positions as well. Obviously I’ve been focused on the wrong stuff lol.
So what I'd people know it, it's how to play it so it has soul.. alot of people can't do that. Making it sound good with transitions is not easy
I’m nowhere close to Johns level but about a year ago I sat down and tabbed out every note that sounded correct to me and it’s actually exactly what he’s showing 😁
He's really good, I'm shocked that this is a new revelation for him.
You’re the best teacher I’ve seen on RUclips!!! Love your show!!
The graphic is really amazing the way it shows bends and vibrato is rrally cool this video is great
SOOO AWESOME!!! Go to menu and slow it down and it changed the way I look at pentatonics. Can't wait to put in in context!
This visualization style with the fretboard and notes being shown is INCREDIBLE for learning. Holy shit. I had none of that when I was learning.
Besides the incredible visuals and editing, let's not ignore that JM is and has been incredibly prolific throughout his career. His most recent solo tours and what he's done the last few years with Dead & Co arguably armed him to be an even greater artist and musician. He's become a professor to us guitar players and, much like Paul Gilbert, is incredibly praiseworthy to provide us with these gems!
Shows that even the pros lack theoretical musical knowledge and are still always learning. The only difference is their writing great music with what they actually do know.
So what you waiting for? Go write some songs with whatever knowledge you have, now!
John mayers videos like this are easily the best source for knowledge once you have a pretty good understanding of pentatonic scales
Great lesson…and I love the synced animation. The same notion…that there’s an option ‘toward the bridge’ and another ‘toward the nut’ is, of course, true for all manner of intervals, scales, and riffs…so this lesson has many offshoots for fun discovery.
This editing is on point. This is the new music educational format for guitarist.
At around 3:27 where the 4 is on the B you can pull that up a step and hit the 1 on the E for a great diad then release the 4 and pulloff the b3 to the 1. It gets a lot of miles. Put both of those pentatonic modes together as one. Also try to incorporate some of the other pentatonic modes as well using the root as a starting point. Switching b/t them instead. You can add chord tones and passing tones. Especially the flatted third, fifth, and seventh. Try using triads from the chords all over the modes. Count in numbers from the root so you can relate intervals without letters. I doubt anyone will ever read this so I will give it it's only like. Humility, not conceit.
I read it! So many words but I have a lot to learn to understand all of these concepts haha
Thank you so much, John. Sometimes the pentatonic scale is boring me, but when I listen to you, I fall in love again with that scale.
John is just playing the 5th position of the pentatonic scale. Just learn the 5 positions of pentatonic scale and it will set you free.
It unlocks the guitar forever
Does it help with other modes and scales? I’m
Kinda new to guitar
Just learn every position of every scale,every mode,every chord,and every arpeggio,and you'll have complete fretboard mastery 😬
@@ForProfit-x100 simple 😂
@@kjohansen4088 one weird trick ...
So much respect for John. He puts so much time into teaching. So kind
anyone else get freaked out at 1:25 by the swoosh sound.... no one ? just me ? cool
Came to the comments to make sure im not the first to mention this
I don’t see the big deal?
I figured this out years ago while drinking beer and smoking great weed at a friends house!! In my early 20’s.
I was staring at a guitar poster on the wall in my buddies room, that had the pentatonic scale up and down the neck.
In one crazy moment, it all made sense!!
I was astonished at what I was seeing!!!! It all fit like a puzzle!
I picked up my guitar after getting home a few hours later and checked out my epiphany, it was amazing and worked perfectly!
After that, I was able to completely solo up and down the guitar neck and always know where I was at! Being able to blen minor and major anywhere I wanted to, It was absolute perfection!!!
And then you move the same shape down 4 frets and you've got...gasp!.. the MAJOR pentatonic scale. I tell my students, "I'll double the amount of scale notes you can play in the next five minutes." Always good for a lightbulb moment...
I was missing a few of these ways of thinking- I realized I have been utilizing the H&P available in each pattern and being in a different tuning like Albert would make me play another way- always great lessons from you
Thank you John for sharing this eye-opener lesson! We appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge. Also thanks for the amazing graphics!
Beautifully effective visuals for faster learning! 🙏🏼
Watching this at half speed really helps you understand his fretboard movements a lot easier, and you’ll also envision what it’s like to get a lesson from JM after he drank a bottle of Jack.
had to drop a like because of how good this was
Humbled! 🙏😁🎸
This lesson has had the biggest effect on my playing, after 40 years of all types of lessons...
It's so hard for me to believe that someone as virtuousic as Mayer only recently realized that scales have multiple shapes on the fretboard.
I mean a lot of the greats from back in the day (60s/70s) made it a surprising amount of years before realizing what scales, chords they were even playing. Its mind boggling
Totally agree, sort of blew me away. Surely he wasnt locked into just that one shape with all the solos and rhythm parts he's written. I wonder how he would say he visualizes the board when improvising.
It’s crazy! I can’t comprehend how they managed it (mostly) without formal training. There must have been a lot of people just discovering shapes independently and sharing the knowledge with each other. I remember Paul McCartney joking that they would hop on the bus and travel across Liverpool to meet a guy who knew Bm. We are so lucky to have a wealth of information at the push of a button!
@@peternoble3691 when you pick up a guitar and you just play randomly up and down the neck you start to pick up each note and what’s sounds right and doesn’t then you start to learn by ear like most people do and when you realize all the pentatonic scales and shapes really are just one big Scale all-together divided into parts that’s when the magic happens. The more you play you’ll be able differentiate minor from major just by the way the notes sound and how you play them up and down the neck that’s how I learned and when I watch a video on Pentatonic scales and all the shapes it really blows my mind because I play the shapes and I really didn’t know they were part of the Pentatonic because I learned from just playing all day by ear
@@peternoble3691 it’s called incredible talent
LOVE IT! Dive below the 'equator', you get a whole new set of licks, and who can't use that? I've gotten tons of use out of this trick: 1 with the fretting hand index finger, bar any three adjacent strings at the equator, 2 hammer and pull, 3 PROFIT. Park your ring finger in the same place, hammer and pull, mix minor and major and you'll find a BUNCH of Clapton licks.
The animations are phenomenal! 👏🏼 May I ask what software you used to make them?
FretLive
no you may not! 😆 lol
NO
It feels like know how’s whole concepts and chunking them together as he moves them around.
Wow excellent. Been playing guitar over 30 yrs and I only discovered this pentatonic position maybe a year ago, accidentally.
Just to add what I found; as well as the ergonomic hammer on and pull off changes which JM mentions, the bends are different too. You bend on the "equator" where you wouldn't usually bend in original position. Sounds cool, I found it to Claptonify my playing a bit.
I am really curious, and this is not meant in a condescending way at all, but how do you play guitar for 30 years and not know this position? It is literally the first thing I learned on guitar as soon as I started practicing lead and I'm curious as to what other methods people find, if not this, to know what to play on the guitar?
@@watjuhjo Living life brother! Playing thrash metal and living in a time before youtube existed
@@watjuhjo this is the first video I've ever seen talking about this position and I thought it worthy of comment as, like I said, I had only recently come across it myself. You know nothing about me or my musical path yet, in an absolutely condescending way, decide to undermine my enthusiasm for sharing my thoughts.
@@johnrose6230 Forgive my choice of words, I honestly didn’t mean to sound condescending. I’m sure you play loops around me, I’m not that great. I was truthfully curious about how you see the fretboard if not for these positions. Have you made your own positions? Do you play by ear? That’s the kind of thing I meant
@@watjuhjo no worries and apologies for my retort. I dunno man, it doesn't matter who knows what, it's a personal journey and everyone has the potential to discover new things this is the glory of music. I find jamming with other people and the synergy of that brings me the most joy.
But to answer your original question I only really saw the standard pentatonic shape and followed it up the fretboard on the top 2 or 3 strings, it never really occurred to learn it across all of the fretboard.
But indeed, it's always just shape recognition for me, and yes...the ears, definitely!
I owe John Mayer a beer. I’ve been using the minor pentatonic shape above the equator as basically a bridge with it just kind of being an awkward set of notes I’ve got no idea how to use well. This is super fun.
This is absolutely fantastic. I don't know how you did it, with the tabs. But this is great! Thank you for posting this.
It astounds me how many know it all’s thinks john just realized the connection of pentatonic shapes …. Everyone interprets the guitar different and builds a bag of tricks on top of the basic music structure …. He is a true humble , real person in my opinion who now loves to inspire players
I find it amazing (even he says some people will say "duh, we already knew this).... but didn't he go to the Berklee School of Music? Do they not teach the CAGED system there? This is something you figure out within the first couple lessons of CAGED. Just shows, that at any level, there is more to learn or at least different ways to think about stuff.
I was wondering the same thing. I'm sitting here thinking "I know 3 more pentatonic shapes than John Mayer and he still kicks my rear at this thing."
I was thinking the same thing, like this guy is obviously a master, so where is he coming to this from? I wonder if he's trying to present it from where a lot of blues players might be coming from, as opposed to like... a more academic angle on the guitar? maybe it's the kind of thing he knew in his head, but didn't really bother thinking about incorporating into his playing
he went to berklee for like a semester I'm pretty sure but yeah, something that an experienced player thinks is advanced, a lesser experienced player could find easy. and vice versa. No ONE right way to learn music.
@powmusic thanks a million for the tab animation. Made his lesson so so so much more accessible!
Not sure what the key takeaway is, maybe I'm missing the point. But I've been doing pattern 5 and pattern 1 since ever to extend the scale. Isn't this what he's doing here?
That’s really it - but also to see the overlay of major pentatonic pattern 1 with minor pentatonic pattern 5 in the same area. And then to just see some of the riffs he plays in all the shapes shown
@@PowMusic but those are not the same scales… c minor and c major are different. Playing c minor, one position behind the famous position, isn’t the same as playing c major there…
Disliked the whole thing.
The 3 screens on top make all of them nothing more than useless.
I like John Mayer, but this was just garbage.
@@odprjo9016 Yes not the same scale… But same location…
@@PowMusic So what is the point of this video? He wanted to show how cool it is to play major and minor while soloing. And then play c minor in two different positions?
When I learned the pentatonic scale I’ve never had any lessons or anyone to jam with or for advice this was where I naturally went with it 😎👌🏼
Thank you, John Mayer, always so insightful and clear in your explanations you awesome guitarist.
QUESTION: for anyone (I know he's super busy). Where, oh where, can I find that great software that shows what you're playing on a fretboard diagram? SO Handy! Thanks.
And, happy holidays y'all!
Joseph
Please let me know if you find it... Would love to know too!
@@codewarrior5229 me too. Incredibly helpful.
Incredible work transcribing and making the graphics for this superb lesson. Thanks.
So this guy, take a video from jhon mayer, puts his filter on, doesn’t check if it works all the way. Then sells his course. Genius
I learned both the Major & Natural Minor scale patterns in pieces from octave to octave going both ways above and below the Equator as a beginner. Free flowing way of navigating the fretboard and doing it in Pentatonic sets you free to roam.
I learned the pentatonic below the equator first. It was actually quite a while before I realized you could also do it above the equator.
Exactly !
This is exactly how I was coached from day one. 4 years in and I'm starting to feel like a musician.
Years ago i wanted to play the guitar badly. Now i can finally play the guitar badly
😂 good one!
This is maybe the single most helpful guitar RUclips video I've ever watched (and that's a big denominator lol)