"the kid can play" understatement of teh century

Guitarist left to John was so impressed by that super lick at 2:29 he almost forgot to sing! Great lick for the record.

John looks unsatisfied every time they stop the performance. Amazing musician no doubt.

Omg his guitar always sounds so nice

John Mayer, along with the great Hendrix(RIP) and the almighty Clapton made me love the Stratocaster

he's got some killer licks

not only is he able to play any style he wants to, john also comes always up with such juicy tones for his guitars... it's amazing

2:27 Like a boss!

an OK guitar player??? Please - I dont like all of his songs but the dude can flat out play. Some of his blues covers are excellent.

very frustrating when people just write this guy off as an mtv pop star. he's such an amazing guitarist/singer/songwriter, its only a matter of time before his reputation is sealed as one of the greats in blues

Man, John Mayer needs to do a full-length cover of The Ghetto. Those were some crazy hot licks he had going there.

Mayer: legend in the making.

His tone is incredible.

wow i loved watching htis. It really reinforces how smooth and cool a blues guitarist JM is

they should let artists do this on talk shows more often.

Nice monster tone Mayer...

"There he is ball shaver everybody!" hahahaha

Mayer is without a doubt, one of the best guitarists on the planet, and he is quick to pay repsects and homage to his blues forefathers. I'm not a huge fan of his singing (nor the way he looks when he sings, but he has done some correcting of the "birdmouth"), but his writing is where he really shines. Playing great guitar is one thing...writing great material is quite another. This kid will be around for a LONG time....

I'll fill in the parts I know for sure... 1:14-1:33 John Mayer - No Such Thing 1:55-2:11 Eric Clapton - Old Love 2:17-2:58 Donnie Hathaway - The Ghetto 3:03-END sounds a lot like a BB King blues tune, not sure what it is though.

He's got a great guitar tone. Man, I wish I had that!

Love John Mayer. I think I have ten of his albums, great stuff.

thanks for putting this together

1:56 this is right when heavier things came out.. and yet he plays a riff very similar to i don't trust myself (with loving you), which came out three years later. foreshadowing i guess.

Fantastic strat sound.

Awesome! Must be fun playing little songs like this : )

That's probably the best David Letterman episode I've ever watched. :)

Letterman had the best Band in late night history led by Paul Shaffer. 2nd place definitely goes to The Max Weinberg 7 from Conans Late Night NBC show.

This is so cool I Miss Dave

i just want to listen to him jam forever

John Mayer is a very soulful musician

couldn't have said it any better. kudos to you

He's playing through a old vintage Blackface Fender Super Reverb, which he rented in New York.. He said that in some guitar magazine..

Dude...this band has class like Will Lee, Anton Fig & the maestro himself, Paul Schaeffer

I wish there was some way to watch the whole performance

yeah, i wish i could hear him do a full version of old love. Im happy somebody else caught that.

I checked it and your right. Thanks!

Thanks!

2:22 my favourite, it's fun watching the bassist.

very good. i love it

Paul S is the Doc Severinsen of our times..."Good Stuff" as Johnny would say...

thanks!!

john mayer kills it!

The Ghetto is a great song to jam along with. I recommend it highly for any guitar player. I've playing slide along with it and enjoy it every time.

paul is full of energy!!

@blusismylife Thanks! I checked out the Donny Hathaway version... Awesome Jam. I'll check out the other one!87

john mayer is brilliant

I

what a humble guy he is

Yet more successful and talented than we will ever be.

playing Old Love by Clapton and Cray at 1:57 !!!

1:56 sounds just like the intro to I don't trust myself with loving you. So awesome

If there was a way to watch the full performance i’d spend days learning it...

"How 'bout dat?" Yeah... how about that Letterman. How about that?

I would of killed to be in the audience to watch this

David's like "so john is here, cool, I guess." Paul's like "YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT HE IS!! AND HE'S ALL MINE!."

he was playing for real that night.

@MrBearmanification ah, hence the old love he sings when they come back from commercial. nice. thank you for the most insightful reply i've ever gotten on youtube. (seriously) I'm going to watch that other video now, much appreciated.

Ashton Kutcher is like "Dang, why can't I be as cool as John Mayer. I'm trying so much harder!!!"

his music is just so lovable i dont understand how people could dislike him for his music.!

Now, that's a cool version of Donny Hathaway's "The Ghetto" 02:29 ❤ JM

"Old Love" by Eric Clapton, Mayer has a great cover on KZfaq.

thanks alot cool riff :)

thanks a lot, i'm actually thinkin on getting room for squares tomorrow :). i'm kinda new on JM's tunes.

yeah old love

Sweet chops :-)

Dave should let Paul and a guest artist play once and a while a whole song so we in TV land can enjoy.

it's called "no such thing" from the album Room for Squares

Letterman - "THERE HE IS, IT'S BALL SHAVER, EVERYBODY!!"

oh man, I love that he threw old love by clapton in there.

he finishes playing "empty arms" at 1:00

good work thanks for cutting it out

THERE HE IS - BALL SHAVER!!!!!!!!!!!

this all sounded like pure SRV,nice

very cool : )

Haha.. Watch John's face in the background when they're talking about the pear-shaped shaker. He looks like he is confused... lol.

ITS THE BLACK ONE. From way back in the day!

fucking right man thats how we have musicians. stealing licks is part of developing your own guitar persona in my mind.

It's an original by Mayer, called "No Such Thing"..

@stratoblues07 thank you very much !!

@Cheftee it's actually a song called "Old Love" by Eric Clapton which he's covering. You're right though, it's a very similar feel. Listen to Mayer's cover of it on youtube, insane stuff.

Have you ever noticed just how much Paul Shaffer resembles the Butterball Cenobite from the "Hellraiser" movies???

I can only hear the aplause in this video.:P

donny hathaway is amazing

3:06 wooooooooow!

@voodoochili12 i think he's around 6'3 so it makes his guitars look smaller. i used to always think his strat was smaller too

who was the guess never u mind who care ...JOHN MAYER IS ON THE SHOW WHAT A TREAT david letterman could have done with out the guess it should have been a long jam session 2 MILLIONS THUMBS UP ON THAT ONE IF IT WOULD HAVE HAPPEN.. ANYWAY JOHN MAYER IS ON THE SHOW THUMBS UP ON THAT

If anybody knows where to find the full version of the ghetto here I’ll love you forever. Or really any of these

Damn dude! Somebody was listening to B.B. King before the show.

John Mayer - No Such Thing

@wagstaff11 I only know two versions: the original by Donny Hathaway and the jazz version by George Benson (john mayer play this version at the video)... Love it... Hugs from BraziL!!

2:27

great legato

@stratocasterrelic because it does

How bout that...WE GET IT DAVE.

@adamlikescereal It's probably because it's a video about 'John Mayer Jamming with Paul Shaffer Band '

magic starts at 2:25

Mmm it looks like his signature strat son with the racing stripe. The acoustic looks like his signature acoustic.

yup

tone of his strat and probably his amp settings...just mess around with your pickup switch and tone settings, and with your amp dials (bass, trebble etc), you'll find a good blues sound!

@GeorgianPranks yea he was late a second time too. Seemed like he was distracted by what was coming out of John Mayer's amp.