"Ocean" John Butler : Reaction and Guitar Giveaway 

Wow, John Butler is extraordinary. Gotta say Mark, I am amazed that you could pick up what he is doing - so quickly. Very impressive!

The look on Mark's face says...wow that's impressive and it looks pretty hard...but I think I can play it! Good luck learning the song, can't wait to hear your version. 🎸✌

Wow! That was my reaction, too. That's all I can say. Wow!

Great performance with an appropriate reaction. Thank you again, Mark, with additional thanks to Mr. Butler, or course. Without his efforts, I don't know that the video would have worked quite so well. :-)

Mark this is one of your best videos. This was the first time for me hearing any music by this guitarist and he is outstanding. The thing that impressed me most was your ability to analyze what he was doing and to communicate that to us. Then you began playing along with him and that totally blew me away. Keep doing this type of video. You are truly gifted and amazing.

Thank you Mark for introducing me to John Butler. He’s pushing more than Leo Kotke does on his songs with the complicated instrumental. I sure going to enjoy his music!

Haha you did it my guy been waiting for you to see this man play.

Thank you for reacting! I have always had it in my recommended, but never listened to it for some reason. Thank you for pointing out things every now and again. Thanks!

Bloody hell, he was good.

Wow Mark! I got a little discouraged watching this....till I started playing over it myself! I'm in No Way discounting this man's talent....but it is really FUN to play over!

Wow, Mark, that’s amazing that you can pick up a lot of what he is doing at a glance! Very impressed!!

Oceans is a song you just have to switch off and listen to quite loud with great headphones. If it doesn’t give you goose bumps you’re distracted and not letting the music wrap around you. JB is incredible

Hey Bryce. He actually has a custom made 11 string Maton. I noticed midway through the reaction that he doesnt have a high g and then I researched it after. I'm sure he just took it off for years like you say. It makes a slight difference. By no means is the song easy to play but it's a lot of pedal tones and pull offs. The real genius is in his dynamics, looping ability, his percussive stuff (incredible touch), etc. I looked at the tab after the fact and it doesnt do justice to what makes it a virtuoso performance. I hope you enjoy the reaction. I added some bio factoids pop up style and do a quick freestyle at the end to give people the general idea of what's going on. Have a good night and tomorrow let me know what you think. Thanks! -Mark

Wow, Mark this is amazing 👏 😍 🙌 ❤

Amazing, thank you for turning me on to a new musician. Amazing and you are not bad yourself young man. Can't wait to hear you play it after you learn it.

I had never heard of John Butler before seeing your reaction. OMG! This is fabulous! I asked my wife, "Why doesn't my guitar sound like that when I play" and she said, "You're not as good as him" Sigh. I hate reality but damn it, I will continue to try to sound the best I possibly can!

Incredible playing for sure. Excellent video too. I really enjoy that you aren't afraid to put out something that's different. It was fun watching you starting to pick out parts that he was playing. You'll have this one down soon. Good job.

Wow! You did great! Also I heard the song for the first time.

I caught some of your playing live and this song is great! Wow I don’t know how you follow his playing so quickly like you do!

Awesome song. Awesome reaction. Love it!,

Sounded great Mark!!! Nice job!

John is an incredible player, no drill, but as for the song, it just didn't tweak me. Impressed that you have the skills to take it on.

Great video Mark! You broke it down nicely and great facts about the “Million Dollar Hippie”

Hi Mark. Well done with this vid. I am a fan of John Butler, and have appreciated his music for years, and this tune in particular. I have attempted 'Ocean' but have never devoted enough time to it to really do it credit. I'll mention the tuning he uses, as it's a slight variation of Orkney Tuning, and I've been fiddling with Orkney since I ran across Celtic Guitarists Steve Baughman and Steven Wake. I first came across Baughman when a funeral director said he'd been asked for a Celtic tune, unspecified, as a catafalque tune, (the final farewell at a funeral service) and I not only didn't have one in the box, I didn't know where to look to find one. I found Baughman easily enough when I searched ytube for Irish guitar music, and found six really helpful lessons on Orkney tuning. Orkney is C-G-D-G-C-D. The only difference to Bulter's tuning is the 1st pair are lowered a whole step to D, and the 4th pair are raised a whole step to D. I improvised a Celtic piece by using Baughman's tuning and the melody to an old Irish folk song. Not wishing to get caught out again, and having been enchanted by the sounds, and simplicity, available from Orkney tuning, I went in search of some Celtic music I could use, not just at funerals, but as an instrumental to throw in at my cafe gig. About then I too discovered bagpipes are tuned in C, so I went looking for bagpipe music. I found a pipe band doing a beautiful tune called 'Journey's End', a well known Scottish air. When I went looking for some sheet music or tab, I lucked onto a hauntingly beautiful version by Steven Wake, a well known and highly skilled Celtic guitarist. His version is alternatively titled 'Journey's End (Lightly Swims the Swan)'; there's a vid on ytube. I bought the lesson from him, with instructional vid, play thru and tab. He does a lot of playing in Orkney tuning and capo 3, Eb.

Enjoyable. Lots of Celtic influences, along with the moving thumb of Marc Knopfler ,and the pedal tones of Alex Lifeson. Most notable is his dynamic range. I would listen to other things he had to offer. Real time musical analysis - an interesting concept!

Nice video, never heard of him, gonna check him out . Very talented. Well done Mark.

Thanks for posting. I had never heard of Butler before, so this was a treat.

That is one of the finest bits of guitar I’ve ever heard . Good luck learning it guy … I’ve heard it a thousand times . Can’t stop listening to it … nice review btw!

Can’t wait to see you tackle this song John. It’s one song to aspire too.

Dude, how the hell can you figure out THAT song so fast. Ridiculous. I'm sure there's a way to do it but whatever it is, it's REALLY impressive!

Great video Mark, that was awesome man 😀🤘🎵🔥🔥🔥

Can't wait to see you play it after learning the whole thing. It will be fun. I am a long ways off from playing this. Someday I will get an acoustic 12-string. But for now, my electric one will have to suffice. 😀

what an amazing song and mark you really picked up on some elements quickly! id love to see a video about your process for learning etc.

Really good video, I’ve never seen someone adapt so fast. I can’t play guitar but I love this song, my friend got me through rehab playing it! Definite sub!

Hey Mark. Haven't watched your videos for some half a year or so, cause I was going through some rough times in my life. But anyways, I am so glad to see your channel is growing bigger,cause I remember when I subscribed, you had like 3k subscribers. Keep up the good work, my friend 😊👍 Kristaps from Latvia 🇱🇻

Really like the format and was very impressed with how much you figured out.

Hey man. You also asked about whether or not you should do more reactions. I mentioned earlier that I'm not really into reaction videos I don't understand the fascination with watching other people ooh and ahh about a song. Why not just listen to the song yourself and have your own emotions rather than watching someone else's emotions. I wouldn't consider this a reaction video. You give just the right amount of analysis, you show the positions for those of us crazy enough to give it a go and you give a professional's take on his performance. I would love to see more of these. Again, great job Mark!

I saw him perform this in upstate New York years ago. Didn't know who JBT was, just happened to go to this particular show. All I could do as he played this for over 10 minutes was stand there with my mouth agape and take it in. It was a life-changing experience. Such an emotional rollercoaster of a song, and I still have that same breathless feeling as I listen to it years later.

Hey Mark thanks for this video. I had not really listened to John Butler before. I will definitely listen to more. What really amazed me was your talent in how fast you picked up on his style and technique. You are an amazing musician. Keep it up.

So I'm not a reaction guy but this is much more than a reaction. You basically do a song analysis in real time. Very enjoyable and very impressed with you knowledge of theory and the fretboard. I also like your little improv at the end. Showing that you have the general idea after one listen. I'll get there someday....maybe!

Great playing Brutha!!

Hey Mark, You should have seen my reaction when I had to teach it to one of my high school students. He performed it as part of his exams....

John Butlers Guitar looks like it's been through everything

I really loved the video...watching you analyze and play with John Butler. Good job, Mark.

Hey, Mark! I'm in your debt (also) for introducing me to Leo Kotke and John Butler, so Ocean was not completely strange to me - not by far as much as I would be strange to it if I dare try playing it rsrs. Thanks for the reaction - great idea. I learned a lot, as usual.

This song is my favorite of all time.. It gives me goosebumps without fail every time I hear it. The studio version isn't my favorite, but it was so fun to watch this video, because it seemed like you two were jamming together, and that made me smile :) Now I gotta go see if you got it down later.

Once again you hit it out of the park, I hope to be half that good someday.

I'm not easily impressed especially these days, watching John play this is one of the few times in life I have been and I haven't been since, until watching you react and play to it, absolute levels, can't wait to check out your back catalogue of videos

Amazing guitarist Mark ! Thanks for sharing brother! I count 6 tuners on top and 5 on the bottom? Looks like one peg is not there too! Wait you noticed too! Trying to build a comment as I watch sorry!

This performance is huge and I never knew about it! He definitely lives up to the hype.

How had a not heard this song before? This was fun!

Sounds like he basically did everything you could do with a 12, had that Irish vibe to it. Great and just Amazing. Thanks for introducing me to this.

I didn't know John butler.....but thank u mark to introduce me to this amazing man...😀😀😀

Thank you for your insights as to the "how." Of course, the song and the playing are incredible. The ending is a rush! (like we used to say.)

Never heard this song before but it’s good.

Man I have never seen anything like this before. Maybe i crawled out from under a rock, but he is truly amazing!. And yes, get rid of that high E string, I want to see you play it, I know you can!

I'm so proud of John and we love Adore him here at home in Australia 🌏

It has been a long time dream of mine to win a 12 String guitar. I would be forever greatful if I won. It would be appreciated beyond words.

Damn, mate, impressive that you can follow along half a beat behind at times.

You got a new subscriber truely remarkable stuff from you my man! I would love to win a 12 string but I'm all the way in northern ireland!

Impressed

That darn 12th string!😂

I started doing that sweeping upstroke he’s doing on a lot of acoustic stuff; even if that’s not how the song is played in the recording, and it usually sounds great on big open chords.

John Butler would feel more to you if you know the South West of Western Australia. He brings that natural soul to life in his music.

Cool 🎸

Man! I'd love to learn to play that song! 😁

Can't wait to see your cover once you learn it!! rip to your forearm muscles

Cool, your one of the few that gets the only one g string. G is always a pain in the arse, it’s always a little sharp or a little flat depending on where you play it. Two is twice as bad & why I sometimes find 12 string pieces a little… muddy?.. in the middle. Takes an attentive, knowledgeable guitarist to pick it up. Big thumbs up to you man.

This song is straight up max difficulty, I tried learning it for 6 months daily after work, it’s one of if not the hardest song to play but it will also be THE fav one.

You got to check out Luca Stricagnoli Mark ! I think you'll like his playing as well. Plus he is also a Beatles fan ! Great video Mark !

i was a fan of john butler before ocean was put on youtube and he only played it live

Wade in the Water (Rolling Stones Session) another beauty from John Butler. He's a master of the craft 🙏🏽

Can't wait to hear you make a cover of ocean if your going to make one

I can only echo Mark's reaction to that: Wow!

Thanks for vids

You’ve got to react to Tina S! She doesn’t play 12 string but she’s probably one of the best guitarist I’ve ever seen especially for her age.

All I can say is "holt crap"! Guess I'll be looking up more of his work. Cheers Mark.

Hey, good vid! Holy shit that's guy's incredible!! That song's pretty much a masterpiece. Thanks for taking this on and showing it to us. Learn to play that if you can. Just practicing that will elevate you to the stratosphere!!

i dont think the guitar is specially customed for 11 strings... you can see that he just removed it. Great video by the way

Merveilleux...you must see Jon gomm passion flower...

How do I enter? I livec12cstrings

I like the 12 string too

By the way John was using 11 string on that song

You should react to more of his songs and teach them and react to them 👌

HOLY @#$%! THIS GUY IS F'ING AMAZING!!! Can I post this on my Facebook page??

Nice bro I am from India

When im in this tuning and use a capo, the low C string just sounds horribly out of tune. Its so odd. Sounds fine with no capo

Skills shown but the song doesn't move me.

Not for me thanks ,I've been playing without my high g it's the thinnest string and probably snapped,with lock down it's been hard to accept get out to replace. Too repetitive I wouldn't waste my time with it .

John's guitar looks like he found it buried in his backyard, but it sounds insane

Такое ощущение что сам Батлер не смог повторить тот концерт ) Я конечно не специалист, но по ощущениям, там был океан.. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hQjwkXrcUrs.htmlsi=GgX2XgfzDtZYRHqs

that was no John butler playing,. although you picked up on the basics of it for sure1

Weirdly, it's an 11 string from what i understand.

Lol

Note that he could have played the guitar better if his lock of hair didn't tickle his nose !

#69

Love this song, amazing. You picked up on things quickly like other musicians I've listened to review this

Thank you Mark for introducing me to John Butler. He’s pushing more than Leo Kotke does on his songs with the complicated instrumental. I sure going to enjoy his music!

Thank you Mark for introducing me to John Butler. He’s pushing more than Leo Kotke does on his songs with the complicated instrumental. I sure going to enjoy his music!