this should be a series, just learning John Mayer riffs

The hardest part actually comes right after the main riff

Tyler the type of guy to attempt a high five a second time after the first one missed

did this man just call an upstroke “centripetal force”? I’m dead

It's not that hard, it's way easier compared to neon, at least for me

You should check out Paul Davids for anything John Mayer related, he's a great player, who's got both the techniques and the song down.

I’m truly impressed in your ability to pick up concepts from hearing music. And yet the authentic way you talked us through and produced this video made me feel like I can do this to. With time.

this isnt the hard part of the song, the stretch chords over the G in the verse are

MORE JOHN MAYER!! Maybe his bluesy stuff!!!

More John Mayer things please!!!

Only reason people think it’s difficult is because John Mayer’s finger picking pattern is when he hits the guitar with his picking hand he also plucks the string with his pointer finger might be difficult but it’s easy when u get used to it

I practised this riff so much I can play it in my sleep

We love how your shirt matches your PRS! Nice!

This technique is actually pretty easy. It takes practice, but I think to many people overthink it.

Hey Tyler! I have a suggestion: Make a series called "Learning (insert band here)'s hardest solo"! By the way, if you plan on doing that, i recommend solos from Avenged Sevenfold, Pantera, Megadeth and Bullet For My Valentine.

Now play and sing at the same time 😰, its fucking crazy.

Love these videos... it’s inspirational watching someone who knows their way around a guitar work through a new song they want to learn

I finally got an acoustic guitar a week ago. After trying to learn piano, I noticed how much more natural the guitar felt for me. I am learning classic bisaya(Filipino) songs and Spanish songs. I love the feeling of my fingers picking through the different strings. Though my guitar is a cheap one that cost me 50$, it's literally so calming and fun. It's honestly my go to stress reliever.

How about you try to learn the hardest SRV riff? I'm sorta implying that can you make this a series?

You should call these videos "Tyler learning..." Awesome lessons from these clips. way better than other beardguyz around

The chord shapes for the intro are pretty easy it's the verse shapes that are difficult and the picking pattern and consistency is also challenging to master. Not to mention the slap/strum thing 😂

Hey man, I want to say, thank you for uploading these videos, sometimes I get upset and frustated trying to learn a song, and seeing that it takes time even for you, shows me that i have strive and not to give up!

oh c'mon, you played the riff before this video..

Your PRS in the background is chilling out.. :P

The verse has the hardest chord. Another insane thumb stretch. Adds a bass note on the low E while playing the same chords.

John talks about how he does that particular strumming pattern in one of the Instagram live videos on KZfaq, the video's title is John Mayer gives guitar lessons to his fans. Hes wearing a black hoodie and using a black strat.

Im really liking your recent videos. Not gonna lie I never was a big fan but your latest content is good

The guitar looks nice,going to get it

Then you need a G note in the bass and still go to the seventh fret on the high E and sixth fret on the G-string for the verses. Then the chorus gets even harder because the picking pattern changes a little. This is an incredible song! I learned it! You can too! Just stick with it and the whole song will come together!

I think it literally took me 2 weeks of pluck and chucking and my steering wheel while driving to and from campus and a ton of practice to actually get this song down lmao

I think the second hardest riff is probably In Your Atmosphere from his Live in LA album. What with the groove and the harmonics here and there and everything.

People calling my technique “shitty” after seeing a video of me trying this technique (after 5 min trying). Then I see a great guitarist going through similar struggles on the same thumb flick/slap thing and I feel better. Don’t let others drag you down.

Try to learn “in your atmosphere” by John Mayer

I just realized that I chose not to watch this video until two days later, and he was in the area I live when this came out.

Sounds amazing man! You already played stop this train in your “habits of John Mayer” video I think the next John song you should learn is ‘Edge of Desire’

You have so much patience and good ear.. Awesome video

IN YOUR ATMOSPHERE!!! That riff is crazy!

This was so inspiring to watch, thanks a lot!

Mayer has a certain fingerstyle technique where when he accents the beat he sort of throws his hand down letting his fingers hit the strings while also letting the notes ring out. Like a percussive chord but not like how we normally do slaps where we hit our palm down on the strings muting them. His fingerstyle on this has a rolling sound, the notes sustain there’s no pauses or rests in between.

Thanks man... Love to see that other guitarists have the same process... sometimes when I do this, I wonder how if others are struggling a bit. Thanks again. Great Stuff!

The slapping quarter note is a slap with your thumb while you strum the chord with your index

Thumb slap and flick are together. Slap thumb and flick down on the G,B,E with the index and middle finger.. Note- slap and flick together at the same time 👍

Seeing Tyler go through the explorations of learning something and the repetitiveness of what it takes to reach the goal is such a relief. Even though I know I wont get it as quick as Tyler, It spurs me on knowing that even someone as good as he is goes through something similar as I would. Great demo of the process. Thank you Tyler.

He's playing it wrong but it still sounds good

Just shows you how unbelievable and versatile player John is.

Hey, Tyler, Look up "Clawhammer Banjo Technique". That's the key to this song. Once you learn that, it's super-easy. Don't try to use standard guitar techique with this one. This is 100% banjo style. Watch some Steve Martin videos and you'll get a lot of clues as well. Lots of down-stroking on the backs of the fingernails, while the thumb hits the bass note. There are up-strokes with the fingernails as well. But it does NOT involve changing the shape of the right hand, or doing any special finger work on the right hand. It's all down and up strokes, and hammer-ons and slides with the left hand. Basically, you lock that right hand into position, and you start hammering on the strings with the backs of your fingernails, and catching the off beats with your longest finger (happens to be my middle finger) on the up-strokes. The first note of each odd measure is pinched between the thumb and middle finger (the even measures are syncopated with an upstroke on the middle finger followed by a downstroke on the thumb on the one beat), but the rest is clawhammer. Super-easy once you understand the technique. Watch him do it on "Where the Light Is", and it will change your perception of how the guitar can be played. Also, watch Alison Kraus and Union Station Live at Ryman Auditorium and pay special attention to Ron Block's banjo and guitar style. This is very closely related to JM's technique on this song. Neon, however, is a different story. If you don't have a super-long thumb and super-long, flexible fingers, you CANNOT play this song. Especially the last chord in the progression. So much for me, with my short fingers.

Really cool video, even though i didnt really pay attention to what you were playing, because i couldnt help it but stare at your shirt, i mean... Is it Blue or Green?? BLUE OR GREEN???

I really love these learning videos. You can watch any number of guitar tutorial or cover videos, and there's always the slight air of "look what I can do" to them. But not these. These videos show that that everyone spends time grinding it out, no matter how good they are.

i was blessed with relatively long fingers so the song didnt take too long for me to figure out it was just getting the slap rhythm down

I like how u r so comfortable practicing while filming urself

Yeaa... This one is so so good...! Un Grand Bravo to John

I really just started slapping the strings and after about two days they started hitting the right spots and now I can play it almost flawless

this is gold. learning how you urself learn is truly a big lesson in itself

Tyler if you like the challenge try "who says" by john mayer. Its stop this train on steroids.

Man, I've been trying to learn the slap technique for months now but finally got it after watching this video. Thank you!

Lol this was so hyped... It's easier than I expected it to be ...at least without the singing .

I legitimately cannot fathom how talented someone must be to be able to do that.

great to see the struggle of learning a song from such a great guitar player! glad you showed us this side of the production

I always thought the picking pattern was reminiscent of blues harp players mimicking the chugga chugga from the train.

Amazing that you did this by ear, sounds just like it!

Can’t go anywhere without his baby

Enjoy your vacation! I live in the Shenandoah valley. If you want to grab a bite, let me know!

The second chord is almost correct. You are missing a flat, though, on the lower D - it should match the third chord. Sorta stumbled on this cool riff one night and got it down - must’ve been a spirit teacher who taught John how - can we say that sorta stuff happens? IDK, but its easy now. Try it with drop D tuning!

The intro is easy its when he goes into the verse and he moves from D to G where you really have to stretch with your fingers and it gets hard. But great video hope this becomes a series.

all of you people talking bad about how he did it. i’d like to see you upload a video of you learning this song by ear in Mayer’s style, and playing it. i’ll wait

I feel its pretty clear this guy already knows how to play the song, but still a helpful illustration of what it would be like to learn by ear

Just amazing

I just started learning this yesterday, so this vid actually helps alot

Paul Davids has these acoustic John Meyer songs down perfectly. You should check him out if you haven't already.😀

I'd say "Edge of Desire" is quite a lot harder than "Stop this Train", especially if you try to sing simultaneously.

To play this song you need to use john mayer thumb slapping technique explained really well in paul davids channels

After you learn this, you can learn "Who says" cause it's basically the same picking/slapping pattern.

I feel like Who Says is probably a tiny bit more advanced than Stop This Train, it uses the same pluck and chuck style but with more viariation in the chords

This is like the Mike Boyd version of guitar! Very entertaining!

I think the third position has a hammer on right before changing to the fourth position

Tyler great job, I truly enjoy going through you process it is very helpful .

We have the same process in learning songs. ☺️

What's hard in this song is the thumb on the G bass and and getting your pinkie to the b on the high e string

The hardest part of the riff is the huge stretch you have to do in the verse. The rest is easy once you get the slap-flick technique down. Neon is much harder, without question

Hi Tyler, great job, but I think what makes this John Mayer song so difficult is actually the chord shapes he uses when he starts to sing, holding the thumb on the G of the 6th string while moving the rest of the hand.

Hard to believe since you have already played this on your HABITS OF JOHN MAYER clip last year 😪

Blimey, I was mentioned in a video of yours! Finally my rise to super stardom can begin!

Your trusty worthy PRS in the background ;)

Almost heaven ,west Virgina , blue ridge mountains, Shenandoah river

My teacher just give me the chords then i use to find the melody or notes of the song then he's going to correct it on school if i did any mistakes...

Hey! So for that second chord, it’s actually (from the D string) 0 6 0 7 then to 0 6 0 5. You can hear that half step interval rubbing in the second chord. Kind of a major 7 thing.

Your middle finger is supposed to be on the 6th fret for both middle chords

Nice. I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley. Staunton. Enjoy your stay! Say hi to my folks for me. Haha

I'm actually really surprised how so many people struggle with this. I'm not a good guitarist but had this down in 30minutes, somehow the hand technique feels really natural to me

This is one of the first songs I learned because it's what made me want to really play . But as the years went buy I mastered it and now my fingers have this default picking pattern that can be a bit strenuous sometimes.

Tyler, I noticed that right hand “picking” is nearly identical in stop this train and heart of life. I learned stop this train first (took many many hours) and found it to be very very difficult. Later on I picked up heart of life in 15 minutes and found it to be very easy, only because I learned stop this train. Wondering if you might have similar experience

This section of this song is very easy to play! The other parts are very hard to play, in fact a couple of chord is almost impossible to play if you don't have a very big hand, watch John Mayer playing it live and you will notice what i'm talking about

Love your lessons your verry down to earth. Also I play spot the green prs game it's always there somewhere lol

Nice,cool riff Tyler and I definitely gonna try to play it.

This song is actually really easy I’m surprised a lot of people think it’s harder than neon

both take about the same amount of time to learn, neon might take slightly longer but theyre both songs john just naturally felt out and they’re similar if you can see the method behind his madness. Regardless of order, the first of the two you choose to learn will take longer. Its a matter of letting yourself fall into his groove especially under the right thumb. Anyways keep practicing ✊🏼

I make that same face trying to keep pace and beat of John’s technique lol that dead concentration look

Always rocking it Tyler! Cheers from Argentina. :)

Still Feel Like Your Man is tough, but also really fun if you want to check that one out! Fun to find the nuances with your ear.

started learning this song yesterday I CRY