The guy playing at 03:05 was playing the album version, which is played on electric guitar without the slap. The fact that he wasn’t slapping isn’t wrong.
You're right but I guess that what Tyler was trying to say is that it feels wrong considering that we was learning the live version of the song. Nice comment though.
Took me like a whole weekend to find out where that bass line was coming from. I searched everywhere. In my cupboards, my garage, I called my mom, nothing. And then I realised he dropped the low E to a C. As one does. Also that thumb advantage isnt fair.
Haha! It's so weird to see myself in one of your videos Tyler. Watching your Udemy and UA-cam channel grow last year was what inspired me to start teaching online, so thanks for that - it changed my life for the better. Just FYI - that picking pattern you highlighted in my video is just me looping the first four notes of the fingerpicking pattern that is applied to pretty much all of the chords (if my memory serves me well). I do mention to add the slap in after that part of the video :) All the best dude.
Ross, you've nailed it. Your right hand technique is just right, including extended wrist (not slamming it into the guitar) which is pretty much mandatory to get this sort of flow going.
It's actually pretty easy when you learn the right hand movement, I swear. I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM
John Mayer just made a TikTok where he explains his picking technique and even THEN I’m still needing to see other peoples video to learn how to do it xD tricky stuff
That's what brought me here! You gotta see Paul Davids's lesson on it. I got it down after a solid 4 hours, though still slower than the live version. Make sure you watch the *new* Paul Davids video, because he has an old one that is not as thorough or correct.
That wasn’t a tutorial. I don’t know what that was to be honest, if he wanted to teach it he could have but he didn’t he just said “make it flow” or something cheesy like that. I feel like he was just tryna dig up some old clout on TikTok
It’s extremely motivating to see him get this so quickly and his talent. He started playing at 13 (I think) and I’m 14 so it really goes to show that you can achieve anything with practice. Thank you!
You can do it buddy your still young, if you want it bad enough and put the work in you can get really good. Also it wouldn't hurt to learn some music theory at least how it pertains to the fretboard learn major and minor scale, learn intervals and how to put together chords. Learn the fretboard learn the fretboard learn the fretboard!! Did i mention learn the fretboard?? Lol you got it young man, youth is on your side!
I’ve been playing guitar for almost a year now and recently started trying out Neon and I’m super close to getting it down, thanks for all of the encouragement!!
It puts my mind at ease watching this and seeing someone, who I consider to be rather talented when it comes to guitar, go through the difficulties of learning a new song and having the “wobbly baby deer legs” on the fretboard... great video
Parmenion he is a good player but I honestly don't get the hype. The way people hype him up you'd think he was the second coming of Michael Hedges or something.
One thing that people don’t account for with John Mayer is his absolutely massive hands. If you’ve ever met him in real life you can see just how massive they are
Something that really helps with ear training is playing a song you know well enough to know how it should sound then play it in the dark and hear yourself mess up you will and if you don’t then you are probably too advanced for this but when you mess up guess how many frets you need to move up or down I did that yesterday and it helped immensely
Definitely an essential part of this riff is using your thumb & index finger since you lose some of the voicing easily if using standard fingerpicking patterns
Loved this video! Such an organic learning process is beneficial to viewers who envy the skill of guitarists like you. It shows us that it takes quite a bit of effort and practice to get this good.
I consider you to be one of today's greats. Watching you learn a song from scratch reminded me that 99% of the time spent on our instrument is a long grueling experimental process where it's all trial by error. It's easy to pick up the guitar, play what's comfortable, try something new, get frustrated, and put it down again. Watching someone I consider to be a pro who is leagues and leagues beyond, actually sit down and go slow on a song was really eye-opening. Thank you for the A+, down-to-earth content as always.
8DenverBass ikr,i also play the bass guitar,but when i started learning neon to play on accoustic guitar,it was so easy for me to get used to the thumb picking cuz i already know how to do it
Invoker I don’t even really play guitar, been playing just about straight up bass for 16 years with the occasional guitar thrown in just fucking around, but fortunately for me this technique comes reallly natural for me, specifically this riff.
As a guitarist who learned this song ten years ago or more now, I had a great time watching your video, everytime I hear this song I can normally learn something new, I noticed John plays a lot in the key of C, I'm trying to learn slow dancing in a burning room on an acoustic right now and I'm struggling, each of his songs thins the line more and more between simple and intricate. I leave y'all with a quote, "Simplicity is man's greatest intricacy, aristotle."
The one that this definitely helps with is to see that even high-level guitar players can make mistakes and play sloppy while learning a song. The hardest part of learning the guitar really does lie in frustration when you see people pull everything off perfectly, but we don't realise that they once too had the same problems that we do, they just overcame that and kept on trying.
A.S.V as long as it is only played with thumb and index finger, it is correct. 99% people who say it that any other mayer's song is harder, they don't play it exactly like john. every mayer's song is only interesting and challenging if one does it exactly like john
If you search up John mayer live in San Francisco at the masonic, around the 17 minute mark he literally teaches how to play neon right before playing it
After knowing this song for a good 6-8 months, I can finally play it just like he can. With the thumb and hit that Bb bass note on the last chord in the main riff, and do the thumb and the index technique.... Again, 6-8 MONTHS after originally learning this song... Must say it was worth it.
It's so depressing to see how easily he transcribes Edit: hey this blew up. at the time i commented id only been playing a.few months. definetly gotta better grasp now of what hes doing but he is still has phenomenal ear.
There’s no way he could possibly learn this by ear this quick. He either already knows the song or he took time to edit out himself learning as he goes
This more than likely took him a few hours. He chopped it down to a 13 minutes video. He just happens to put a shit ton of work into his musical ability
I really love the way you explained the importance of take tutorials away and get back to ear-practices. Actually you have encouraged me to follow trying to do it that way. I truly admire you sir!
Pro Tip for learning complex music by ear: separate the bass, melody, accompaniment parts, learn them individually, then fit them together. If you have an audio file, use a tool to slow the music down and loop difficul-to-comprehend sections until you have it down. Writing it out in some sort of notation to organize it, especially rhythmically, is hugely helpful. No need to shun reading and writing music. Not using those tools doesn’t make you a better musician.
Bloozdad riff lord would disagree, it's all about the feel man. Hendrix didn't know no stupid theory and he was the greatest guitarist and musician to ever live.
It took me about 2 hours, and I'm not particularly good, a lot of it depends on the way you learn. The video tutorials worked well for me, then repetitions until its buttery smooth.
It’s sad that he didn’t watch the “Cifra Club” class about this song. That guy is a genius, he just plays and teaches it perfectly. And it’s the live show version!
I’m glad someone finally made something about this. If you want to see the correct technique, type in “how to play neon the right way” it’s the first video. I went through months of learning this technique and it is way more complex than you can imagine. You alternate the bass and g string with your thumb while getting the slap sound. I still can’t play it perfect after all this time but trust me it sounds so much better when you learn the right way.
1. I've heard John himself talk about his weirdly long thumbs. 2. Even though it's not the exact same technique, John also uses his index nail to hit the string while doing the down motion. Just like using a pick. You can see this technique in "Stop this train" and "Heart of life". I suspect there's some of that here too. This technique adds this click sound which get combined with the slap.
His tutorials are great, but he is a bit sloppy with playing the songs. it doesn't matter ofc because he still makes an incredibly accurate tutorial. The dude has a damn good ear for those little details.
you have no idea how much inspiration came from this video. you, the best guitarist i know, took time like this to learn a song that i wouldve thought came easy to such a god. but for 2 years ive dreamt of being able to play that song. and to this day you still make my dreams feel less impossible man
I feel like most people play this riff wrong (or not exactly right to be precise). I think as you said, examining the artist playing it live is the best way to go
I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM
o tutorial do Leo é o melhor com certeza, mas ele esqueceu do thumb slap marcando o tempo! No meu canal tem 2 vídeos explicando direitinho como é a técnica da mão direita: /watch?v=j5A1D-sTjqE&t=
I‘m from a pre UA-cam - even pre CD - generation. We had to learn our stuff from memory after being at a concert, vinyl records or tape. Sheet music was no help, as it either wasn‘t available or it was over simplyfied. But this oversimplification was the actual trick, that probably still works today even with highly detailed lessons: Just work out a simple version, get into the groove and flow and consciously add the more delicate and harder to play parts with time and practice. Fun fact: When you get a chance to talk the original artist in person and ask him or her about a part you had a hard time learning, he or she will most of the time start off with a simpler version, sometimes just skipping the more delicate parts, but sounding right anyway. And many of them have developed a much easier way to play their difficult stuff that you may‘ve had such a hard time learning. 😄
Him: “That’s weird I don’t have grammarly and I don’t need it.” Grammarly who was about to give him 1,000,000 dollars so that he could promote their website: “You’ll regret that.”
I'm starting to try learn this song now. This is how I interpreted the picking pattern from watching his Live in LA video at .25x speed: John only uses his thumb and index finger. His hand moves in a constant 16th note down-up-down-up pattern, with each note plucking a string. First he plucks the low E with his thumb while his hand is moving down, then the D string with his index finger while his hand is moving up, then brings his thumb up and plucks the G string while moving down again, B with index while hand is moving up, then repeat, either slapping or playing the low E string again (depending on which part of the song you're at). Basically, this song is hard as fuck.
Thanks for posting a video showing the real struggles of learning certain songs. Nice to see someone much better than myself struggle until they get it as well
@@coryCuc haven't seen Paul doing the whole thing including the intro and I A-B JM's and JHG's versions and not surprisingly, they matched with just a slight tempo difference 2 mins into the song.
yeah but that's for the electric guitar studio version. I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM
I really appreciate him showing the hiccups in finding the notes and showing the little mistakes, it proves that even playing consistently for what I assume is 10+ years he isn't completely a master at guitar and that's really awesome. I know this video is old but still, appreciated!
Thanks for showing the process. Sometimes I just feel stupid when trying it by ear and not getting it. You gave me comfort that this is just a progress until you overcome.
Ya, I like how you mentioned at the end about John Mayer's thumb. He's one of my favorite artists and when I tried to learn one of his songs I realized the problem of my small hands and his hands are MASSIVE so he can do things like that. Just means I need to find work arounds like you did and take more time on it.
John Mayer actually did a UA-cam shorts and I found it very helpful. A lot of people did not think it was helpful but I thought it was very nice seeing the man who created it teach it himself
It's not really a thing of hand size. For example I can hardly stretch from C to D# on piano without touching/playing other keys but could do those thumb shenanigans as soon as I learned to play normal thumb over chords. Must be a strange anatomy :)
I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM
Good job bro, I wonder what it's like to be able to transcribe such a complex song by ear. As someone who doesn't have giant hands I remember the trouble this song gave me. But when I decided to practice it 3 years ago I did it with the belief that 1) with steady, hard practice I could play it exactly like Mayer, with my thumb holding down the root note of each chord - including the very last "WTF" one; and 2) that even though my hands were smaller, it was all just a matter of muscle memory in the end. About two months of mangling my own left hand, I finally got to play - slowly but steadily - this section (verse & chorus) "Mayer-style" with minimum buzzing. My beliefs were proving true: my hands were big *enough.* But, alas, my optimism proved to be premature. The very next part of the song (the "pre-chorus") has this [6x634x]. Now playing *that* with the thumb on the 6th fret was a prospect that had me question my genetics. I now know not everything can be overcome with practice. Not everything is my damn fault. Sometimes, it's really true to say life is unfair. This song fucking humbled me.
The guy playing at 03:05 was playing the album version, which is played on electric guitar without the slap. The fact that he wasn’t slapping isn’t wrong.
True
Brøther
O_o
You're right but I guess that what Tyler was trying to say is that it feels wrong considering that we was learning the live version of the song. Nice comment though.
Pretty sure the album version is quite a bit easier to play. Getting right on acoustic is hard
MIW - takes 45 mins to learn the riff
Me - *takes 4.5 hours to get the good evening part correct*
Me - takes 4.5 years to get the whole song perfectly.
Me - takes 45 years to learn how to sit properly
It's really not that hard
͔ sure and i am teaching john mayer to play
it took me 7 hours to get the good evening part right
John Mayer is one of the greatest ever at the lobster claw technique. He picks this riff with two fingers.
The way I learned was to keep lobster shape stiff and play as if strumming. If that makes any sense
no doubt. between neon, stop this train/heart of life/who says-he's just gotta be
@Tesco home brand pork sausage elitist 1 finger and a thumb is the same thing as two fingers. Your thumb is a finger.
@@TheBanderson22 anatomically speaking, the thumb is not a finger.
Like a bass player
John Mayer only plays with his thumb and forefinger the entire song.
John Mayer plays every song with only 2 fingers. No matter what.always.
Rhabdo B Nope... 7
He must use his toes to form chords
@@anorangewithacapybaraunder2370 obviously he referred to the picking hand.
@@anorangewithacapybaraunder2370 you didn't understand what (s)he meant.
Took me like a whole weekend to find out where that bass line was coming from. I searched everywhere. In my cupboards, my garage, I called my mom, nothing. And then I realised he dropped the low E to a C. As one does. Also that thumb advantage isnt fair.
This cracked me up real hard.
Yeah this needs way more likes
I’ve done that with a lot of songs only to realize I’m in the wrong tuning.
Haha! It's so weird to see myself in one of your videos Tyler. Watching your Udemy and UA-cam channel grow last year was what inspired me to start teaching online, so thanks for that - it changed my life for the better.
Just FYI - that picking pattern you highlighted in my video is just me looping the first four notes of the fingerpicking pattern that is applied to pretty much all of the chords (if my memory serves me well). I do mention to add the slap in after that part of the video :)
All the best dude.
thought of u the second i clicked the link
Ross Campbell You are both very inspiring!
I was gonna message you and let you know but looks like you already beat me to it. Hahaha.
music is win is calling you out lol
Ross, you've nailed it. Your right hand technique is just right, including extended wrist (not slamming it into the guitar) which is pretty much mandatory to get this sort of flow going.
"I've always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but the beginning seemed so slow and frustrating..."
Mr Witty lol
Everybody get the same ads 😭😂
who said that?
Alexandre Selin it's a reference to the yousician ads, it's sort of a meme in the community
*throws guitar on ground*
The hard part is SINGING while doing that crazy riff.
It's actually pretty easy when you learn the right hand movement, I swear. I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM
Anything you can learn in one day isnt hard hahaha check out Tommy Emmanuel if you want to see something actually interesting imo. All the best!
That why John Mayer is one the best
Gilang Ramanda
João Guilherme Castro
dude...u r amazing!!!
John Mayer just made a TikTok where he explains his picking technique and even THEN I’m still needing to see other peoples video to learn how to do it xD tricky stuff
That's what brought me here! You gotta see Paul Davids's lesson on it. I got it down after a solid 4 hours, though still slower than the live version. Make sure you watch the *new* Paul Davids video, because he has an old one that is not as thorough or correct.
Use xd again.... see what happens
@@lcandothat xD uwu
That wasn’t a tutorial. I don’t know what that was to be honest, if he wanted to teach it he could have but he didn’t he just said “make it flow” or something cheesy like that. I feel like he was just tryna dig up some old clout on TikTok
@@superbeast4473 acting like a damn kid and he's what 48
It’s extremely motivating to see him get this so quickly and his talent. He started playing at 13 (I think) and I’m 14 so it really goes to show that you can achieve anything with practice. Thank you!
Yes you can do it. No matter what happens just don't stop when you feel like quitting
Keep going
Keep working at it, and just remember everything is a process. It’s a lot of work and effort but you’ll get there, don’t forget that.
You can do it buddy your still young, if you want it bad enough and put the work in you can get really good. Also it wouldn't hurt to learn some music theory at least how it pertains to the fretboard learn major and minor scale, learn intervals and how to put together chords. Learn the fretboard learn the fretboard learn the fretboard!! Did i mention learn the fretboard?? Lol you got it young man, youth is on your side!
I’ve been playing guitar for almost a year now and recently started trying out Neon and I’m super close to getting it down, thanks for all of the encouragement!!
It puts my mind at ease watching this and seeing someone, who I consider to be rather talented when it comes to guitar, go through the difficulties of learning a new song and having the “wobbly baby deer legs” on the fretboard... great video
Db Cooper he never said he already knew the riff for Neon, he said he already knows a lot of his riffs
the funny thing is that it took em 45 minutes to figure it out!!!
Danny Pineda yeah, meanwhile I’m 2 months deep on the same riff lmfao although it’s not one of the main things I practice so that could be why
Jakob Morningstar i try not to learn things too hard so it usually takes me about a week to learn a whole song properly.
It's good to remember we all do it
And you still hear people saying John Mayer is not that good of a guitar player :__)
Parmenion he is a good player but I honestly don't get the hype. The way people hype him up you'd think he was the second coming of Michael Hedges or something.
MrTechselect dude are joking? He is fucking great. A fucking master, as Eric Clapton said.
They're lying John's a bad ass on all levels, guitar, writing and has a distinctive voice.
He’s a good player but I’m not into his music
I think people like to dismiss him because he likes to write pussy songs. Not songs by a pussy you understand, songs for a pussy. Or two
One thing that people don’t account for with John Mayer is his absolutely massive hands. If you’ve ever met him in real life you can see just how massive they are
Yep. Biology matters.
Buckethead also has huge hands with very long fingers.
Does John play basketball?
Something that really helps with ear training is playing a song you know well enough to know how it should sound then play it in the dark and hear yourself mess up you will and if you don’t then you are probably too advanced for this but when you mess up guess how many frets you need to move up or down I did that yesterday and it helped immensely
Thanks mate, love it when people in the community exchange thoughts on how to improve!
Definitely an essential part of this riff is using your thumb & index finger since you lose some of the voicing easily if using standard fingerpicking patterns
Loved this video! Such an organic learning process is beneficial to viewers who envy the skill of guitarists like you. It shows us that it takes quite a bit of effort and practice to get this good.
Epsilon's Dilemma yes
good honest performance and practice session
I consider you to be one of today's greats. Watching you learn a song from scratch reminded me that 99% of the time spent on our instrument is a long grueling experimental process where it's all trial by error. It's easy to pick up the guitar, play what's comfortable, try something new, get frustrated, and put it down again. Watching someone I consider to be a pro who is leagues and leagues beyond, actually sit down and go slow on a song was really eye-opening. Thank you for the A+, down-to-earth content as always.
Man this breakdown of each component of John's playing really helped me understand how to fit the pieces together. Thank you for this video.
That's actually a bass technique, Mayer is simply double thumping
8DenverBass ikr,i also play the bass guitar,but when i started learning neon to play on accoustic guitar,it was so easy for me to get used to the thumb picking cuz i already know how to do it
Invoker I don’t even really play guitar, been playing just about straight up bass for 16 years with the occasional guitar thrown in just fucking around, but fortunately for me this technique comes reallly natural for me, specifically this riff.
Ye
it’s very hard to do it his way though. he only plus with his thumb and index, it’s ridiculous
Yeah, as a bassist i noticed this too. Popping, slapping and thumping with some flamenco picking. He's basically doing a Les Claypool lol
Thanks for the tips! I’m gonna use this and finally take on Smoke On The Water
😳😳😳
Bruh, not even guitar gods like Eddie Van Halen could do that
As a guitarist who learned this song ten years ago or more now, I had a great time watching your video, everytime I hear this song I can normally learn something new, I noticed John plays a lot in the key of C, I'm trying to learn slow dancing in a burning room on an acoustic right now and I'm struggling, each of his songs thins the line more and more between simple and intricate. I leave y'all with a quote, "Simplicity is man's greatest intricacy, aristotle."
"The groove is heavy with this one" - Tyler on may 4th
I see what you did
jacob backman hahahahahahhaha
XD
Back in my day we used to have to pause and rewind the ol cassette player. You youngsters have it all these days. Feeling old😩
Old and new doesnt matter for me, we all strive to learn and play some smooth tune for the sake of music.
The one that this definitely helps with is to see that even high-level guitar players can make mistakes and play sloppy while learning a song. The hardest part of learning the guitar really does lie in frustration when you see people pull everything off perfectly, but we don't realise that they once too had the same problems that we do, they just overcame that and kept on trying.
Where the light is… indeed the one of best performances!
that "WTF" at 12:37 had me dying
Ross Campbell has the best tutorial. He helped break it down terrifically.
A.S.V as long as it is only played with thumb and index finger, it is correct. 99% people who say it that any other mayer's song is harder, they don't play it exactly like john.
every mayer's song is only interesting and challenging if one does it exactly like john
check justin guitar
ua-cam.com/video/sf17osuWTnA/v-deo.html
Look at Cifra Club Neon tutorial
If you search up John mayer live in San Francisco at the masonic, around the 17 minute mark he literally teaches how to play neon right before playing it
John wrote on his own tabs the following comment about that weird thumb position:
Having GIANT thumbs help.
where can i find john's tabs?
@@alby7348 look up "John Mayer neon tabs" on Google images. It's handwritten and has notes written on it. It's got all of the parts
@@alby7348 Where can I find John's thumbs?
@@TheRedOctoberProject the dark Web
@@TheRedOctoberProject most pro bass player thumbs should do the trick
6:59 me trying to guitar
3:40 me trying to guitar
@@chaseblauvelt7008 lmfao
@@chaseblauvelt7008 hahaha perfect
@RayFX ™ But you don't try to snail !!!
Yeah the thumb is the real talent. Mayer should thank it every morning.
I have long ass thumbs they are very unproportional, I can do the thing...
I got a "Yousicion can teach you how to play the ukulele" add.
Joel Michotjr me too
Grab your uke and play along
All the fucking time
Guess what...I haven't seen that ad on any video since months..
Same here!
After knowing this song for a good 6-8 months, I can finally play it just like he can. With the thumb and hit that Bb bass note on the last chord in the main riff, and do the thumb and the index technique.... Again, 6-8 MONTHS after originally learning this song... Must say it was worth it.
It's so depressing to see how easily he transcribes
Edit: hey this blew up. at the time i commented id only been playing a.few months. definetly gotta better grasp now of what hes doing but he is still has phenomenal ear.
Why? Did you also study music at one of the best places to do so? If not, then you don' t need to be. He put a lot of work in his abbilies.
Actually it didn't look easy to me... XD He is editing a lot of things out, otherwise the video would have been too long.
The true marvel of guitar transcription is Chris Zoupa. Easily the most talented UA-cam guitarist and one of the best teachers on here hands down
There’s no way he could possibly learn this by ear this quick. He either already knows the song or he took time to edit out himself learning as he goes
This more than likely took him a few hours. He chopped it down to a 13 minutes video. He just happens to put a shit ton of work into his musical ability
I don't even play guitar or know anything about it I just love the process of progression in any sort of art form.
a settlement needs your help bro
I really love the way you explained the importance of take tutorials away and get back to ear-practices. Actually you have encouraged me to follow trying to do it that way. I truly admire you sir!
Pro Tip for learning complex music by ear: separate the bass, melody, accompaniment parts, learn them individually, then fit them together. If you have an audio file, use a tool to slow the music down and loop difficul-to-comprehend sections until you have it down. Writing it out in some sort of notation to organize it, especially rhythmically, is hugely helpful. No need to shun reading and writing music. Not using those tools doesn’t make you a better musician.
Bloozdad riff lord would disagree, it's all about the feel man. Hendrix didn't know no stupid theory and he was the greatest guitarist and musician to ever live.
He's 6'3", his hands are massive making it easier to stretch his thumb on that last chord
ryan hendry I was just gonna mention that!... He's about 6'3".... If you watch him play that strat... He's hold a baby strat!... Lol...
I’m 5 11 I work with a guy that’s like 6 1 my hands are massive compared to his it’s just genetics 😂😂
Me: *takes a week to learn this with nonstop practice
MIW: *learns in 45 min
Well he got some wrong
It doesn’t exactly just take a week. It takes years of practice.
unique GT duhh in 45 minutes he manages to do better than most guitarist
It took me about 2 hours, and I'm not particularly good, a lot of it depends on the way you learn. The video tutorials worked well for me, then repetitions until its buttery smooth.
Motionless in white
Legend has it John Mayer has his thumb insured for $10,000,000.00
It’s sad that he didn’t watch the “Cifra Club” class about this song. That guy is a genius, he just plays and teaches it perfectly. And it’s the live show version!
I’m glad someone finally made something about this. If you want to see the correct technique, type in “how to play neon the right way” it’s the first video. I went through months of learning this technique and it is way more complex than you can imagine. You alternate the bass and g string with your thumb while getting the slap sound. I still can’t play it perfect after all this time but trust me it sounds so much better when you learn the right way.
1. I've heard John himself talk about his weirdly long thumbs.
2. Even though it's not the exact same technique, John also uses his index nail to hit the string while doing the down motion. Just like using a pick. You can see this technique in "Stop this train" and "Heart of life". I suspect there's some of that here too. This technique adds this click sound which get combined with the slap.
And What about the thumb hitting E string up?
Zartimus is the GOAT for John Mayer live performance tutorials
Markus Flores finally SOMEONE mentions Zartimus! Does really no one know about him?
His tutorials are great, but he is a bit sloppy with playing the songs. it doesn't matter ofc because he still makes an incredibly accurate tutorial. The dude has a damn good ear for those little details.
Preach man. I've used his tutorials to learn the entire live version
Zartimus for the win
The dude is 6’3” I can only image how huge his hands actually are. 😳
Damn boo what that thumb do? 👁️👄👁️
Fuck I'm a whole ass foot smaller. Guess I'm at a genetic disadvantage for learning this riff
you have no idea how much inspiration came from this video. you, the best guitarist i know, took time like this to learn a song that i wouldve thought came easy to such a god. but for 2 years ive dreamt of being able to play that song. and to this day you still make my dreams feel less impossible man
not the first time i’ve watched this video btw
I feel like most people play this riff wrong (or not exactly right to be precise). I think as you said, examining the artist playing it live is the best way to go
I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM
Cifra Club its just great to learn songs!
Lucas Kenui o melhor meua migo
Com certeza! (Sou BR também hehe)
ih ala br aqui ahsuahs
Olha os br ai. Nao perdem um video do cara kkkkk ♡
o tutorial do Leo é o melhor com certeza, mas ele esqueceu do thumb slap marcando o tempo! No meu canal tem 2 vídeos explicando direitinho como é a técnica da mão direita:
/watch?v=j5A1D-sTjqE&t=
I can’t do techniques on the guitar but i can pick my nose professionally
I‘m from a pre UA-cam - even pre CD - generation. We had to learn our stuff from memory after being at a concert, vinyl records or tape. Sheet music was no help, as it either wasn‘t available or it was over simplyfied. But this oversimplification was the actual trick, that probably still works today even with highly detailed lessons: Just work out a simple version, get into the groove and flow and consciously add the more delicate and harder to play parts with time and practice.
Fun fact: When you get a chance to talk the original artist in person and ask him or her about a part you had a hard time learning, he or she will most of the time start off with a simpler version, sometimes just skipping the more delicate parts, but sounding right anyway. And many of them have developed a much easier way to play their difficult stuff that you may‘ve had such a hard time learning. 😄
0:08 god I can smell the estrogen from over here
What
@@mucheq5386 girls in the crowd
Maan imagine John Mayer playing tender surrender perfectly
high IQ comment
Loool
Him: “That’s weird I don’t have grammarly and I don’t need it.”
Grammarly who was about to give him 1,000,000 dollars so that he could promote their website: “You’ll regret that.”
yeah but that was comedy gold, so... worth it.
That riff is so SATISFYING to listen to 😩💗
I'm starting to try learn this song now. This is how I interpreted the picking pattern from watching his Live in LA video at .25x speed:
John only uses his thumb and index finger. His hand moves in a constant 16th note down-up-down-up pattern, with each note plucking a string. First he plucks the low E with his thumb while his hand is moving down, then the D string with his index finger while his hand is moving up, then brings his thumb up and plucks the G string while moving down again, B with index while hand is moving up, then repeat, either slapping or playing the low E string again (depending on which part of the song you're at).
Basically, this song is hard as fuck.
that last part was hilarious i hope you became a better musician in 4 years
This is one of the best how to practice videos on the internet. Thank you so much for this.
Thanks for posting a video showing the real struggles of learning certain songs. Nice to see someone much better than myself struggle until they get it as well
12:33 I laughed so hard because of this ahahahahahah
Hahahah I was almost laying on the floor
I was searching for that comment🤣
I made it boys learned neon it costed me crying blood and sweat but made it and I’m proud
Paul Davids explained it in his video and i think his version is almost 100% same to JM
Jamie Harrison Guitar has the best version..
@@lamefart Definitely Paul Davids and Richard Smith.
@@coryCuc Jamie Harrison had that left thumb down to the tee that's why his sounded nearer to John's. I've watched the other's versions, bdw.
@@lamefart For the same reasons you listed, are the same reasons I think Paul and Richard do a better job at explaining it and playing it.
@@coryCuc haven't seen Paul doing the whole thing including the intro and I A-B JM's and JHG's versions and not surprisingly, they matched with just a slight tempo difference 2 mins into the song.
I learned how to play this riff in thirty minutes, yours is about ten times better. Keep up the great work!
This was better than any tutorial. i learned how to play it in about 20 minutes since you did all the hard work.
Bruh just use youiscian app like all shredders out there
Learn Everything I ALWAYS WANTED TO LEAEB GUITAR! !!!
But the beginning was so slow and frustrating
but now with yousician my learning seems fun and easy!
Just grab your acoustic or electric
And play along
Should have continued with Ross' video. He explains the slapping after he shows the picking pattern.
yeah but that's for the electric guitar studio version. I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM
Maybe you could try "yousicion" to learn. It's the fast, fun way to learn and master the guitar.
Ok. Bye.
milou zwaana hahahaha
milou zwaana 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
milou zwaana I
🤣🤣🤣 nice suggestions
*yousician
This was all at once interesting, surprisingly inspiring, and incredibly discouraging. I fucking loved it.
I really appreciate him showing the hiccups in finding the notes and showing the little mistakes, it proves that even playing consistently for what I assume is 10+ years he isn't completely a master at guitar and that's really awesome. I know this video is old but still, appreciated!
Paul David's breakdown of this riff is very good.
It’s very humbling to see a pro like you trying to learn something in Guitar. Then the humbling stopped after seeing you learn it in under an hour.
He flick and slaps at the same time. That’s what gives him the “gun shape” hand
this whole riff is a humbling experience
Is so amazing how an amazing guitar player have to learn another person playing ♥️
"Oh, that's weird, I don't have Grammarly, and I... don't need it..." Loved that comment! That's how I feel every freakin' time that ad pops up.
the man the myth himself got sick of everybody getting stressed over this that he uploaded a tiktok tutorial himself hahah
That scene at 12:39 killed me. I could not stop laughing when he cut to John mayer with the WTF watermark.
Thanks for showing the process. Sometimes I just feel stupid when trying it by ear and not getting it. You gave me comfort that this is just a progress until you overcome.
Nice Chris zoupa shout out dude. That man taught me guitar pre-youtube and he's the reason I'm so musically inspired today.
That thumb doe. Great for giving MiW likes👍 🎸🎶
WTF ONLY 45 MINUTES???? I’d take AT LEAST a week to get that good... Congrats man
One year to me lol
The thumb and forefinger pattern is actually the way that John Mayer plays.
After years John himself taught us the technique on insta and tik tok
Ya, I like how you mentioned at the end about John Mayer's thumb. He's one of my favorite artists and when I tried to learn one of his songs I realized the problem of my small hands and his hands are MASSIVE so he can do things like that. Just means I need to find work arounds like you did and take more time on it.
John Mayer should be part of the top 100 guitarists selected in the rolling Stone magazine..
Ryan no he is just a slowed down version of Jimi Hendrix and that neon riff is a faster version of Pete Townsend solo
@@gregory7807 Being a slowed down version of Hendrix would surely put you in the top 100 of modern guitarists
**several metronome clicks later**
**ad plays**
This happened to me as I was reading your comment. 😂
HOW DID I JIST READ YOUR COMMENT ABD GET AN AD
Lol wtf, just read the comment and an ad appeared
Look at Cifraclub's version. It's great.
After years of hard work, perseverance, determination and everything possible I'm finally able to play this legendary song smoke on the water
John Mayer actually did a UA-cam shorts and I found it very helpful. A lot of people did not think it was helpful but I thought it was very nice seeing the man who created it teach it himself
12:36 LMFAOO WTF😂😂😂
Arturo Linares ahahhahahaha
Electric is skinnier too. Crazy hands
Not that hard at all.
@@ArcDevErik Sweet let's see your video playing it!
12:12 well... He's got the hands of a basketball player. That kinda helps.
As a dude with tiny hands, sometimes I wish I learned to play drums instead. I'm just glad I don't play bass.
Mikael Hetfield I know your pain my friend
It's not really a thing of hand size. For example I can hardly stretch from C to D# on piano without touching/playing other keys but could do those thumb shenanigans as soon as I learned to play normal thumb over chords. Must be a strange anatomy :)
I have very small hands (same size as female hands) and I can play this riff.but you need to practise A LOT
...his hands aren't black...
I lol'ed so hard at the grammarly comment ;D made my day
Thank you for this, sir. I did not learn how to play neon, but I learned how one could learn a song by breaking it down into details. Thank you!
@4:40: could not agree more! First time I saw this, played it at least three times in a row
There are vids of Mayer showing the technique used in Neon on Instagram live.
I used to not be able to it with the thumb but kept at it, finally could do it. And I have very average hands.
Sasmitha Waidyatilleke same. Technique here is not even close aswell.
Me too. I measured lol. From my wrist to my middle finger is 7.5".
Can you touch me with your average hands?
I made a video with tabs trying to show how the right hand technique works for the acoustic version, it's the only correct one I've seen on youtube, here it is: /watch?v=5etpllTqiDM
So how much do I get paid for watching your video?
Good job bro, I wonder what it's like to be able to transcribe such a complex song by ear.
As someone who doesn't have giant hands I remember the trouble this song gave me. But when I decided to practice it 3 years ago I did it with the belief that 1) with steady, hard practice I could play it exactly like Mayer, with my thumb holding down the root note of each chord - including the very last "WTF" one; and 2) that even though my hands were smaller, it was all just a matter of muscle memory in the end.
About two months of mangling my own left hand, I finally got to play - slowly but steadily - this section (verse & chorus) "Mayer-style" with minimum buzzing. My beliefs were proving true: my hands were big *enough.*
But, alas, my optimism proved to be premature. The very next part of the song (the "pre-chorus") has this [6x634x]. Now playing *that* with the thumb on the 6th fret was a prospect that had me question my genetics.
I now know not everything can be overcome with practice. Not everything is my damn fault. Sometimes, it's really true to say life is unfair.
This song fucking humbled me.
It is comforting to see that even professional musicians go through the same struggle when it comes to learning new songs... 😅
As someone a year into learning. This video is prefect. Thank you for the pov 'good guitar player learning guitar'
8:39
...when hard work finally pays off
that only took you 45 minutes??!! 🙏🙌👏
So its harder than the Smoke on the Water riff?
XD
Timelapse Experimentals no, i feel like smoke on water is near impossible and only true masters can play it, music is win hasn’t reached that level
@@john-fo5xv no one has quite got it down right yet, and that day may never come
@@LocalGoatStatus watch paul davids! He got it and even explains it!
@@gintokisakata3073 _woooosh_ *the joke flies over your head*
Gintoki Sakata r/wooosh
I just witnessed a person growing and become more intellectually capable of higher ergonomical situations Outstanding kelp at it !
Came back to an old video to see the progress. Ya came a long way.