Chords for Blues Guitar Lesson - John Mayer Style Solo

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Although he found fame in the pop and rock mainstream, John Mayer is also a highly accomplished
blues guitar player who combines the influence of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix perfectly.
There's also some BB King and Eric Clapton in his playing as well.
Whilst he generally draws on the major and minor pentatonic scales when soloing, there
are a couple of elements to his playing which is important to be aware of.
Firstly, he often likes to emphasise the 6th over a dominant 7th chord, and I'll explain
just what that means now.
If we're playing over an A dominant 7th chord, to locate the 6th degree, we simply play 6
notes through an A major scale, so A, _ _ B, [B] _ _ [C#] C sharp, _ _ _ [D] _
_ [E] here's the E, the 5th, _ [F#] and then finally
F sharp, the major 6th.
_ _ So that's the note we're looking for, it's a very BB King device to play the 6th over
a dominant or a major 7th chord, and it gives a very distinctive sound.
Another key feature of Meyer's style is in his technique.
He relies on what's called rakes a lot, and a rake is a great device to really emphasise a note. _
What this entails is basically fretting a note, and then brushing the pick down some
muted strings before sounding that note.
You can rake down into a note, here I'll rake down into a [G#] C, _ you [A#] see I have the left hand
finger muting the strings, and then I've struck the C at the top, or you can also rake back
up into a note, so you could try starting [C] on the C, _ [A] _ _ _ and then the rake was on strings
2 and 3.
_ [Am] _ _ _ _
[G] It's a great device for really making that chord tone, or any other note you're aiming
[F#m] for, really pop out. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [Am] _
[D] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ [Bm] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ [Bm] _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [F#m] _ _
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _
_ _ _ _ [C#] _ _ [A] _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ [D] _
_ [Am] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
[D#] _ _ [F] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ [G] _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [F#m] _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Bm] _ _ [E] _ _ _ [F#] _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [Am] _ _ _ [D#] _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ [Dm] _ _ [A] _ _
[Am] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _