The fact that John Mayer himself calls this song a party trick makes me feel a whole lot better about how I don’t for the life of me understand how he plays it
Ive known the chords for years but have avoided that godforsaken right hand pattern like the plague. Until about 5 days ago when decided to face it head-on. I can happily say that after several hours of practice, i can play it correctly... at half speed😭
@@josephmears3537 that’s well more than half-way there. Given this was 6 months ago you’ve probably mastered it by now! It IS a neat party trick. Im trying to figure out how to improvise the breakdown/solo now. Good part about that is to anybody watching even failing seems impressive 😂
I have been an admirer of John Mayer for many years.His voice is so melodic and full bodied now compared to the shy, sweet voice which started the ball rolling. As far as guitar solos go, he has transitioned to a folk jazz genre of stellar caliber music."Neon" has undergone a stunning metamorphosis into a world class song good enough for the Jazz Festival of Montreux.You have honed your craft and the fans are wild about it. So many great opportunities will come for you in the near future.Much success, love and blessings!
I learnt neon, when I was like 14 with the help of my guitar teacher (before RU-vid and the internet), and it is a circus trick lol. Will never get johns feel though, can’t replicate
Absolute master performance. That should shut up the "Meh, he's an SRV/Clapton clone " ignorant comments if it was still needed ,John MAYER's timing is from another world ,
Not really, I'm sorry, I know I'm gonna take some heat for this but . . . don't jump on me yet, guys ok. Because I've watched him live - the guy is named Corey Heuvel (look him up) his version of this is stunning. Go watch him and you tell me. Mayer/SRV/Hendrix/Clapton to mention a few, all great performances. He is so underrated it's sickening.
This IS the best version !!! I can’t believe it could get any better from the dozens of versions I’ve heard him play. This is my absolute favorite song to play besides stop this train. I cannot wait to see him next month in Dallas.
God dammit I just learned the Live in LA version of Neon. It took me 14 months……. This is like having the iPhone 12 and then the 13 comes out with a better version. Back to hibernation.
I’ve a deep reverence for Room For Squares to this day. The songwriting, production, musicianship, DeLa’s melodic bass playing...it was and continues to be a high water mark of John’s career. Neon is perfection. She’s always buzzing just like...🎶
When I saw him play and sing like this when I watched the old one, I could not believe the amount of talent he had. Now I am shocked to see him playing, dancing, and improvising even better at the same time. He is truly one of the best guitarists of all time. He will still be remembered long after he is gone. Huge respect for this man, He is making history on these tours, and I am just happy to be alive while this amount of greatness is happening somewhere in the world.
I am just reading your comment and it’s funny you mentioned his greatness making being happy to be alive…….. I went to his Vegas show last Friday and it was awesome. While he was playing dancing in a burning room I was overcome with a sense of gratitude for being there in person and just being so happy to be alive and witnessing his talent. Especially with the tragic events happening in the world right now, it wasn’t lost on me how incredibly fortunate we all were to be safe and experiencing the pure joy and appreciation listening to his live music for the evening.
@@carriebprice Yes!! Totally agree. Its such an amazing and powerful thing how his music affects people like this. We have been missing this kind of feeling for a long time.
I think the most important part of his legacy as a guitarist is that he chose to take the pop music route and made it cool as fuck to the point where dedicated guitarists were trying to replicate his pop riff. That right there is a surreal vibe that he created from his own literally unfair amounts of talent
i have a theory - he wanted to play the blues for people but the audience wasn’t big enough so he made pop music just to grab people’s attention and then revealed his blues chops and now he’s a celebrated guitarist and blues guitarist
@@thiagoxtz I find it a bit rude when u speed the strumming pattern, change some notes and call it bossa nova u r probably brazillian u should try to have a better understanding of what is bossanova
I was there as well and I think this is one of the best neons I've ever seen, That tapping on the guitar drum like thing he did in the beginning was so visceral and loud, you could feel it through your whole body
I saw him during night 2 here in LA and he didn't play your body is a Wonderland or free falling like he did on the other nights. but he did play Assassin for the first time in like 12 years.
I'm both insulted and mesmerized by how he's gotten so much better over the years. OG Neon is nothing compared to this in terms of difficulty. Good luck challengers, this is the new standard.
Truth be told he plays it this well every time he does an acoustic set. I just saw him this past weekend and it was as good if not better than this one. He’s just that damn good
One of the things that makes him unique is that this song was on his first independent album ' Inside want's out ' in 1999 before he signed with Columbia and today it would sit right along beside the songs on mostly any of his albums, and not only Neon but also Comfortable and Victoria, imo. It's also great to go back and watch some of his earliest performances solo and with Clay Cook and also Clay's solo renditions of some of the songs that they shared.
For me playing neon standing is more comfortable than sitting..Maybe gravity...Cause you gotta hold your right hand in position while the gravity is pulling it down...And also it helps cause neck is tilted too..so it gets easier to hold the chords up the neck with the thumb...
My boyfriend says he won’t come see John mayor with me because I’m in love with him. I just think he’s a good artist, and this song is one of the reasons I think that 😂
He is just gobsmackingly amazing to watch. I just started listening to John Mayer and I’m a singer. Just simply blown away by this virtuoso. The jazz base middle section alone is just incredible. I didn’t realize the acoustic guitar could make those sounds. Wow. I play guitar and have promised myself I will work my ass off…. To at least get the first few bars! Unbelievable
Wow. This performance is fire 🔥. Amazing!!! In Las Vegas few days John played Neon so relaxed and free, like it’s super easy. It was cool. But this performance… it’s really great. Around 15 years ago I remember, how one my friend gave me some records of John and said, listen this. I listened few songs, and I didn’t find nothing interesting. And I thought… He is just a singer. Like most pop guitar players, nothing special. And forgot about him. And then, later, I saw project of Herbie “Possibilities”, with John. And I started to think, that I was wrong) I started to listen every record that I have,every song. And I found it. It was acoustic, only guitar and vocal, no band. I remember I heard only first chord! It was something like C13#9. And I realize that John is not just singer. Hi is MUSICIAN. And from that moment I big fan of John, big fan of Neon. I had dream to hear Neon live. I didn’t expect that my dream will come true. But it happened few years ago. It happened like magic. I mean situation happened like this, that it happened. I feel like I’m crazy about this song. But I really love it. Little bit jazzy.
@@michelevitarelli he got TWO vocal surgeries in 2010 and 2013 due to a tumor/granuloma growth in his vocal cords, you can see the impact it had on his voice on his early 2013 live performances
This will NEVER be an 'old' song. Thanks for posting this JM's performance! I mean, rreally, how can you sing and play such a great guitar with such an attitude at the same time..
It’s funny how he still only plays it with his thumb and index finger and people still have trouble. But if you watch the beginning he did an exercise that looks like instructions to get prepped to play it. What a flex
Hi Sir - I'm reaching out to you because I want you to go see a guy named Corey Heuvel - he has done over a hundred livestreams and I've been there for most of them. He is too humble to promote himself. As a guitar player you will see and hear how much this young guy has put into his performance. Mayer/Clapton/Beatles/SRV/Hendrix and more. He has recorded several CD's, soon to release his new one. Go watch him for a while and tell me I'm wrong.... I like John Mayer - he is an icon, but as most performers know, always look over your shoulder to see who is coming up behind you. It's Corey !
No one does it like John does!!!! And I'd say it one more time that I'm blessed to have had the honour to watch him play, in a church in Sydney barely a couple of arm lengths away... Simply amazing!!!!
Never thought much of Mayer until Sob Rock came out and we went to see him a few weeks ago. Not sure what made me ignore his playing and his talent for so long but this show was easily in the top five shows I’ve ever seen. The fact that he can play this and sing it AND improvise the whole middle section should tell you all you need to know about his musical abilities. What a legend.
Wow...he actually sings with proper technique that won't wreak his voice now!...and that solo section is beyond badass now compared to the 2000s and it was amazing back then too...And he acknowledged his mutant thumbs!! LOL...Btw, For guitar players trying to learn to improvise that solo section for coffeeshop gigs or whatever, I did just figure out a hack: If you can get your thumb to do that ridiculous bass line, you can use the Cm Pentatonic with it on your other fingers which most us guitarist know like the back of hands and it sounds very funky 😎
There are a lot of comments about the live at Nokia version being superior. I understand the preference for one version over another. When I compare that to this, it’s undeniable how much John has grown from a technical perspective. It’s such a treat to see much more of that Charlie hunter style of playing and how well he supports his singing with his playing now. Edit: silly grammar :P
