Chops Studies with John Mayer
Yes. He can be a real douchebag. Even he admits it, so lets get that out the way right at the top here. But for all of his gum-flappin’, media-whorin’, ego-driven hijinks, the one inescapable remains that John Mayer can flat out play guitar. As the last part of her Christmas present, Mrs. WTDP? got a pair of tickets to see Mayer when he rolled through town this weekend on his Battle Studies tour. Both of us were treated to a two-hour show that was much more about music than talking or ego stroking or anything else. Mayer mixed in plenty of old and new tunes – opening with ‘Heartbreak Warfare’ and ending with ‘Gravity’.
In between, Mayer worked in tunes from his other albums… ‘Something’s Missing’ off of Heavier Things, ‘Why Georgia’ off of Room For Squares. He even threw in a full version of ‘Comfortable’, an acoustic ballad that has yet to land on one of his studio releases, and a pair of cover songs – Tom Petty’s ‘Free Fallin’, which he covered on his Where The Light Is live record and a cool version of Bill Withers’ classic ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’. He also was joined on stage by opener Michael Franti during a hip-hop infused version of ‘Waiting For The World To Change’.
Gear-wise, he trotted out a plethora of guitars ranging from his normal dose of Stratocasters – a gold sparkle model, a gray ‘racing stripe’ (maybe the old signature version?) model, his Hendrix Monterrey replica… even an appearance of ‘The Black One’ at the end of the night. He also played a pair of Teles, a couple of Gibson hollow-bodies, what looked like a EVH Wolfgang and Rick Turner Model 1 a la Lindsay Buckingham. His acoustics were his stalwart Martin rotation. For his backline, it was the usually Two Rock/Dumble combination.
Guitar king Robbie McIntosh played several different guitars as well, including a Tele or two and a Duesenberg. He played through what I believe was a Jackson Ampworks Britain head and matching cab. Guitarist David Ryan Harris worked through a couple of acoustics and at least one Tele. He played through a Metropoulos head and a pair of Port City amps as well.
Check out some pics from the show below!
