When I saw this video, I really, really, really wanted to hate it. John Mayer is one of those musicians that seem to always surprise me. I’m not a fan of his music, but damn it, the guy can play and his tone is fantastic. His style music is not my style, but the “haters” out there don’t appreciate the man, or his musicianship. I’ve been guilty of that in the past. I have to still say – I hate is guitar face (but that footage is limited.. heh).
When I first saw this video, I thought it would be cool to post it on the site, primarily around 1:20 or so where he shows a crazy selection of pedals he brought to the recording studio. But honestly, it was the rest that I was inspired by, and maybe you guys might get inspired too.
The video documents John Mayer, Steve Jordan and Charlie Hunter recording the song “In Repair”. Normally.. big deal. But, what I thought was amazing, was this is the first time these three musicians got together. John intentionally had no song ideas for this recording session, and you have the opportunity to watch a song being born. As a musician, I think this was quite the gamble for John, bringing in a video crew. There is pressure enough seeing if musicians can gel, but to walk out of there with something (hopefully) is pretty ballsy of these guys.
The reason John brought those pedals was to find inspiration from sounds that would guide them to song idea. Same thing we all do in the basement.
Like I said earlier, I wanted to hate this, and I walked away impressed and inspired. What did you think? Please comment below!
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11 years ago
Not to mention this is not Charlie Hunters “normal” situation, being a jazz/funk dude and not a pop song writer.
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This is one of my favorite things to come out of the Continuum album (the video, not necessarily the song). -
11 years ago
Thank you for that post. Love him or hate him you’ve got to respect John for his love of making music and his great chops and tone. Very inspiring video…time to go create some of my own magic.
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11 years ago
That was an awesome video. Like you said same stuff we do in our basements, but a wonder to see in action. Thanks for posting!
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